Paris FC complete permanent Diego Coppola signing from Brighton | OneFootball

Diego Coppola has joined Paris FC permanently from Brighton, both clubs confirmed on Thursday. The 22-year-old Italian has signed a contract until 2031.

Frustrated by a lack of minutes, he moved to Paris on loan in January for the rest of last season. He made 13 appearances as they finished 11th in Ligue 1.

He returns to the French capital to link up with former Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior. Rosenior, who spent three years at Brighton as a player between 2015 and 2018, succeeded Antoine Kombouare as head coach earlier this month after his Chelsea dismissal in April.

Coppola made nine Brighton appearances after arriving from Hellas Verona for £9.4 million 13 months ago. He saw no route to regular game time under Fabian Hurzeler, with Jan Paul van Hecke and Lewis Dunk the dominant pairing last season.

The loan was also driven by a hope of forcing his way into the Italy squad if they qualified for the World Cup, which they missed. Brighton’s centre-back rebuild this summer made his desire to leave inevitable.

Van Hecke has been sold to Tottenham, Luka Vuscovic has moved in the opposite direction, and Brighton have signed Pascal Struijk from Leeds United and Michael Svoboda from Venezia.

Source: NY Times