Of All The Premiership Clubs, Did Brentford Have The Best Summer Window?

Young Brentford fan Matthew Milne, writing for Beesotted for the very first time, shares his opinions on Brentford’s summer transfer activity and the positive start to the new season.

It is the 100th minute at Anfield. The Bees’ long-serving German midfielder, Vitaly Janelt, whips a superb delivery into the Liverpool penalty area and on the end of it, just yards out from goal, rises the Burkina Faso international, Dango Ouattara.

He rises so well into the muggy Liverpudlian air – almost too well and sends his header just inches wide of the goal. It was the last kick of the game, and Brentford’s season.

In the hopeful away end, hands go to heads as the Bees miss out on European football by the barest of margins. As the final whistle is blown, a definite sense of what could have been abounds, despite a well-earned share of the spoils at the home of the previous champions of England.

However, despite all the disappointment, it had still been a brilliant season for the Bees.

With the rookie set-piece coach, Keith Andrews, drafted in to replace Thomas Frank and the loss of Christian Norgaard, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, the feel-good factor around the club and its fanbase from the end of the previous season had been replaced by negativity. By the end of that summer window, the hope that the following campaign might be one to remember had been extinguished and many pundits were predicting the Bees to be relegated.

Those naysayers were duly proved to be far wrong as the Bees recovered to earn a place in a topsy-turvy race for Europe in the second half of the year, before the lack of attacking options off the bench proved costly, squad fatigue set in and the campaign ground to a halt right at its decisive end. However, compared to the chaotic start to the season, a very respectable 9th-place finish was a magnificent result for the club and its supporters – missing out on Europe purely on goal difference.

As spring turned to summer, anguish turned to pride within the Bees’ faithful as the old season was left in the rear-view mirror and pre-season preparations began anew.

The feeling was that if Brentford could keep hold of its main stars and add quality additions, especially at the top end of the pitch, to the current squad, then perhaps the successful season that most Bees fans had hoped for before the start of the last campaign could be delayed just a matter of a further season to this one.

This summer window got off to a great start.

Early on, the ex-Fulham, Newcastle and Chelsea winger Damien Duff was brought into the backroom staff, in the role of Andrews’ second in command. The highly rated coach, formerly manager of Shelbourne in Ireland, had long been touted to make the move to the coaching setup in TW8 and could well turn out to be a vital appointment.

Not long after, Brentford beat many top clubs to the signing of highly rated, young Austrian centre-half, Jannik Schuster, from RB Salzburg in what looks like a transfer for the future.

As I said previously, further attacking options were needed and Brentford had soon completed the signings of Burnley’s Jaidon Anthony and free agent, Callum Wilson, to provide offensive contributions from the bench and give first-choice wingers Schade and Ouattara a well-earned breather after holding the fort in both of those roles for much of the last campaign.

Then, in what could prove to be the bargain and perhaps, signing of the whole transfer window, Phil Giles and his universally admired recruitment team worked wonders once more to bring in Lens midfielder Mamadou Sangare. Included in Ligue 1’s team of the season, the Malian was the club’s record transfer (though not for long), a coup for the Bees and a further sign of Brentford’s rising ambitions in what was turning out to be a highly successful summer window. We are only a handful of games into the start of this season, but Sangare is already a firm fans’ favourite and has been a revelation in midfield, with his superb passing range and skilful ball recovery.

The summer was not all plain sailing. Frank Onyeka made his move to Coventry City permanent. Though often lacking in offensive quality, the Nigerian midfielder never lacked for hard work and effort during his time at the club. Jordan Henderson left on a free transfer to Chelsea and was always destined to be a temporary sticking plaster for Norgaard. Probably the hardest departure of the summer was that of Brentford legend Ethan Pinnock’s move to Coventry. After 7 extremely successful years with the Bees, his playing time had largely dwindled in the 2 most recent campaigns and it had felt for a little while like his time at the club was coming to an end. His exit was still a sad one in the eyes of many, however, and he left with the best wishes of the club and its grateful fans.

Just as the window was coming to an end, the Bees’ transfer record was broken once again with the signing of West Ham’s left back El Hadji Malick Diouf. Though suspect at times defensively in the Hammers’ relegation last year, his excellent crossing skills from the left should provide many assists for the Bees’ new-look attack over the ongoing season. The assumption is he will serve as the first-choice option in that left-back position, allowing the tireless Keane Lewis-Potter a berth in his preferred role further up the pitch as left-winger.

So what are the main takeaways from this summer’s transfer exploits? Damien Duff is sure to provide his important as well as invaluable experience as assistant to Andrews and his appointment could well turn out to be a masterstroke for the club. Several superb signings were added to an already excellent squad, providing much-needed depth, particularly in attack and midfield, whilst utilising the large amount of cash gathered from the sales of both Mbeumo and Wissa the previous summer. Finally and perhaps, most importantly, key departures were kept to an absolute minimum, which may prove to be vital.

Spreading one’s eye across the whole league, there are not many, if any, that can match Brentford’s superb summer – it really could not have gone much better.

If the transfer window and the great start to this campaign are anything to go by, it most certainly looks like it could be an exciting season ahead for the Bees.

Matthew Milne