Igor Thiago’s agent Marcelo Beer says it was difficult for the Brentford star to deal with two major setbacks last season.
Sporza cover the representative’s comments on the striker’s struggles in his debut season at Brentford.
The Brazilian starred in his final season at Club Brugge, scoring 29 goals and contributing six assists from 55 matches. Brentford acted quickly and agreed a deal with the Belgian club in February 2024.
Thiago arrived in London in July 2024 and suffered an injury later that month. He was sidelined for over 120 days and sustained a knee injury in December. This forced him to spend close to 150 days away from the pitch.
These two injury blows saw him play 169 minutes from eight matches for the Bees. Beer admits it was difficult for the 24-year-old last season.
“Mentally, it was tough to deal with such a blow twice,” he said.
“But Igor is a man of God. During the difficult times last season, he went to church a lot to find strength. I also travelled from Brazil to England about seven times to push him. Fortunately, Igor is mentally strong.”
Igor’s situation has improved a lot this season. The frontman has starred for the Premier League side, scoring 12 goals from 14 matches. The agent insists he and Brentford aren’t surprised with his impressive form.
“It’s incredible what Igor is achieving at the moment,” Beer explained.
“Does it come as a surprise to me? [shakes his head] Brentford knew exactly what Igor’s profile was when they signed him, they had analysed no fewer than 45 matches. And it helps a lot that he’s very well surrounded by two speedy wingers [Schade and Ouattara] plus Damsgaard, an excellent playmaker.”
Analyst Filip Joos believes Thiago has a good chance of representing Brazil at the World Cup.
Thiago is yet to represent Brazil. Despite this, Beer says he dreams of playing in the tournament.
“He always looks for a specific goal to work towards. Now, Igor had one major objective: the World Cup with Brazil. ‘Marcelo, I only have one season left to prove myself with the national team. But I’m going to get there,’ he promised. Since then, Igor has worked incredibly hard every day to get back,” he added.
