Ahead of hosting Arsenal on Saturday, De Zerbi was asked about the striker's future.
He said: "Well, I don't know the plan of next year or next season, but Ferguson is still an important player for us.
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"He's very young and when you are so young you can suffer in some periods and in others play well. Because in the first part of the season he scored a lot of goals, and we knew before the season he could play not all the games in the first XI, but we are happy for him and lucky that we have a lot of young players of this level.
"Facundo Buonanotte is the same, Julio Enciso is playing a tough period because after injuries it's always difficult to recover to the best physical condition. But we are Brighton and we accept everything."