Sport

Igor Thiago is the reason Brentford aren’t missing Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa

Only one player has scored more Premier League goals this season than Igor Thiago and that one player is Erling Haaland. The Manchester City striker is unparalleled in his natural ability to find the back of the net, but Igor Thiago is currently closer to that standard than anyone else at the top of English football.

 

Thiago has netted 11 goals in just 13 league outings for Brentford this season with two of them coming in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Burnley which lifted the Bees up into the top half of the Premier League table. The Brazilian forward has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2025/26 campaign to date.

 

Brentford spent a club-record fee of £30m to land Thiago from Club Brugge in the summer of 2024 in the belief that he would be the long-term successor to Ivan Toney who hadn’t long left the club for the Saudi Pro League. Thiago, however, spent the majority of his first Premier League season on the sidelines due to injury.

 

Now, though, the Brazilian is making up for lost time. He is the reason Brentford aren’t missing Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa as much as many predicted they would when they departed for Manchester United and Newcastle United respectively in the same transfer window.

 

Thiago is the all-around centre forward. He can physically hold his own against the strongest defenders. He can hold up the ball and bring others into the game. He can get in behind and offer a direct threat. He can even dribble – only Michael Kayode is averaging more dribbles per game for Brentford this season than Thiago.

 

Brentford remain a team that likes to play on the break. Long throw-ins and set pieces are key to their attacking approach and Thiago is the perfect frontman for this. The Brazilian is tailor-built for the Bees and Brentford are increasingly playing to his strengths. Thiago is getting better and better.

 

The way Thiago is going, it won’t be long until bigger clubs register their interest just as they did with Mbeumo and Wissa. It’s not out of the question that the 24-year-old could be part of the Brazil squad for next summer’s World Cup. Keith Andrews certainly believes Thiago should be on Carlo Ancelotti’s radar.

 

“I think Thiago just needs to keep doing what he is doing, consistently do it well, and the goals will come,” said the Brentford boss. “I have just been told that he is the top-scoring Brazilian in all of the major divisions, so it is pretty impressive really, isn’t it? So, I think if he maintains that, I know it is a big dream of his and one that we are supporting him with, obviously. Hopefully, that will happen for him.”

 

Thiago played no part in Brazil’s qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup and has yet to be capped at international level. Ancelotti, however, is lacking a natural focal point in the mould of the Brentford striker. He should be on the radar for a call-up to next summer’s tournament.

 

Brentford as a whole have been a surprise package this season. Many tipped the Bees to suffer relegation after losing their manager Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur as well as their two top scorers in Mbeumo and Wissa. Brentford’s captain Christian Norgaard also departed to join Arsenal.

 

So far, though, Andrews has pointed his team in the right direction again with Brentford punching well above their weight in the top half of the table. There was no panic at the London club over the summer and part of that was possibly due to the belief they had in Thiago to step up.