Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler may have taken charge of just two Premier League games but the early signs are that he can have a similar career to Jurgen Klopp, writes TOM COLLOMOSSE

Jurgen Klopp may have left Liverpool but his ideas live on in the Premier League thanks to a fellow German who is already making waves on the south coast.

Fabian Hurzeler may have taken charge of only two Premier League games to Klopp’s 334 yet the early signs are that the Brighton head coach – at 31 the youngest permanent manager in Premier League history – can have a similar career. 

He has won his first three games in charge and will on Saturday try to clear one of the toughest obstacles in English football – Arsenal at Emirates Stadium.

Hurzeler is the latest example of a trend started by Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann, who took charge of Hoffenheim at 28 and is still only 37, even though he has also coached RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and the national side. 

New Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin is 35, Freiburg’s Julian Schuster 39 and Ole Werner of Werder Bremen 36. Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeness, one of Europe’s rising stars of coaching, is now 42 but was given his chance by Hoffenheim at 38.

Hurzeler is good friends with former Liverpool midfielder Emre Can, who predicted ‘a great career as a coach ahead of him’ during their time in the Bayern Munich academy, even though he never built a playing career.

Hurzeler proved it last year as he earned the Brighton job thanks to a spectacular season with St Pauli, who stormed to promotion to the Bundesliga last term. ‘He has been fantastic for me,’ St Pauli Dapo Afolayan, a former Chelsea youth player, has said. ‘His football brain and how he coaches are the best I’ve seen.

‘Everyone improved last season thanks to his attention to detail. We go into a lot of tactical detail and videos every single day. We watch teams back all the time and work on a lot of things.’

Hurzeler has studied the methods of his predecessor Roberto De Zerbi closely but Mail Sport understands that when he gathered the Brighton squad for the first time to explain his vision at the club’s training ground, Klopp’s ideas were prominent in the discussion. Indeed, it is thought Klopp’s name was even mentioned as a reference point during these conversations.

Like the early Klopp Liverpool teams or Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham of the mid-2010s, Hurzeler expects the full-backs to the provide the attacking width, with wingers drifting inside off the flanks. Unlike De Zerbi, he is not obsessed with having the ball.

Klopp coined the term ‘heavy metal football’ for the way his players would seize the ball in the middle third of the pitch and launch devastating raids forward and during these early weeks, Hurzeler has been happy to dance to a similar tune.

In the 2-1 win over Manchester United in Hurzeler’s first home game, Erik ten Hag’s men had 52 per cent possession. In the corresponding fixture under De Zerbi, they had only 45 per cent.

Indeed, with the Italian in charge, Albion had a greater share of the ball in every home game except those against Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City – and in their 2-0 defeat at Arsenal last season. Don’t expect that statistic to be repeated on Saturday.

De Zerbi was close to his players and is still in contact with many, and Hurzeler has maintained that pattern. He is said to be friendly and approachable, not seeking to put significant distance between himself and his squad – with Danny Welbeck, James Milner, Lewis Dunk, Joel Veltman and Jason Steele older than he is.

‘There has always been a culture in German football where young coaches are given a chance,’ says Markus Fjortoft, host of the Fussball Channel. ‘Hurzeler was smart enough to lean on the experienced players at St Pauli and he’s doing the same with Welbeck and Milner.

‘He’s adaptable. People talk about his attacking but in Germany he had three very tall centre-backs and plenty of focus on set pieces. It’s a total football style.’

Markus’ father, former Middlesbrough forward Jan Aage Fjortoft, agrees. Fjortoft also spent three years with Eintracht Frankfurt and covers the Bundesliga as a broadcaster. ‘From the start, he was unorthodox,’ said Jan. ‘In Germany, they call him a maverick – which they intend as a compliment.

‘He doesn’t have a standard way of playing. He’s changing all the time, and I like his leadership style. Brighton and St Pauli are very similar in the way they have a certain identity and they stick very closely to that.’

Yet the difference between De Zerbi and Hurzeler is not simply tactical. As Mail Sport reported in February, there was often friction between De Zerbi and the Brighton hierarchy. Not only did the Italian want them to spend more money, he wanted those funds used on targets he had identified. Never mind that Brighton’s scouting and talent ID structure are the envy of the world game.

Hurzeler takes a different view. He knows his job is to coach and choose the team, leaving owner Tony Bloom, technical director David Weir and his staff to take care of spending.

And spend Brighton have, committing nearly £200million on eight players – a net spend of £166m, compared with a profit on transfers of nearly £80m in the De Zerbi era. Albion also bid £16.8m for young Danish forward Conrad Harder.

No wonder De Zerbi, now at Marseille, is said to have been taken aback by the level of investment at his old club this summer. Where was this largesse when he was browbeating the club to strengthen his squad for last season’s European campaign?

There are even those who have hinted, somewhat mischievously, that there is a hidden message for De Zerbi from Bloom and his team – ‘Leave recruitment to the experts’. It remains to be seen if Hurzeler will be as accommodating as he is now if Brighton falter and some of the new signings underperform. 

As one former Premier League boss put it: ‘As managers get more experienced, they understand they won’t be around for long and put pressure on owners to spend as much as possible while they are.’ Beating Arsenal would certainly strengthen Hurzeler’s hand.