Julio Enciso joins the ongoing list of players and staff to join ‘Chelsea’ aka BlueCo in a potential €20 million deal.
Julio Enciso departs, emotionally
Enciso’s career ended in rather bitter fashion, as it all seemingly started to come back downhill after he chose to represent his country at the Olympics last year, rather than Albion’s pre-season. Since then, it feels like Fabian Hürzeler has never truly wanted to use him as an option.
Despite this, a series of injury misfortunes haulted his progress, and he struggled to make it back into the Albion frame. Mentality issues crept in, and his career on the South Coast looked to be coming to an end. He went on a loan move to Ipswich, which allowed him the chance to showcase his abilities and attempt to continue his trajectory.
The loan was seen as a positive for him. Still, many shots from over 35 yards when teammates were in a better position were a theme, but Ipswich fans were largely impressed with his return in a short space of time.
He was “a breath of fresh air”, as told by Rich from Suffolk Crunch.
I miss the old Julio
The Paraguayan signed for the Seagulls back in 2022, as the club went above and beyond to secure his services. His talent was clear to see, and his ceiling appeared to be on top of the world. One of the most exciting young talents to sign for the club, and Roberto De Zerbi knew how to get the best out of him.
Enciso was electric. We found a player who played like he was just a boy with his friends in the park. Okay, the shooting from distance could be annoying, but my word was it refreshing to see a player express themselves after the years of robotic Graham Potter actions. De Zerbi enabled that personality to shine through, and Enciso was one of the main ones to prosper.
As the Italian boss told Talk Seagulls at the time in 2024:
“Yes, I think Julio’s most important quality is the balance between the confidence and arrogance. To play at this level you have to keep a high confidence, and he feels like he can be a great player.
He’s not bad, huh? He’s important. BUT, he has to make sure he doesn’t go ‘over’ that line. Sometimes I have to bring him back down! [smiled].”
The quality is there, but the mentality perhaps isn’t quite. There is no mistake that since losing a volcanic personality, many of the similarly minded players from South America have regressed or moved on somewhat.
Top-level players are motivated by being pushed on by high-pressure mental strength, and that came in abundance during this period of time. When players are at the highest level, they tend to have the ‘egos’ that come with it. Unfortunately, this is the nature of players who want to win big things.
It is about controlling and managing those emotions whilst balancing the growth of their technical abilities on the pitch. We saw a similar issue with João Pedro, who was a big personality, framed with ‘mentality problems’. Players like these are cultured differently to here; they want to win, and they will do everything to win. Sometimes it can come across as arrogant, but it is just their way of expressing their desire to succeed.
Personalities shone through on the pitch as well as pitchside.
It’d be intriguing to see how the Paraguayan works under former Albion hero Liam Rosenior, who has been heavily praised for his attention to detail when working with young players. There is no doubt about his potential, apart from keeping in mind his injury record. Technically, and if monitored well mentally, we are talking about a superstar in the making.
Blue-mCo
The biggest frustration across fans is the further business with ‘BlueCo’ aka Chelsea’s ownerships. In a strange deal, where Julio Enciso will initially move to Strasbourg (permanently), before pre-agreeing to join Chelsea next season, it seems like a very sketchy deal from the outside looking in.
From fans’ eyes, we want to see our best players reach their heights with us, but unfortunately, it has become pretty apparent that this will not happen with Enciso. There’s an acceptance there, but from my memory, this is not how Albion previously operated with young players. There was always a patience and knowledge that WE would be the ones to get the best out of them.
Sometimes the stars don’t align, but seeing Chelsea take hold of yet another gem from our inventory hurts to see. If he makes it as far as his potential could be, Chelsea will be the ones who prosper now.
Ultimately, his agent has won here. Enciso gets a big move, and contrary to fans’ opinions of the once dubbed Albion wonderkid in the last 12 months, he has been wanted by former Albion recruitment staff on the biggest stage again.
Thank you for the memories, Julio. I have witnessed some of my favourite moments as a Brighton fan as your Puskas runner-up strike against Manchester City and wonder goals against Chelsea will live forever long in the memory. You were part of Brighton history, and we must never forget that.
