Roberto de Zerbi has been talking about principles. About the time when he refused to leave Kyiv until his Brazilian players and their young families had secured a safe passage out of the besieged Ukrainian capital.
And about how he declined the Bologna job before joining Brighton, because he did not feel comfortable replacing Sinisa Mihajlovic, a coach who had been sacked as he fought leukaemia.
‘I don’t want to be a teacher of life,’ says De Zerbi. ‘But I have rules I don’t compromise. One of the most important is that before the coach there is the man and you can only arrive at a high level of play if there is a connection, respect, confidence between me and my players.