Burnley complete transfer deadline day swoop for experienced Brighton defender

Experienced Brighton and Hove Albion defender Igor Julio has become Burnley’s second addition on transfer deadline day.

The 28-year-old arrives in a permanent deal from the Premier League outfit for an undisclosed fee.

The Brazilian, who is capable of playing at both centre-back and left-back, has signed a three-year deal.

“I'm very happy to be here,” Julio said of his move. “Burnley is a great club with lots of history and I'm pleased to be a part of it.

“Once I heard of the interest and spoke to the manager, I wanted to get the move done and I'm ready for this next chapter now in my career.”

His arrival will provide some much-needed depth at left-back, where the Clarets will be without Bashir Humphreys for the next two months due to a knee injury.

Lucas Pires, meanwhile, will miss a second straight game against Middlesbrough tomorrow night due to concussion protocol following an accidental clash of heads in the cup game against Bradford City.

But the Clarets were already keen to sign a new left-back, even before Humphreys and Pires suffered their respective issues.

Born and raised in Bom Sucesso, Brazil, Julio started out in the Red Bull Brasil set-up and after impressing in the Under-20s side, the defender was rewarded with a move to Austria to join Red Bull Salzburg's reserve team, Liefering.

Following two seasons with Liefering, the centre-back was promoted to Salzburg's main squad, but with regular minutes limited, he went on to spend time on loan at Wolfsberger AC and Austria Wien across the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons.

The summer of 2019 saw Igor then depart in a permanent move to Serie A side SPAL, where he spent just six months, before moving to fellow Italian side Fiorentina on an initial two-year loan in January 2020.

Igor played 33 games for the Serie A club during his first two campaigns in Florence, before making the move permanent in the summer of 2021 and the Brazilian went on to feature a further 77 times for the Italian side, tallying up a total of 110 appearances.

After finishing runner-up in the Coppa Italia and Europa Conference League in his final season, Igor departed Italy to sign for Brighton in the summer of 2023.

He penned a four-year deal with the Seagulls and quickly established himself within the starting XI, playing 33 games during his first season at the Amex.

Igor played a further 16 times the following year, before spending the first-half of last season on loan at West Ham.