So, transfer deadline day has come and gone, and although there is one rather large question mark hanging over Lasse Vibe’s future at Brentford and final confirmation on whether he’ll be joining the Chinese club or not, most Brentford supporters will be breathing a rather big sigh of relief this morning.
Bees fans were rightly concerned that the looming deadline could, once again, see club’s with bigger wage budgets swoop in for our finest – Ollie Watkins, Ryan Woods, Alan Judge, Romain Sawyers, Dan Bentley, Yoann Barbet, Andreas Bjelland had all had transfer rumours circulating that included their names, however, all remain at Griffin Park for the foreseeable future, which is great news for many reasons.
In the end, the final day of transfer activity in TW8 centered around a player who is just emerging as a Brentford first-teamer – a player who, in just a handful of starts for the Bees, has already made Premier League scouts and managers jump into action to try and secure his signature… a certain Chris Mepham.
Regular listeners to the Beesotted Pride of West London Podcast will be aware that, following Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe’s appearance in the Braemar Road stand for the Bolton match (and again last weekend), we had been talking about the likelihood of Mepham being on the Cherries radar… and so it proved to be with a deal of £8m being dangled in front of our noses. But it proved nowehere near enough.
Beesotted can confirm that two large bids were made on deadline day, which were both snubbed by our club who, in doing so, have made it clear that they see Mepham as central to their plans going forwards – a player with international quality and captaincy potential.
Make no mistake, £8m for a player who is yet to make 15 appearances for the club is a huge amount of money, but credit to the decision makers in not only having the confidence in the player, but also for turning their noses up at what is a considerable windfall.
Gone are the days that Brentford will accept derisory offers for our best players – yes we are still a selling club – but at our price. We understand we value Mepham north of £12m, a figure that may increase futher with time and further experience.
Mepham’s progress will almost certainly be followed with even more scrutiny from here on in, and assuming he continues as he has, no doubt there will be further offers in the summer, but for now, we can all forget about the threat of losing players for the time being and get on with enjoying whatever the rest of this season has to bring.
Dave Lane
@beesotted100
MORE RECENT CONTENT
MOST READ CONTENT
Is Football Facing An Existential Crisis?
Football is facing an existential crisis. If left unchecked it risks becoming a runaway issue that will ultimately drive long-standing fans from the game to be replaced by tourist supporters. Maybe, just maybe, that’s what the Premier League overlords want. I’d like...
Stateside Bees Dreaming Of Europe | Tampa Fan Fest Special
From across the pond and right in the thick of the red-and-white buzz, ReggieGee The Tallahassee Bee drops into Tampa’s Fan Fest to soak up the sights, sounds and soaring European dreams of Brentford fans Stateside More than 7,000 fans from all across the U.S. flocked...
Benham Lifts The Brentford Lid In Rare Interview
As we are only too aware, a successful football club’s story usually starts and ends with how much money they spend. Typically, the bigger the wage bill, the higher you finish. It’s not a just a pub-chat theory, the numbers back it up year after year. The clubs...
Bees Breakdown’s Tactical Breakdown – Newcastle 2 Brentford 3
Beesotted contributor Jacob ‘The Gowler’ Gowler (@BeesBreakdown) gives us the tactical and statistical lowdown of Brentford’s win against Newcastle. Brentford created 1.79 xG to Newcastle’s 2.24 with each team converting their penalty. Perhaps surprisingly, Newcastle...
Does Size Matter as Brentford Head to Chelsea?
Brentford head to Stamford Bridge this weekend looking to continue their unbeaten run against world champions Chelsea, who have yet another new coach picking their side. The Bees, who sit in fifth place above the Blues, will be confident based on recent form, as well...
What Would Make Brentford Fans Happy in 2026?
Beating Bournemouth 4–1 was the perfect way to say farewell to a year of change, but 2025 was still undoubtedly one to celebrate. There was hardly a dull moment in TW8; however, significant departures and a major reshuffle from front to back will be how it will be...
The Brentford High School End Of Year Reports
Beesotted’s supply teacher, Condorman, casts his eye back over the class of 2017/2018. The dust has now settled on another enjoyable year at Brentford High School with the pupils again setting some high standards against other places of learning who often...
Agricultural Derby And Hull City’s Offside Saga
Derby County’s ‘agricultural’ playing style at Griffin Park earlier this season really frustrated Brentford fans who were stunned that one of the division's biggest spenders and most illustrious clubs had resorted to such extreme negativity in the 1-1 draw. Whether it...
Play Or Stay Drama At Griffin Park
With the transfer deadline looming and one or two Brentford players having to make decisions about their futures at Griffin Park, we thought it would be interesting to delve into the brand new Big Book of Griffin Park again and contrast how transfer negotiations have...
Brentford Defeat Three World Cup Winners At Griffin Park
Griffin Park has witnessed many things in its long and eventful history, and although time is running out for the old girl with the new stadium about to be built, we all hope there’s some significant history yet to be made at our proud old home. However, I can’t see...
The Most Significant Event In Brentford History?
The most significant event to happen at Griffin Park after joining the Football League in 1920 was, without doubt, the appointment of Harry Curtis as the club’s manager – some may even go as far as to say it was the most significant moment in the club’s entire...
Brentford Legend Bob Taylor Interview At The Fullers’ Brewery
Ex Brentford striker Bob Taylor joined the Beesotted crew, Marcus Gayle, Kev O'Connor and a room full of Brentford fans at the Fullers’ Brewery for the traditional end of year Bees-Up. A hilarious evening in which he told of his partnership with Nicky Forster as one...
As you say Dave gone are the days when the Bees accept derisory offers for our players, long may it continue.His detractors will not like it but its all thanks one fan, THANK YOU.