Brighton complete signing of centre-back Igor Julio from Fiorentina for £14.5m

Brighton have signed Igor Julio from Fiorentina for £14.5m, with the left centre-back putting pen to paper on a four-year deal. 

The 25-year-old came through the ranks in his native Brazil before chancing his arm in Austria, where he played for Liefering and Red Bull Salzburg, along with loan spells at Wolfsberger AC and Austria Wien. 

From there, he moved to then-Serie A side SPAL in 2019, quickly impressing to earn himself a transfer to Fiorentina in January 2020. 

Confident carrying the ball out from the back and taking on players as well as being robust in the challenge, he has since racked up more than 100 appearances for the Florence outfit in all competitions, playing his part as Vincenzo Italiano's men reached the finals of both the Coppa Italia and the Europa Conference League last season, losing to Inter and West Ham respectively. 

Speaking to Brighton's official media channels, Igor 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.

"As always, I'm going to play the hardest as possible on the pitch. I'll do my best every day, but most importantly to try and win the hearts of the fans."

The signing of Igor is Brighton's fifth purchase of the transfer window following the additions of James Milner, Mahmoud Dahoud, goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen from Anderlecht and Igor's compatriot Joao Pedro, who arrived from Watford for a Brighton club-record fee of around £30m. 

Igor, who will compete with Adam Webster, Jan Paul van Hecke and captain Lewis Dunk for a starting spot, will join up with his new team-mates in the US for the remainder of the Premier League Summer Series, a pre-season tournament.

After a 4-3 defeat to Chelsea in their opener, Roberto De Zerbi's side got a win under their belts last night, beating Brentford 2-0 thanks to a double from Ivory Coast international Simon Adingra, who Brighton signed last summer from Danish side Nordsjaelland. 

Brighton's remaining match in the Summer Series is in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time as they take on Newcastle. 

The East Sussex club came sixth in the Premier League last term, securing their highest-ever finish in the English football pyramid and earning a spot in the Europa League, the first time they have ever qualified for Europe. 

Brighton kick off their Premier League campaign at home to newcomers Luton on Saturday 12 August, with Fiorentina getting things started in Serie A at Genoa seven days later.