When Diego Coppola signed for Brighton & Hove Albion this summer, he could barely hide his excitement.
“I can’t wait to play the first games in the Premier League, for many Italian players the Premier League is like a dream,” said the 21-year-old Italy international following a £9.4million transfer from Serie A side Hellas Verona.
“We’ve been watching the Premier League on television since we were kids, so it’s like a dream come true for me.”
Six months later, that dream has turned somewhat sour for the centre-back, for whom a return to Italy in January is looking increasingly likely given interest from AC Milan and Fiorentina.
Could Diego Coppola be Fiorentina’s savior?
After being beaten 1-0 by Lausanne in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday evening, leaving them eight points behind safety at the bottom of the league, Fiorentina’s needs seemed greatest. After an unexpected setback this season, the Viola are expected to be active in the upcoming transfer window, and it is understood the club have already approached Brighton with a view to signing Coppola on loan for the remainder of the season.
“I think [the existing players] have what it takes to respond, and we have a great chance to prove it on Sunday,” said manager Paolo Vanoli, looking ahead to the weekend visit of Udinese. “If it doesn’t happen, we have the January transfer window, where we will look into the eyes of the people who don’t want to fight, and then we’ll move on. When we reach January we will evaluate.”
Diego Coppola vs Fiorentina: why a move could make sense
Although Fiorentina is without a league victory this season, the move could still make sense for Coppola. With Jan Paul van Hecke firmly at the heart of the Brighton defense alongside captain Lewis Dunk, playing time has been of the utmost importance for the Italian, who has been limited to just 17 minutes of top-flight action so far. The only time Van Hecke and Dunk could not start together this season, against Brentford last month, it was Olivier Boscagli, the Frenchman signed on a free transfer after his departure from PSV this summer, who replaced the unwell Dunk for 45 minutes.
In the weeks before Coppola was signed, Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler spoke of the need to add more physicality to his squad. With an imposing height of 1.80 meters, the central defender seemed to fit in perfectly. While his former coaches in Italy spoke admiringly of his strength, speed and defensive skills, it seemed that Brighton had unearthed another unpolished gem, a player with the potential to become another addition to the conveyor belt of talent that brought the likes of Moisés Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Carlos Baleba to the Premier League. Instead, a man stood out partly for his physical presence, mostly for his absence.
World Cup ambitions
With his playing time mainly limited to the League Cup, where he started each of Brighton’s three matches, Coppola is likely to slide further down the pecking order when Adam Webster returns from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in pre-season. For a player hoping to return to the Italian squad before the World Cup play-offs in March, the situation is far from ideal.
Coppola was a mainstay for Verona as they fought a successful battle against relegation last season. If he can help Fiorentina recover from a seemingly irrecoverable position, it would boost his Italian aspirations and possibly revive his fading Premier League dream.
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