When Diego Coppola signed for Brighton & Hove Albion this summer, he could barely conceal his excitement.
“I can’t wait to play the first matches in the Premier League, for a lot of Italian players the Premier League is like a dream,” said the 21-year-old Italy international after completing a £9.4m move from Serie A side Hellas Verona.
“We have seen the Premier League on television since we were kids, so it’s like a dream come true for me.”
Six months on, that dream has turned somewhat sour for the centre-back, for whom a January return to Italy looks increasingly likely amid reported interest from AC Milan and Fiorentina.
Could Diego Coppola be Fiorentina’s saviour?
Defeated 1-0 by Lausanne in the Uefa Conference League on Thursday night and eight points adrift from safety at the bottom of the league, Fiorentina’s need would appear greatest. After an unexpected decline this season, the Viola are expected to be active in the forthcoming transfer window, and it is understood the club has already made an approach to Brighton with a view to taking Coppola on loan for the remainder of the season.
“I think [the existing players] have what it takes to react, and we have a big opportunity to prove that on Sunday,” said manager Paolo Vanoli, looking ahead to the weekend visit of Udinese. “If it doesn’t happen then, we have the January transfer window, where we’ll look into the eyes of those people who don’t want to fight, and we’ll move on. When we get to January, we’ll evaluate.”
Diego Coppola to Fiorentina: why move could make sense
While Fiorentina are without a league win this season, the move could nonetheless make sense for Coppola. With Jan Paul van Hecke firmly established alongside skipper Lewis Dunk at the heart of Brighton’s defence, playing time has been at a premium for the Italian, who has so far been limited to just 17 minutes of top-flight action. On the one occasion Van Hecke and Dunk were unable to start together this season, against Brentford last month, it was Olivier Boscagli, the Frenchman signed on a free transfer following his departure from PSV this summer, who deputised for the unwell Dunk for 45 minutes.
In the weeks before Coppola was signed, Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler spoke of the need to add greater physicality to his squad. At an imposing 6ft 4in, the centre-back seemed to fit the bill perfectly. As his former coaches in Italy spoke admiringly of his strength, speed and defensive nous, it seemed Brighton had unearthed another unpolished gem, a player with 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 signed partly for his physical presence has been notable mostly for his absence.
World Cup aspirations
With his playing time essentially limited to the League Cup, where he started each of Brighton’s three games, Coppola is likely to slip further down the pecking order when Adam Webster returns from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in pre-season. For a player hopeful of returning to the Italy squad before the World Cup playoffs in March, the situation is far from ideal.
Coppola was a mainstay for Verona as they fought a successful battle against relegation last term. If he can help Fiorentina to recover from a seemingly irretrievable position, it would bolster his Italy aspirations and, potentially, rekindle his fading Premier League dream.
