Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi said his ‘250 games as a coach at 41 are a source of pride’, but stressed he always thinks about ‘the next step’.
The Neroverdi sit ninth in Serie A after 29 games, but De Zerbi admitted he always looks for a way to improve and explained he could feel the pressure when he signed the deal with CEO Giovanni Carnevali and spoke to former President Giorgio Squinzi in 2018.
Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi said his ‘250 games as a coach at 41 are a source of pride’, but stressed he always thinks about ‘the next step’.
The Neroverdi sit ninth in Serie A after 29 games, but De Zerbi admitted he always looks for a way to improve and explained he could feel the pressure when he signed the deal with CEO Giovanni Carnevali and spoke to former President Giorgio Squinzi in 2018.
“With the way I’m made, I can never enjoy things,” De Zerbi told Nero & Verde. “I always think about the next step.
“Once I signed the contract with Carnevali and after talking with Squinzi, it was like feeling under scrutiny, because [Eusebio] Di Francesco has passed here, he had left his mark.
“I had to test myself and prove that I was up for it, but this is always what I think. I hardly stop to think about what’s done well, more easily I think about what we could have done and it’s a defect, because you don’t enjoy anything. However, it’s also an advantage, because you never give up.”
The 41-year-old has overseen 111 games at Sassuolo and said he’s ‘very proud of having 250 games in total’ already.
“When I stop and look behind, in those few times, I count the games I have coached so far,” he said. “I’m very proud of what I have done.
“Having 250 games in total at the age of 41, more than 100 with Sassuolo, is a source of pride that not everyone can have but this doesn’t affect me that much.
“It conditions me to not stop, to go and find what I don’t have. I have always looked for what I don’t have. If you are a thoughtful person like me, you always find that something is missing.
“In my idea, I put passion, study, evolution, innovation, then there’s an aspect that becomes decisive. Earlier I was talking about the games I have accumulated by now, but I was able to reach this target not only thanks to the club, but thanks to the players.
“They are the ones who have followed me, they are the tool through which I’m criticised or appreciated."