Brighton Under-21s Head Coach, Shannon Ruth has praised first-team manager, Roberto De Zerbi for taking risks on young players.
This season saw Brighton finish sixth in the Premoer League and enjoy a strong FA Cup run to the semi-finals, during which Andy Moran, Odel Offiah and Cam Peupion made their league debuts and been involved in cup competitions under De Zerbi and his precedessor – Graham Potter.
James Furlong, Ed Turns, Jack Hinchy, Jack Spong and Jack Hinshelwood have also been involved in first-team action, with Hinshelwood’s senior action coming in the same season that he graduated into the Under-21s team.
Evan Ferguson meanwhile has established himself as a first-team regular under De Zerbi with 10 goals in 25 appearances, despite spending much of the first-half of this season playing for the Under-21s.
With the season now other, Ruth reflected upon those players’ progress as he praised De Zerbi for allowing age to be “no barrier”, even in Brighton’s chase for European qualification and a FA Cup despite having only taken charge of the first-team in September 2022.
Ruth proceeded to speak highly of De Zerbi’s confidence in promoting their academy players, as he commented: “It takes a lot of courage and belief to have that outlook at the highest level, and our players take great encouragement from seeing their teammates stepping up.
“We take great pride when one of our U21 players gets called into the senior squad and, given we’re competing at the top end of the Premier League, there is real satisfaction that we’re producing players of the necessary quality – and on a regular basis.”
Ruth also iterated that seeing nine players become part of the senior squad “speaks volumes for the pathway we have created at the club, which I believe sets us apart from our competitors.
He went on to explain that there is “an obligation to play a certain way” whilst factoring some aspects in De Zerbi’s principles has proven vital, especially in aiding the players in transitioning across to the senior squad.
Looking ahead to next season with the first-team set to enjoy Europa League football, Ruth feels that the Under-21s’ task “as an academy is to ensure that the players we produce now are of a certain quality and have the potential to be part of the first-team squad.”
On plans for next season, Ruth explained that De Zerbi “has played a huge part” in how they are thinking at U21s level, especially in terms of “how we set targets, how good we need to be and how determined and ambitious we should be.”
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