Ipswich Town are set to make their first signing of the January transfer window, with Jeremy Sarmiento expected to join on loan from Premier League side Brighton. Alex Jones takes a closer look at the 21-year-old attacker.
Born in Spain, made in London
Sarmiento had an interesting upbringing, having been born in Madrid to Ecuadorian parents. His father, Lionel, took his family to Europe in search of work. They lived in the Spanish capital until Jeremy turned seven, which is when they moved to South London.
He quickly turned to football, using it as an alternative pathway from a life of gangs and crime. He’d play in the local cages, which helped him develop as a player and a person.
He started off by playing as a right-back in Spain, incredibly, as a toddler. In England, he was converted to become an attacking player, initially by Sunday League junior side Peckham All-Stars and then by Charlton Athletic, who scouted him while playing in district games.
“I lived in Peckham,” he told Sportsmail. Some of the stuff that was going on at the time, stabbings and everything, it was kind of hard. All I wanted to do was to play football and I think that helped me a lot.
“There were two roots. I had friends that used to do drug dealing, that kind of stuff. It could have ended up both ways. I’m grateful it went the other way.
“I used to get thrown around every time! But it really matured me, quick. Because I was always surrounding myself with older people.
“I used to go to school in Camberwell and there was a cage near it. I’d just go and play their every time. At 1am, 2am, I’d go back home.
“My mum would come looking for me. It was crazy. I’d come home and she'd say they wouldn’t let me out next time. But I always found a way.”
A Portuguese nightmare
After spending nine years at Charlton, Sarmiento made a switch that could've defined his career if everything went to plan, joining Benfica in 2018.
Spending time there seems like a dream for most young players. The Portuguese giants are experts at developing young players and selling them for profit. In the Premier League alone, you’ve got the likes of Ruben Dias (Manchester City, €68 million), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool, €75 million) and Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea, €121 million).
It didn’t work out for Sarmiento though.
His father revealed that he wasn’t happy with the contract on offer heading into his final year. He explained (via The Athletic): “It’s a good academy but I feel like they have a bad philosophy. If you don’t do whatever they say – ‘bye bye’.”
Benfica were adamant that it had to be a five-year deal, which was turned down. As a result, Sarmiento was banished from the training ground and the stadium, leaving him to train privately in parks and on various astroturf pitches.
“It really made me think about everything, whether I wanted to keep doing this,” he said. “There was a time where I just wanted to give up.
“My dad was the one that made me get through it. It’s paid off, all the hard work.”
The marquee move
Brighton were reportedly interested in Sarmiento in the January 2021 transfer window, but Benfica weren’t having any of it and he had to see out his contract. At that point, he had a fair few offers to consider.
His father revealed that FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Valencia had all registered their interest after seeing him play in Europe at youth level. However, a move to Brighton followed, with Sarmiento missing England and keen to return as a result.
He was initially announced as a signing for the under-23s in the summer of 2021, although manager Graham Potter saw his potential and quickly brought him into the first team as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 win against Swansea City in the Carabao Cup.
Things became harder after that. He made his first start in the same competition less than a month later, losing on penalties to Leicester City after a 2-2 draw. He impressed during his 70 minutes on the pitch, but gave the ball away for Ademola Lookman to score shortly before half-time, which ultimately contributed to their exit.
His full Premier League debut, which came against West Ham in December that year, was cut short after just 13 minutes when he injured his hamstring, requiring surgery. However, his father took a level-headed view, saying: “Football is like this. You have good things and bad things.
“Good things are when you are scoring, assisting, playing well, but we have to be realistic. Bad things are coming for everybody.
“Psychologically, he’s very strong. After Benfica, I don’t know if another player could be like this. Jeremy is ready to continue his career – humble, disciplined and with respect to everyone.”
Positives and negatives
There’s no denying that the 2022/23 season was tough for Sarmiento. After recovering from his hamstring injury, he spent a lot of time on the bench. A knee injury at the start of the Premier League campaign complicated things and when he returned he was mostly limited to short cameo appearances.
He injured his metatarsal while playing for Ecuador in March 2023, which ended his season entirely. He clearly needed a fresh start and regular football to get back on track, which led to a loan move to Championship side West Brom.
He made a relatively slow start and was, once again, restricted to brief appearances off the bench. He scored a late goal in a 4-2 win against Middlesbrough in late August, however, and went on to make his first start in a goalless draw against Millwall less than a month later.
Another injury (quad) ruled him out for the entirety of October before he returned with yet more cameo appearances, including one in the 2-0 win against Ipswich. He then made his second start away at Cardiff City towards the end of November, scoring an incredible goal to win the game 1-0. He cut inside from the left and curled a shot from outside the box to hand his side all three points in South Wales.
How to win a game of @SkyBetChamp football, by Jeremy Sarmiento. 🎨@jeremysarm7ento | #WBA pic.twitter.com/QzUHMyaT6a
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) November 29, 2023
Five consecutive starts soon followed, but he didn’t manage to take full advantage of his situation aside from an impressive display away at Rotherham United. He played just three minutes against Norwich City and four minutes against Leeds before Brighton made the decision to recall him.
It’s not a huge surprise. Seagulls boss Roberto De Zerbi described him as ‘a great guy and a very good player’ who’ll be 'a very important player for us in the coming years’. However, he stressed that he needs to have ‘a minimum of 35 games before coming back to us’, which obviously hasn’t happened.
Some West Brom supporters were disappointed by the news while others were not particularly fussed to see him depart. Speaking to the EADT, Baggies fan Andy Jones described him as a ‘a lively, direct, fairly fearless presence, particularly off the bench’, but admitted that a lack of consistency in the final third has been a problem. His record of two goals and no assists in 20 league games could be seen as a concern.
The Argus’ Brian Owen believes that he clearly has a lot of potential, but bringing that out over an extended period will be the next challenge in his development.
"Sarmiento is a skilful and tricky dribbler who has shown glimpses of exciting talent with Brighton,” he said. “But, for now, it does not go any further than that.
"There have been some exciting moments, including a precise pull-back to set up a goal for Evan Ferguson in a big win at Everton a year ago. But he has struggled for consistency and has also been hindered by injuries.
"He may also say himself he has not had a consistency of opportunity.
"We have not seen enough of him on a consistent basis but we know the potential is there.
"He needs a good, consistent run in a tough league."
What to expect
Sarmiento is clearly a huge talent. He represented England from Under-16s through to Under-18s before switching to Ecuador, having wanted to represent La Tri since he was a child. He’s played for them 13 times so far, with three of those appearances coming off the bench in the group stages of last year’s World Cup.
He hasn’t represented his country since March 2023, and this loan switch will certainly have been made with the upcoming Copa America in mind. He’ll be desperate to be involved in the competition this summer, and a successful spell at a promotion candidate in the Championship is a sure-fire way of getting the attention of manager Felix Sanchez.
That’ll be easier said than done, however. Ipswich have strength in depth in the final third, with Nathan Broadhead, Conor Chaplin and Wes Burns the clear starters behind the lone striker. His father believes that his best position is as a No.10, but most of his senior appearances have come from the left.
He’s a good dribbler who works well in tight spaces. He likes being chased by opponents and can draw fouls or stay strong to avoid going down. There are clear question marks over his end product, but that could perhaps be linked to the fact that West Brom have struggled to be ruthless in the final third so far this season.
At Portman Road, he’ll be playing in an incredibly attack-minded team that focus on constant chance creation. He’ll be expected to play a big part in that, so goals and assists should hopefully come. It’s a good chance to show everyone what he can do in English football.
Of course, he has little experience in that regard, with a handful of appearances for Brighton and West Brom. The same could be said for Omari Hutchinson, however, who hadn’t made a single senior appearance before moving to Suffolk.
There seem to be some real similarities between the two players, and Kieran McKenna will be hoping to develop Sarmiento in the same way.
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