The news that most Brentford fans feared was inevitable was confirmed last night, with Neal Maupay’s departure to Brighton crossing the line and rounding off a massive day of activity at Griffin Park.

A club record transfer fee, in the region of £20m, will soften the blow a little, however, Maupay’s goals and work rate will be difficult to replace, and unless the Directors of Football are able a find a ‘like-for-like’ solution, the departure certainly risks weakening a team that was expected to push for promotion and was already short of striking options.

The Maupay deal stole the limelight in a landmark day’s transfer activity, and with two more days to go before the deadline, rumours circulate over several other first team names at the Bees… with question marks hanging over the futures of Ricoh Henry (who has on Celtic’s radar), Kamo Makotjo (who is in the last year of his contract and is now one of myriad midfield options) Said Benrahma (seemingly itching for a transfer) and Ollie Watkins (a player on the shopping list of several other clubs).

So, this really was the Maupay goodbye we all thought it could be 👎🏼 #BrentfordFC pic.twitter.com/KEgCC6cwxC

— Beesotted Brentford (@Beesotted) August 5, 2019

Incoming yesterday was club record Bryan Mbeumo, the highly rated forward thought to have cost the Bees somewhere in the region of £6m, possibly taking the club summer spending to £25m so far. Thomas Frank, Brentford FC Head Coach, said of the capture: “Bryan is exactly the sort of player we want at Brentford. He is quick, he is direct, he can beat people attacking one-on-one, he can arrive late in the penalty area and he can score goals. It is also great that he works unbelievably hard off the ball.
“He is a young player and we may have to be patient but there is even more to come from him than we have seen so far at Troyes. He is a very exciting player and one I am looking forward to working with. It is great that we have been able to add Bryan to our squad.”

Southend Midfielder, Dru Yearwood, also came through the in door, having played a part of the Southend first team group for the past two seasons. He was called in to an England Under-18 squad in the summer of 2018 but was unable to travel because of injury. He played 28 games in all competitions in 2017/18 and a further 33 last season.

As you will imagine, the Beesotted LoveSport radio show was a busy one last night, and can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

The rumour mill has been busy for the last 24 hours too, with plenty of chatter regarding Basle striker, Albian Ajeti, however, any interest from Brentford is likely to be matched by West Ham United and West Brom, whose names have also been linked with the Swiss international player. So watch this space.

The final 72 hours of the transfer window is expected to remain hectic and potential unsettling, and Beesotted will be hosting a special podcast early Thursday evening which will go live the same night.

Dave Lane

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