Joel Veltman fears Roberto De Zerbi could still leave Brighton – despite being overlooked for the Liverpool job.
The Italian, who has placed contract talks with Amex chiefs on hold, had been heavily linked with the Anfield vacancy but Feyenoord boss Arne Slot is now poised to replace Jurgen Klopp on Merseyside next season.
The 32-year-old right-back said ahead of the visit to Bournemouth : “It’s almost every year that when the gaffer is doing well, there will be big clubs waiting for him. I experienced it in Amsterdam with Ajax and I’ve already experienced it with him as well. When a coach is doing well there is always a chance he will leave and that’s the same thing with Roberto.”
Brighton’s historic season is now threatening to finish with a whimper. The Seagulls have been crippled by injuries and they were on the receiving end of a brutal one-sided beatdown at home to Manchester City on Thursday as Pep Guardiola’s Treble-winners ran riot on the South Coast.
However, Veltman claims Brighton still have their sights on European qualification, even if they have a mountain to climb with five matches left to play.
Veltman continued: “It’s difficult to say with the games we have coming up and left to play, I don’t know exactly where we are. I know we’re in 11th place obviously but the only thing I know is we play Bournemouth who are 10th and that’s a nice game for us.
“We have five matches to go and they’re all finals, I think there’s a small chance we’ll get the European spots and if there is – we will go for it.”
Experienced pro Veltman, who has Champions League experience, does not want to use injuries as an excuse for Brighton’s turbulent form.
In his view, they still have enough quality to make something of their domestic season. He concluded: “I wouldn’t say we are tired but more deflated because of the injuries we’ve had as well. We’re not really at our best and of course, you always want to do better.
“Despite the injuries we still have loads of quality players who can adapt to that but it’s difficult to be our proper selves. The Bournemouth game is nice, it’s a 2pm kick-off and a chance to put things right. The defeat to City doesn’t affect us moving forward, we want to win the three points against Bournemouth or Newcastle away doesn’t matter.”
Evan Ferguson and Pervis Estupinan have now been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign through injury. Kaoru Mitoma, Solly March and Jack Hinshelwood have also kicked their final balls of the season, yet there is still hope James Milner, Tariq Lamptey and Billy Gilmour could be back to help Brighton over the line.
