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At this time of the summer most football fans get the equivalent of cabin fever. Starved of seeing their team in action for a number of weeks they resort to the newspapers, Sky Sports and the internet for a sniff of new signings at the club.

I’m certainly no different, I probably hit the refresh key on my computer several hundred times a day in the vague hope that a Brazilian international has chosen to join Brentford, such is his love of drive through McDonalds and local steam and musical museums.

We’ve got friendlies coming up (we played one last night, a 3-0 win in Germany. I was in London. Loyal) where we get our first chance to sniff at the new blood, to be excited by the new faces – many of whom I’ve probably inadvertently booed before in their previous club’s colours. We get a chance to lionise these players, only to sometimes feel a bit disappointed over the coming weeks – certainly the case with me after an initial thrilling glimpse of Michael Spillane.

Two new, and excitingly continental, names were dropped into the frame at the weekend in the form of wideman Martin Fillo and keeper Daniel Muller who have both linked up with the squad overseas. They could be stars of our future. They could be names we’ve all forgotten by September.

The good news though is that Uwe Rosler already has some unpolished diamonds at the club. We’ve seen a few fleetingly in action – but this season could be their chance to make an impact.

Farid El Alagui signed last summer after scoring a plethora of goals for Falkirk the season before. He was a cult hero there. Farid’s season was cruelly cut short last term when he was still finding his feet when he pulled up injured against Crawley Town in October. He’d already shown some goalscoring quality by then – a brace against Crewe and the winner vs Colchester – and even defied the odds to make a short cameo against Swindon before the end of the season.

Farid will be keen to make up for lost time in West London. To prove his class. To kiss his lucky coin time and time again in front of the Bees faithful. If he can recapture his fitness and form he could be as good as a new signing and will give Clayton Donaldson and Will Grigg a run for their money.

Another player bubbling under is winger Stuart Dallas who joined from Crusaders last summer. With Harry Forrester departing may fans are hoping that the direct running Irishman can make his mark at first team level. Forrester too took a season to settle with us, maybe this time it could be Dallas making a name for himself as an outstanding talent.

Let’s not forget Jake Reeves either. The summer signings of George Saville and Alan McCormack may seem to have pushed young Reevesy back down the pecking order but he’s got the cheek and character to put himself back into Rosler’s thoughts. An impish player with an eye for a pass, Reeves was offered a new two year deal back in April and may be the first home grown player for a long long while to properly establish himself at first team level.

The future of the club – beyond the generous wealth of Matthew Benham – would appear to be to bring through our own talent and for this reason Brentford closed their centre of excellence in favour of an academy last summer. Whilst our initial intake of players, generally those rejected elsewhere, was somewhat mixed there are two or three players who could yet make a name for them this season and are currently training with the first team.

Manny Oyeleke (pictured above) started his career as a winger but the club have hopes that he can be retrained as a right back – which is exactly where he played in Germany last night. If he’s not in Rosler’s first team plans, AFC Wimbledon are apparently keen on a loan deal. Adam Pierre is a brutish defender who failed to make the grade at Fulham but certainly has the physical attributes to make the grade. Charlie Adams made a brief first team cameo at Carlisle last year but looks like he could be the real deal – a scampering midfielder with some real quality on the ball. It’s quite conceivable that they don’t all make the grade but I’d tip at least one of them to succeed. At a younger age we’ve also got Michael Onivwigun who still has the time and ability to become a superstar but maybe not this season.

Don’t get me wrong I’ll still spend the rest of the summer refreshing my computer time and time again looking for crumbs of information about new signings at the club. The good news is that we might actually be alright without them. Time will tell.

Condorman (@thecondorman)