Jose Heriberto Izquierdo Mena is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League and for the Colombia national team.
Izquierdo started playing football at an early age, starting out as a goalkeeper before moving outfield into a midfield/winger position. His parents initially wanted him to become a tennis player, however Izquierdo "constantly preferred to kick tennis balls with his feet rather than use rackets, and his teacher promptly advised him to switch to his natural sport". Izquierdo would subsequently abandon football for several years following his brother's death in a traffic accident, before eventually returning to join Deportivo Pereira.
Izquierdo joined Once Caldas in 2013 from Deportivo Pereira, and moved to Club Brugge one year later. On 10 August 2017, it was announced that newly-promoted Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion had agreed a club record transfer fee with Club Brugge for Izquierdo, reported to be around £13.5 million.
Izquierdo received his first callup to the Colombia national team for friendlies in June 2017 against Spain and Cameroon. In June 2018 he was named in Colombia’s 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. |
