The daily Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that the Olympique de Marseille boss is in the running to replace under pressure Motta.
Brescia-born De Zerbi played in midfield for AC Milan and Napoli, but the 45-year-old is suddenly not enjoying life in the French top flight that could prompt him to consider Juventus if there's a vacancy.
He has guided Marseille to second spot in Ligue 1, trailing table-topping Paris Saint-Germain by a whopping 13 points.
The former Brighton & Hove Albion manager, who joined Marseille last summer on a three-year deal, made a public outburst after last week’s controversial 3-0 defeat at Auxerre.
He was fuming following referee Jeremy Stinat's decision to brandish a second yellow card to Derek Cornelius. After the defender was given his marching orders, De Zerbi’s side conceded two more goals. The reversal meant Marseille missed out on potentially picking up maximum points to fall further behind runaway leaders PSG.
Angry De Zerbi spoke to French media outlet Telefoot after the final whistle: 'I'm Italian, and after Marseille I'm not going to coach in France again.
“There's a problem in the French championship, if French people are happy with this level of decision making, then good for them. But today it was scandalous.”
Marseille won’t particularly wish to relinquish De Zerbi, who has impressed in his stint so far on the French Riviera, but the 45-year-old is undoubtedly hot property in Europe.
De Zerbi kicked off his coaching career at Serie D outfit Darfo Boario in 2013 before managing Foggia, a short-lived failure at Palermo and then Benevento before he made his mark during three seasons with Sassuolo.
Praised for tactical style in Italy, he joined Shakhtar Donetsk and became the first Italian head coach to win the Ukrainian Super Cup. De Zerbi only left following the Russian invasion of Ukraine,. He was snapped up by Brighton where he spent two seasons before joining Marseille last June.