Brighton departing midfielder Lallana: De Zerbi deserved better send-off

Brighton departing midfielder Adam Lallana has heaped praise on manager Roberto De Zerbi.

The Italian is also leaving the seaside club in the off-season, as his ambitions are not being met at the Albion.

While Lallana did not speak to the reasons for De Zerbi choosing to move on, he preferred to focus on all the Italian brought to the club.

He stated to Sky Sports after a final day loss to Manchester United: "Extremely disappointing result. First half I thought we played well, we had chances, even the first bit of the second half I had a chance, it was blocked. Two soft goals, it's kind of the story of the last three months for us, not being able to score enough goals when we have created the chances. It's just an anti-climax and we're gutted we couldn't give Roberto [De Zerbi] the send-off he deserved.

"I said earlier in the week it's important the fans stay patient with whoever the new manager is. Brighton have massively over-achieved in the last few seasons and Roberto is a huge part of that. It's important we say thanks to him, because he was the gold dust on top. He got us to Europe, creating history here. So although it was disappointing, it is important we express our thanks to him."