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“Ronaldo-esque” Brighton star emerges as surprise target for Champions League giants
Brighton & Hove Albion have earned a reputation in recent years for two key reasons.
First, their remarkable ability to identify, recruit, and develop elite-level talent—arguably better than most clubs in world football. In recent times, they’ve unearthed the likes of Moisés Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, Marc Cucurella, Robert Sánchez, Ben White, Kaoru Mitoma, and Carlos Baleba, often for modest fees, before turning them into bona fide Premier League stars.
Second, their business model thrives on selling those stars for significant profits—often to Chelsea. Caicedo, Sánchez, and Cucurella were sold to the Blues for a combined fee of over £150 million. Mac Allister moved to Liverpool in 2023 for £35 million, and White, plucked from Swansea City’s academy, was sold to Arsenal for £50 million.
Now, with Mitoma and Baleba widely expected to be the next big departures, another name has quietly emerged as a surprise candidate to follow them out the door—despite a turbulent past 12 months.
Enciso Wanted by Inter Milan
Julio Enciso. (REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff)
According to a new report, 21-year-old Julio Enciso could be the latest Brighton talent on the move, with Champions League heavyweights Inter Milan reportedly interested in signing the Paraguayan this summer.
Enciso joined Brighton from Libertad for £9.5 million in the summer of 2022. In his early months at the Amex, he impressed with his close control, creativity, and knack for the spectacular. His 25-yard strike against Manchester City in May 2023 earned him the Premier League Goal of the Season award and a third-place finish in the FIFA Puskás Award voting.
Speaking about the goal, former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports: “That is Ronaldo-esque, it’s such an amazing strike, it’s as good a strike I’ve seen in the Premier League for so long. The goalkeeper is missing it by five yards, what technique.”
However, despite a strong start, Enciso’s progress stalled. Injuries, inconsistency, and questions about his work rate saw him relegated to Brighton’s U21s before being loaned to Ipswich Town for the latter half of last season. Ipswich were relegated, and Enciso’s contribution was modest.
Still, that hasn’t deterred Inter. According to TEAMtalk, the Nerazzurri are long-time admirers and have been monitoring Enciso since 2021. With a desire to lower the average age of their squad and invest in high-upside talents, they view the Paraguayan as a perfect fit for their future.
Enciso certainly has the raw talent to justify that faith. On his day, he’s capable of the extraordinary. But right now, those days don’t come often enough—and if he’s to earn a move to a club of Inter’s stature, he’ll need to prove that his next chapter can be one of consistency, not just flashes of brilliance.
