Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi has praised long-serving skipper Lewis Dunk ahead of the captain’s 400th appearance for the club.
Dunk is expected to start in the FA Cup fifth round tie against Stoke City tomorrow evening (Tuesday 28 February) – while De Zerbi himself awaits the outcome of an improper conduct charge from the Football Association.
The head coach said that he was baffled that Dunk, 31, had never been poached by a leading Premier League club.
Aside from a brief loan stint at Bristol City a decade ago, he has spent his entire career with his hometown team.
De Zerbi said: “For me it’s difficult to understand how he has never played for a big team in the Premier League.
“If you ask me what I think about Dunk, I think he’s one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League.
“This is my opinion but I know well his potential, his standard of performances.”
Dunk, who made his debut in 2010, handed in a transfer request during the early stages of the 2015-16 season when Brighton were in the Championship.
At the time, he was heavily linked with Fulham, who were also in the second tier. Yet, despite being capped by his country in 2018 and regularly impressing at the Amex Stadium, he has never come close to joining a top-flight rival.
De Zerbi intends to start his skipper in the cup clash at Stoke and indicated that he wouldn’t be complacent despite facing Championship opposition.
Brighton were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League One Charlton in December but the Italian is targeting a trip to Wembley, saying: “For us, the FA Cup is very important.
“Tomorrow is not an important game. It’s a crucial game – because we want to arrive in Wembley to play the semi-final.
“OK, there will be another game (a quarter-final) if we win tomorrow but we have to stay focused on only Stoke. We know very well what happened in the Charlton game. We remember very well.”
De Zerbi is also waiting to learn his fate from the FA, having been reprimanded last week after his red card after Albion’s frustrating 1-0 defeat to Fulham on Saturday 18 February.
The 43-year-old, who had until today to respond to the charge, was shown a red card in the tunnel by referee Darren England and went on to criticise the match official’s performance.
Today he said: “I don’t know the situation. We will see tomorrow or the next days. But for me, the argument is closed. I spoke clearly with you (the media) after the game.
“I don’t want to speak too much because you knew me in these last months and I don’t like to speak about referees or the decision of the referees.”
Danny Welbeck could return from injury against the Potters but Solly March will sit out the match with a minor issue – as will Pervis Estupinan, Levi Colwill, Billy Gilmour and Adam Lallana.
