Roberto De Zerbi wants to know whether Albion match his ambition as a coach.

But an equally relevant question might be the other way around.

Does his ambition, the target he sets, match that of chairman and club owner Tony Bloom?

If it does, and one strongly suspects the answer is in the affirmative, the new contract about which De Zerbi spoke when he did need to yesterday will surely be agreed and signed.

The head coach could have brushed aside the enquiry about suggestions a new deal is in the offing when he faced quite a small media gathering at Lancing in the scheduled press conference before the Brentford game.

Instead, he revealed talks were under way but nothing was done yet.

Replying to a follow-up question from The Argus, he confirmed those talks did not yet involve Bloom.

And he revealed the importance of real agreement on what the targets would be for the club.

That shared goal has to be heartfelt and genuine, not an agreement of convenience just to get a deal over the line.

What De Zerbi may or not have known was that, the previous evening at a showing of the new Stand Or Fall documentary in London, Bloom had spoken about his club having a real chance of winning the Europa League.

Equally, he will maybe not have been aware of the way Bloom was targeting Premier League football and crowds of 30,000 for his club at their prospective new home while many of us thought 20,000 and pushing for the Championship play-offs would be great.

He might know about the way, in 2019, Bloom and Paul Barber very publicly set the target to become an established top-ten club a few weeks after they avoided relegation by two points.

That felt like too big a reach at the time but the target is being fulfilled.

The key is Bloom not only sets these ambitions, He also has a clear plan on how to pursue them.

But, whatever details De Zerbi does or does not know, he will certainly know the type of club he is working at.

Which would explain his willingness to tell us about contract talks.

He said: “I have not spoken with Tony yet, but I think he is ambitious. It is not a problem for Brighton.

“To reach the agreement with a club – coach, player or with the management, the owner - you always find the same target.

“To reach the agreement you have to work for the same target, the same goal.

“In Brighton, in Sassuolo, in Shakhtar, everywhere I worked, I wanted to fix the same target with the club.

“If we have different targets, we can hug, we can kiss but after that we have to live if we are serious people.

“Otherwise you work, you take the money but it can’t be a good atmosphere to work together.”

Asked whether that good atmosphere exists – which it clearly does - De Zerbi said: “Now, yes. Last year was another incredible atmosphere.

“The most important is to have the same motivation, the same ambition, that it makes sense to work.

“There is a reason we are here.

“Last year was to reach the Europa League.

“This season is to compete in the Premier League and Europa League in the same way.

“I said Brighton is the only team in the Premier League who sold players and it is right, I confirmed everything.

“But now for us it is a different challenge because we want to keep the same level in the Premier League in the table and we want to move on in the Europa League.”

The word "target" was used in its most general terms, as in aims for the club.

But it could easily apply as well to transfer targets.

January is not far away and we know in which direction talk will turn outside the club when that mad month arrives.

Within the club, recruitment may well be an area where De Zerbi and Bloom, Barber and Weir have to see how their thoughts and targets align.

What appears clear, however. is that De Zerbi appreciates what he has at Albion and is enjoying his challenge.

He does not want to be seen as a head coach who moves too frequently.

He has been liked with Real Madrid interest by Diario Sport, a daily sports tabloid in Barcelona.

My own personal experience, having done some work for them, is Sport have to try very hard to keep up with their bigger cross-city rival Mundo Deportivo and the Madrid based giants Marca and Diario As.

Maybe as a result, Sport can be very hasty and rather scattergun with transfer and personnel stories, which can lead to spectacular hits but also a lot of very wayward misses.

As for De Zerbi, he could quite easily have brushed the contract question off and none of us in that media room would have thought much if it.

That he decided to answer was probably a surprise - and should be seen as a good sign for Albion fans.