Igor Thiago: The Brentford striker’s path to the top after a humble start in Brazil

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

Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, who had tried to sign him the previous season, came back with another offer and secured a deal.

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

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

“In his early period, he didn’t get a lot of minutes. What does he do? Ask to play for the second team. He wants to play. That shows you his mentality – he’s not sulking because he’s not playing but looking for alternatives. When you work with this type of player, we usually say the sky is the limit.”

Thiago’s mentality also stands out with his teammates.

“What I really liked about him was that when he arrived, he would always ask the older players what they thought could improve,” says Cawley, a former Ludogorets midfielder who now plays for Brazilian club Bahia. “That’s what I found different about him, even special.”

“He really had that worker’s mentality, that desire to keep getting better. And a player with his physical qualities…we already knew that, one way or another, it had to work for him as a striker.”

It was no surprise that, just one full season and 20 goals later, he was on his way to Club Brugge in Belgium.

Ferreira added: “Sometimes, I don’t know, he would get five or 10 minutes a game, and he would come in and score. It was as if he had something in him… as if his energy attracted good things.”