Bryan Mbeumo: Is forward the next Brentford player to move to a big club after stunning start to Premier League season?
Bryan Mbeumo is second in the Premier League Golden Boot race with eight goals – is he the next Brentford player after David Raya and Ivan Toney to get a big move?; watch Fulham vs Brentford live on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football on November 4 from 6.30pm; kick-off 8pm.
Bryan Mbeumo is not the first hidden gem Brentford have unearthed and he will not be the last – but he might be the one they went the furthest lengths to acquire.
In 2019, so sure was technical director Lee Dykes that they could get Mbeumo, he convinced owner Matthew Benham to charter a jet – and manager Thomas Frank and then-co-sporting director Rasmus Ankersen to get on it with him – to race to France for talks.
It was mid-August, one of the hottest days of the year in France, and there was no air-conditioning in an hour-long taxi ride to the meeting. Hot, tired and after intensive talks with Troyes, they were left getting back on a plane with no deal.
Frank had taken time out between training sessions to make the trip, and on the journey home the jet battled snow, thunder and lightning before landing again safely in London, with no Mbeumo to show for it.
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Days later, there was a call back to Brentford saying there was a deal to be done – and the west London club landed a player who had been tracked by PSG and Man City for just €5m (£4.2m).
Dykes once told a club media article: “Brentford fans must know that I risked my life to sign Bryan Mbeumo!” And it was worth it.
Bryan Mbeumo celebrates after scoring Brentford’s goal
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Mbeumo was once tracked by PSG and Man City before joining Brentford in 2019
He is not the first gem Brentford have refined into a Premier League star either and – after Ivan Toney and David Raya – he does appear to be next one on the cab rank ready for the journey to a top club.
