Soccer Football - Serie A - Hellas Verona v Atalanta - Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona, Italy - February 8, 2025 Hellas Verona's Diego Coppola in action with Atalanta's Mateo Retegui REUTERS/Alberto Lingria
Brighton have announced the signing of defender Diego Coppola from Hellas Verona for an undisclosed fee. The 21-year-old has signed a five-year deal with the club, fresh after earning his first two caps for Italy last week.
The player is a product of the Verona academy, making his debut in 2021. He finishes his Verona career with 81 appearances for the club, scoring four times. He scored two goals in 35 appearances last season.
“Diego is an exciting addition for the club,” Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler said in a statement on the club’s official website.
“Although he is still young, he is tall, strong and mobile and he will give us a real physical presence.”
“He has made impressive progress in Serie A and deserved his call-up to the Italian national team.”
“We look forward to helping him develop even more.”
Coppola joins Brighton
Coppola made his Italy debut in last week’s 3-0 defeat to Norway on June 6th. He played again for his country three days later when they beat Moldova 2-0, coming on as a second-half substitute.
He is currently representing Italy’s U21s at the European Championships in Slovakia. They play Spain on Tuesday night having already secured group stage qualification after defeating hosts Slovakia and Romania.
Coppola has grown in stature in his four Serie A campaigns since breaking into the Verona team. At 6’4 he is an aerial threat in both boxes, and his exceptional reading of the game allows him to snuff out danger.
He is expected to slot straight into the Brighton XI next to Jan Paul van Hecke, who is more of a technically sound defender. While van Hecke excels at carrying the ball and starting the Brighton attack with crisp passing, Coppola should provide a nice compliment as the enforcer of the pair.
Coppola is the more physical and aggressive of the two, and will likely win more duels and complete more clearances.
Coppola becomes Brighton’s second signing of the summer, following the arrival of teenage forward Charalampos Kostoulas in a £29.8m deal from Olympiakos.
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