Brentford’s move for Igor Thiago was not a sudden move out of the blue but had long been in the pipeline.
That’s according to his agents Marcelo Beer and Hugo, who have revealed their delight at keeping the deal secret.
Brentford announced a surprise deal for the Brazilian striker yesterday, agreeing a Belgian record for the forward to join them in the summer.
The move certainly came out of nowhere, at least on paper, with even the media in Belgium being caught unawares by the announcement.
The move was particularly surprising given Brentford’s focus at Club Brugge has been on Antonio Nusa throughout the last month, with that deal now seemingly abandoned.
Thiago will presumably be arriving as a replacement for Ivan Toney, who has been heavily linked with a move away from Brentford in the coming months, with even manager Thomas Frank admitting that he expects him to depart.
The idea of him moving on has been at Brentford for some time and it seems they’ve been planning for it, with Thiago’s agents admitting that they’ve been watching the striker for a while.
“We like to work in silence, Moreover, Brentford really wanted to provide a surprise. It worked out well, didn’t it? Even Fabrizio Romano didn’t know anything about it,” said Beer.
“Igor is by no means a fad from Brentford. They have been following him since before he moved to Club Brugge. And when Igor started to perform well in Belgium, they contacted him again about a transfer.
“That was in December. Because there was a possibility that Ivan Toney would leave in January. But Igor first wanted to compete for the title with Club Brugge and not leave until the summer.
“In the last week of January, Brentford called to say they wanted to make a deal for next season. For Igor, it was always his biggest dream to work in the Premier League. We didn’t think he should make another step now to Germany or Italy, for example.
“We didn’t even know anything about the interest in Nusa before the news leaked out.
“Trainer Thomas Frank outlined an impressive sporting plan for Igor, based on his qualities and working points. Together with the scouting team, he had analysed 45 matches.
“You know, at Brentford they work with a self-developed evaluation system, and it showed that Igor had already met the requirements 33 times. The high-quality requirements.”
