Roberto De Zerbi explains why he left Sassuolo to take over at Shakhtar Donetsk. ‘I want to bring my idea of football – and to win.’
The coach had been with the Neroverdi for three seasons and today penned a two-year contract with the Ukrainian club.
“I am happy to be here,” De Zerbi told the official Shakhtar social media account.
“I leave Sassuolo with great sadness, because I am very fond of them, but I come here to an important club.
“I want to try to do a good job and bring my idea of football – and to win, because that counts too. Forza Shakhtar.’
Although the club is called Shakhtar Donetsk, since 2017 all their training and games are based around Kharkiv and Kiev, as the Donetsk area was hit hard during the clashes with Russia across the border.
Shakhtar Donetsk reached the Europa League semi-final in 2019-20 and have dominated the Ukrainian Premier League with four consecutive titles.
That run was ended by Dynamo Kiev in 2020-21.