Igor Thiago: Brentford striker’s route to top from humble start in Brazil

At the beginning of 2022, Thiago told his agents that it was time to move elsewhere.

Bulgarian champion Ludogorets, who tried to sign him a contract the previous season, came back with another offer and reached an agreement.

“A lot of people in football try to define paths and boundaries for others. You often see that a player goes through a difficult period and gets labeled as a certain type of player and that label becomes a kind of ceiling. I fight strongly against that,” said former Ludogorets assistant coach Rafael Ferreira, who is now in Atromitos, Greece.

“I believe that everyone has room to grow as long as they are in an environment that allows that. And Igor Thiago fits a very interesting profile because he has a very strong mentality.

“He didn’t get many minutes in his early seasons. So what is he doing? He wants to play in the second team. He wants to play. This shows his mentality; he doesn’t sulk because he doesn’t play, he looks for alternatives. When you work with this type of player, we usually say the sky is the limit.”

Thiago’s mentality also stands out among his teammates.

“What I really liked about him was that when he came in he always asked the older players what they thought he could improve on. That’s what I found different, even special, about him,” says Cauly, a former Ludogorets midfielder who now plays for Bahia in Brazil.

“He already had the employee mentality and the desire to keep improving. And he’s a player with the physical attributes… We already knew it had to work for him as a striker, one way or another.”

After just one season and 20 goals, it was no surprise that he moved to Belgian club Club Brugge.

“Sometimes, I don’t know, he would get five or 10 minutes in a game and score. It was like there was something about him… like his energy was attracting good things,” Ferreira added.