CIDADE OCIDENTAL — Brentford paid a club record £30 million to sign striker Igor Thiago from Club Brugge. He has scored 16 goals in the Premier League this season after arriving as Ivan Toney’s replacement following Toney’s sale to Saudi club Al-Ahli.

Thiago grew up in Cidade Ocidental, a small town in central Brazil, and started playing futsal during his youth. His mother, Maria Diva, worked as a refuse collector on a minimum wage while raising four children on her own. Thiago said his ambition to become a professional player was formed early.

“From today on, no-one in this life is going to humiliate you any more,” Thiago said. “I'm going to become a footballer, you'll see. Everyone will know me one day.”

He waited until he was 17 to sign for a club after facing several rejections at trials around Brazil. Thiago was mentored by Sergio Goncalves at Gremio Ocidental between the ages of eight and 16. Goncalves said Thiago’s futsal background shaped his playing style. “People look at him, see how big he is, and think he's that kind of static center-forward. But he has a lot to his game because of the time he spent in futsal,” Goncalves said.

In 2018, Thiago joined Vere, and in 2019 he moved to Brazilian club Cruzeiro. He scored in his senior debut for Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte.

Cruzeiro finished 11th in the Serie B campaign in 2020. Cruzeiro finished 14th in the Serie B campaign in 2021.

During his time at Cruzeiro, he experienced a period of depression and considered quitting football. “There are things no-one knows that I went through; I went through a period of depression,” Thiago said on the Futebol no Mundo podcast from ESPN. “There were nights when I thought about giving up; what really gave me strength was my mum and my children.”

At the start of 2022, Thiago transferred to Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, where he scored 20 goals in his only full season. Rafael Ferreira, a former Ludogorets assistant coach, described Thiago’s approach early in his time at the club. “In his early period at Ludogorets, when he didn't get many minutes, he asked to play for the second team. He wants to play, which shows his mentality of looking for alternatives rather than sulking,” Ferreira said.

Thiago later scored 29 goals in his first and only season with Club Brugge before moving to Brentford for the club’s record fee. He reached the 20-goal mark in three of his four seasons in Europe; his debut campaign at Brentford was the exception due to a serious injury.