Why Brighton wanted Igor Julio, how the deal was done and what he offers them

We are delighted to announce the signing of central-defender Igor Julio from Fiorentina on undisclosed terms! 🤝 #BHAFC

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) July 26, 2023

After positive recommendations from the pair, De Zerbi discussed with Igor himself Brighton’s desire to sign a left-sided central defender, his style, and whether he would be interested in such a move. De Zerbi was left in no doubt about the muscular South American’s enthusiasm for a move.

A period of around three weeks between Brighton first making their interest known and them getting the deal done was related to their attempts to re-sign Levi Colwill. Signing a left centre-back who can also fill in at left-back has been the priority for the club during the second half of this summer window, with Colwill back at parent club Chelsea after his impressive loan spell at the Amex Stadium last season.

De Zerbi describes it as a “crucial position within the team, where the play starts”.

Calvin Bassey of top Dutch side Ajax — who Brighton were interested in signing last summer from leading Scottish side Rangers when Graham Potter was head coach — was another name on the list of targets with Julio. Bassey, however, had dropped down the list because De Zerbi is more pernickety about the build-up play and there were question marks about him in possession.

The top target was Colwill, but Brighton were prepared to sign Igor, too, as high-quality, left-sided central defenders that are available are hard to find.

As the window has worn on and following the appointment by Chelsea in May of Mauricio Pochettino as their next head coach, Brighton knew there was an increasing possibility that Colwill, despite having loved his time at the Amex, would be persuaded to sign a new, long-term contract at Stamford Bridge.

Brighton sealed their deal for Igor — who had a year left on his deal at Fiorentina — a week before Colwill agreed a six-year contract with Chelsea and two days before fellow Premier League side Fulham bought Bassey for around £19million.

In doing so, they saw off competition from Fulham for Igor — who had also been a January target for since-relegated Leicester City.

Igor, who doesn’t speak fluent English but will immediately be starting lessons, said: “I’m very happy and excited to start playing as soon as possible. I’m happy to be here. I want to be here to play for the coach that wanted me and the style of play at Brighton also fits well with my own style.

“It’s a childhood dream to play in the Premier League, I’m very excited. It’s always been my goal to play here. I’m really happy to reach this level.”

There are other reasons Brighton are attractive to Igor.

As well as the ambition to play in the Premier League, he wants to eventually play in the Champions League. Brighton fit the bill as a progressive club competing in the Europa League this season, a step up from the third-tier Europa Conference League he made the final of with Fiorentina last season.

His three and a half seasons in Florence came to a frustrating and soured conclusion, with the last of his 110 appearances as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 defeat by West Ham in the Conference League final in June.

Head coach Vincenzo Italiano was critical of Igor’s role in the late winner scored by Jarrod Bowen, having sent him on for cramp-hit starter Luca Ranieri six minutes earlier.

Italiano said afterwards: “Igor had just come on, he was fresh, he could’ve run much, much faster than Ranieri, who was exhausted when he came off. I explained to him that he could’ve done much, much better in that situation.”

The screengrabs below of Bowen’s goal show the reasons for Italiano’s disgruntlement.

Igor is positioned in the middle of Fiorentina’s back three, with Bowen a few yards ahead of them on the halfway line, as a clearance by Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano (out of frame) is headed back into midfield…

The looming jeopardy isn’t initially apparent when the ball reaches West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek, then bounces away from him in a challenge to team-mate Lucas Paqueta.

But Igor is caught flat-footed and square on as Paqueta’s through ball releases the advancing Bowen.

Now he is trailing in a foot race with Bowen and can’t catch up.

Bowen slides a left-foot shot past the oncoming Terracciano to win the trophy.

One, albeit expensive, lapse at the end of a big game he had just come on in did not dissuade Brighton on the suitability of Igor, who had been an unused substitute when Fiorentina were also beaten 2-1 by Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia final two weeks earlier.

The double blow of losing two finals by the same score within a fortnight contrasted sharply with the way he had begun his career at Fiorentina.

Within two days of signing from fellow Italians SPAL in January 2020, initially on loan for 18 months with an obligation to buy, Igor shone on his debut up against Cristiano Ronaldo, albeit in a 3-0 defeat away to Juventus in which Ronaldo scored two penalties.

That was during the reign of Giuseppe Iachini, who was succeeded by Cesare Prandelli in the November. Igor didn’t play as much as he’d hoped in his first 18 months at the Artemio Franchi Stadium but became a regular once his move became permanent, which coincided with Italiano’s appointment in the summer of 2021.

Last season, he attracted a bid of around £16million from French Ligue 1 club Rennes. That was seen as a sideways step rather than what is considered a career-advancing one to Brighton, which could also further Igor’s international ambitions. He has yet to be capped, but Brazil’s new coach Fernando Diniz likes ball-playing defenders.

This move to the Premier League gives Igor a chance to stake a claim to be involved in the build-up to the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which comes at the end of the penultimate season in the four-year contract he has just signed.

Igor is used to being in a team that dominates the ball, such as De Zerbi’s Brighton. Fiorentina played in a 4-3-3 last season — similar to De Zerbi’s preferred 4-2-3-1 system — and only title-bound Napoli had more possession than their 56.1 per cent across the 20 Serie A clubs.

Fiorentina had Morocco international Sofyan Amrabat operating as a defensive midfielder between the centre-backs, so a lot of Igor’s passing was short and concerned with recycling the ball. His short pass accuracy (93 per cent last season) trended upwards over his three full seasons in Florence.

Igor seems well prepared for building an on-field relationship with Brighton’s adventurous Ecuador international left-back Pervis Estupinan. Fiorentina’s left-back Cristiano Biraghi, an excellent crosser of the ball, was the most creative player in the 2022-23 Conference League with six assists. Biraghi plays high up the pitch, as does Estupinan, so Igor should be accustomed to the threat of being isolated in transition.

He also has experience, earlier in his career at Fiorentina, of playing as the middle man in a back three and as a left wing-back, although that is a formation De Zerbi uses sparingly.

Igor is a popular figure in Bom Sucesso (“Good Success” in English), the small city where he was born that sits around 170 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

He is instantly recognised, driving about in his blue BMW, and although he has helped fund some improvements to the family home, flaunting the rewards of his profession in their modest neighbourhood isn’t his style. He has a younger brother, also a defender, who plays under-20s football in Brazil’s third tier.

Having played as a skilful No 10 growing up, Igor wasn’t impressed by a change of position to defence at the age of 16 when with Red Bull Brazil, who took him on after he’d played against them. He threatened to quit the game altogether but was persuaded by his father and his coach to persevere with the switch, which proved a career-defining change of direction.

Red Bull Brazil (since renamed Red Bull Bragantino) regularly played in under-17s and under-20s tournaments in Austria as part of the Red Bull family of clubs. He was scouted by Red Bull Salzburg at the age of 18, crossing the Atlantic to join them without ever playing first-team football in his homeland and then gaining experience with their B team, FC Liefering.

Igor arrives in England with seven years worth of experience in European football.

He adapted quickly in Austria, playing a season in the second tier with Liefering and also for Red Bull Salzburg Under-19s as they won the 2016-17 UEFA Youth League under Marco Rose, who has gone on to manage Salzburg’s first team, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and now RB Leipzig. Igor spent the second half of 2017-18 on loan to Wolfsberger in the Austrian top flight and the following year on loan in the same division with Austria Vienna.

Igor moved to Serie A with SPAL on a four-year contract in a cut-price deal in June 2019, after Rose left Salzburg for the Gladbach job and was succeeded as head coach by future Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch. Salzburg wanted around £8.6million, although he’d only made two league appearances for them. SPAL eventually got him for £1million, plus a sell-on clause — which has proven to be shrewd business.

Making his Serie A debut as a left-back, Igor contributed an assist in a 3-2 home defeat by Atalanta before reverting to playing as a left-sided central defender. Six months and 20 appearances later, with SPAL en route to relegation, he was loaned to Fiorentina. They then bought him in the summer of 2021 for £6million and another £2million in add-ons, with a 15 per cent slice of any sell-on fee for SPAL, which the now third-tier club have profited from with his Brighton move.

Brighton believe they will also profit from having Igor, who made his debut in Sunday’s friendly against Rayo Vallecano, in the squad — once he becomes accustomed to De Zerbi’s playing style. Colwill, for example, was signed under Potter and didn’t make a league start for the club until eight games into the Italian’s reign.

“To understand well my idea is not easy or so fast,” De Zerbi tells The Athletic. “You need time to understand the details, the right timing, the line pass, the solution when you have to play outside and you have to keep inside.

“The idea is easy, but the development isn’t so fast. For the players that have to build the play, the first period is difficult.”

(Top photo: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)