Ex-Liverpool and Nottingham Forest striker tells Roberto De Zerbi to stay at Brighton amid Tottenham interest

The former Liverpool striker made the comments after Football Insider reported that Spurs were monitoring the Italian on the south coast as a potential successor to Antonio Conte.

De Zerbi’s national counterpart is expected to leave North London this summer when his contract expires, as no extension is yet to be agreed between the two parties.

However, Collymore wrote in his weekly Caught Offside column that the Brighton boss should turn down any offer he receives from Tottenham, telling the 43-year-old to ‘bide his time’ and continue with the good work he is currently carrying out at the Amex Stadium.

Collymore said: “When you’ve got a really good support network behind you like the one De Zerbi has at Brighton, a manager should take advantage of it and use his time to really learn his trade.

"I think De Zerbi should bide his time, turn down any opportunities to jump ship quickly and instead keep doing what he’s doing because if he can succeed at Brighton, the offers will keep coming anyway so there is no need to rush.”

De Zerbi was named as Albion head coach on September 5, succeeding Graham Potter who had left to join Chelsea, with the Seagulls fourth in the Premier League table.

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Despite an initial winless run of five games, De Zerbi has managed to keep Albion in contention for European football next season, currently sitting one place and four points behind Tottenham in the Premier League table in sixth, with two games in hand.

Brighton are currently unbeaten in all competitions in 2023 – winning five and drawing two games – scoring 18 goals in the process.

Collymore, who scored 110 goals in 237 career games, said De Zerbi still has a lot of ‘hard work ahead of him’ in order to qualify for European football next year.

However, he also believed the current Brighton side have the best opportunity to do so, out of all the recent clubs who had attempted to break in to the footballing elite.

Collymore said: “Although he’s doing brilliantly since he took over from Graham Potter, there’s still a lot of hard work ahead of him. He’s got a big challenge on his hands. He needs to make sure his Brighton squad finish the season strongly and gets into one of those European spots.

“The task next season will be to compete on all four fronts while also trying to improve, or at the very least, replicate, the season before in the league, and that’s never easy.

"What I will say though is, out of all the teams we’ve seen over the years break into European football, Brighton look like the team to have the best chance.”