Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi says he has not heard anything about Chelsea’s interest in appointing him as their next permanent manager.

There had been reports that the Blues had held talks with Brighton about paying the £13m clause in the Italian’s contract but, when asked whether this was true, De Zerbi replied:

“My story [as a manager] tells it [all]. I don’t move [clubs] according to important or not important requests. As for this request, I don’t know and I don’t think so because nobody warned me and nobody [at Brighton] called me.”

To be honest with you, it would have been a massive shock if the rumours were true. Even though De Zerbi has done an outstanding job at Brighton, pursuing a second manager from the same club inside twelve months does seem pretty absurd.

At the moment, the red-hot favourite to replace Frank Lampard in the dugout is Mauricio Pochettino. It is believed that talks between the two parties have progressed well and an appointment could happen before the end of the season.

Of course, with Chelsea, anything could still happen, especially after two other frontrunners for the job, Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique, withdrew from the race recently.