De Zerbi focused on Marseille amid Man Utd links

Roberto De Zerbi remains focused on the task at hand at Marseille, after being touted as a potential candidate for the Manchester United job.

De Zerbi won plenty of Premier League admirers during almost two seasons in charge of Brighton between 2022 and 2024, as he led the Seagulls into Europe for the first time in their history.

And after overseeing Marseille's second-place finish in Ligue 1 in 2024-25, the Italian continues to be touted for some of Europe's biggest vacancies.

United will appoint a permanent successor to Ruben Amorim at the end of the season, with Michael Carrick leading the Red Devils on an interim basis until then.

And De Zerbi, alongside the likes of Oliver Glasner, Gareth Southgate, Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, has been tipped as a contender.

But speaking ahead of Wednesday's Champions League showdown with Liverpool at the Stade Veledrome, De Zerbi said: "My focus is totally on Marseille. I wanted to come here.

"The day before a very important, very crucial game, I have no space in my head to think about other things. 

"I feel very good in this city with these players, with this club. As for the future, we have got to speak in the next month, or in the next year, I don't know."

De Zerbi has won 59% of his games in charge of Marseille (37/63) in all competitions, the joint-highest ratio of any coach to lead the club for more than two games on record, alongside Lucien Leduc (30/51). 

Marseille have scored 69 goals from 50.7 expected goals (xG) this season, with their +18.3 overperformance being the second-best among all teams from Europe's top five leagues.

Only Bayern Munich, who have scored 101 goals from 80.2 xG, have overperformed their underlying figures by a greater margin (+20.8).