Brentford FC January transfer window 2025: The Bees also interested in El Hadji Malick and more

Brentford Transfer Analysis and Overview 2024

Premier League side Brentford Football Club is based in the West of the English capital London founded back in 1899. Despite being one of the oldest football clubs in the United Kingdom and London, they had never played in the Premier League until 2021. The club is nicknamed ‘The Bees’ and plays their home matches at the Gtech Community stadium.

In the 2021/22 season, the West London club played for the first time in the top flight in 74 years and marked their debut appearance in the Premier League for the first time. Brentford boss, Thomas Frank led the club to Promotion through the EFL Championship play-off by defeating Swansea City 2-0 at Wembley Stadium to secure their place in the Premier League.

Notably, Brentford have managed to clinch a midtable spot in the points table every single season since the debut season thriving to compete against Europe’s biggest clubs and welcoming some of the best players in the Premier League in their transfers.

Brentford Transfers Club Performance History

Brentford’s transfer policy has helped the club to achieve gradual success and consistency on the field leading to their promotions through the football English football pyramid in the past decades. They have climbed all the way up to the top of English football beginning with League One. Club owner Matthew Benham introduced the data-driven acquisitions which eventually brought success.

Their signings have performed exceptionally on the pitch and also generated remarkable profits when sold out, this has continued over the years and now their latest arrivals such as Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Kevin Schade and Mikkel Damsgaard have played key roles in their recent performances and established their roles in the Thomas Frank over the seasons.

Brentford Transfer Challenges and Criticisms

The London club have received a fair share of criticism and challenges for shutting down the club’s entire academy system in 2016 and replacing the production chain of young talents through the B-team. However, after significant backlash, they changed their decision and re-opened the academy at the start of the start of 2022/23 season.

Overreliance on modern data and analytics-friendly methods for planning out the transfers casts doubt over their sustainability amid the fierce competition. The club acquires undervalued players and sells them after developing them at high prices for instance; Ivan Toney, David Raya, and Ollie Watkins. Also, selling players frequently hinders the long-term vision.

Brentford Transfer Strategy and Philosophy

Out of all the Premier League clubs, only Brentford football club has a unique and modern way of carrying out their transfers that are based on seven stages of methodology and innovative usage of technology and statistical data in their recruitment to identify and sign players based on these parameters.

As revealed by the club’s technical director Lee Dykes — this method has proven successful for the Bees in recent history, especially in identifying young undervalued players with immense potential. It helps them to narrow down their recruitment pool of players after filtering out the players on the basis of a data-driven process.

These steps include the identification of the team’s needs, scouting players from a very young age, extracting performance metrics through data analytics and video assessment then executing the traditional scouting steps with on-ground evaluation. Then comes, the acquisition, negotiation and development stages once the above process is completed.

Most Expensive Brentford Transfers

Brentford and Thomas Frank spent a massive £30 million on the Brazilian out-and-out striker of Club Brugge in January, also seen as the potential Ivan Toney replacement hence, making him the most expensive transfer in the club’s history.

Last summer, the Republic of Ireland centre-back Nathan Collins became the second most expensive signing of Brentford when the London club paid £23 million to fellow league rivals Wolverhampton Wolves in 2023 to strengthen.

In the same transfer window, Kevin Schade was signed from Bundesliga club FC Freiburg for £22 million and moved to the English capital in 2023. Portuguese attacking midfielder, Fabio Carvalho was bought for £20 million on weighty transfer expenses.

Brentford Transfers New Signings 2024/25

During the 2024 summer transfer window, The Bees compensated for the departure of their talisman striker Ivan Toney, roping in Igor Thiago from Club Brugge on a massive £30 million deal to sign a five-year deal at Gtech Community Stadium.

The 22-year-old talented Dutch defender joined the defensive ranks leaving English giants Liverpool for £23 million committing his long-term future in London along with his fellow Liverpool teammate Fabio Carvalho was also secured on a reported £20 million fee.

Two young and promising additions, 19-year-old winger, Gustavo Nunes from Brazilian club Gremio and 18-year-old left-back Jayden Meghoma from Premier League newcomers Southampton landed on the modest combined fee of £11 million on a long-term basis.

Brentford Transfers All Outgoings 2024/25

In a shocking move, the Premier League’s most desired forward among the top clubs, Ivan Toney chose to join the Saudi Pro League outfit Al Ahli permanently. The English striker was instrumental in the club’s recent success and steered them to the top division while scoring 72 goals in 141 appearances.

For the second biggest, departure, it was pretty much obvious that David Raya would be continuing with Arsenal following an exceptional season in the Premier League clinching the Golden Glove and marking his presence in the PFA Team of the Year 2023/24. Consequently, Arsenal bought him for £27 million.

Wales under-21 International Right Back, Finley Stevens joined FC St. Pauli on a small transfer fee reported to be around a million. On the other hand, the likes of Zanka, Shandon Baptiste and Thomas Strakosha exited the club as free agents.

Top Signings for Brentford in 2024/25

The £23 million arrival from Liverpool Sepp van den Berg has been the most impressive player for Thomas Frank-led Bees, the Dutch defender swiftly integrated himself into the backline of Brentford. The 22-year-old is a versatile defender who could operate in almost every position Left-Back and right-back and also played as a central defender. He is a confident starter for Frank’s side.

This summer, Fábio Carvalho also joined Brentford from Liverpool after failing to secure his place under Arne Slot. The attacking midfielder has been confident and amazing within the limited chances he has received as a substitute mostly making cameo appearances only. The Portuguese creative midfielder has already scored his debut goal for the Bees.

Worst Signings for Brentford in 2024/25

Despite being the most expensive club signing of all time and coming on the back of an outstanding season with the Belgian club scoring 29 goals and 6 assists in 55 appearances across all competitions in the 2023/24 season. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old, striker, Igor Thiago suffered a knee injury which kept him on the sidelines for three months.

Thiago missed numerous games for the Bees and has only played 57 minutes this term. Another injury, absentee Gustavo Nunues is yet to make his first appearance due to a back injury and subsequently, missed over 15 matches for the Bees this season.

Brentford’s Transfer Spend Till Now

Ivan Toney has left Brentford to join Al-Ahli on a £40 million deal on the deadline day in a shocking move adding to the earlier, Raya’s exit. As David Raya’s loan move to Arsenal helped him earn a permanent transfer for a £27 million fee to North London. Igor Thiago, Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg are three vital additions to the Bees squad and Brentford’s recorded £20 million of spending differentials after the 2024 summer business.

Thomas Frank has only spent what they have earned through sales, but their recruitments might not be proven enough to survive in the battle to stay afloat in the Premier League and avoid relegation. However, the Bees have shown tremendous performance in the Premier League this season, cementing their spot in the middle of the table.