AUTUMN 2026 TRANSFER WINDOW
It is generally acknowledged that the transfer window in the Autumn of 2019 was the most successful in Brentford’s recent history as it set the tone and paved the way for their current position as an established Premier League team.
Let’s just reflect for a moment on who Phil Giles, Lee Dykes and the rest of the recruitment team managed to entice to Griffin Park. Everyone of course remembers the Big Six who played such a prominent part in Brentford’s rise and were the backbone of the team.
The names trip off the tongue very easily – Ethan Pinnock, David Raya, Pontus Jansson, Bryan Mbeumo Christian Nørgaard and Mathias Jensen. All internationals in their own right and all certainties to be voted into the Brentford Hall of Fame.
It would not be Brentford we are talking about if I did not mention money and trading at this juncture as the aforementioned six players cost us less than 25 million Euros – a ridiculously small sum. Jensen still remains at the club where he continues to delight us with the quality of his vision and long-range passing. The others brought in the eye watering sum of around 125 million Euros in transfer fees – five times what we paid for them – as well as forming the foundation of the 2020/21 promotion team which has gone on to establish itself in the Premier League.
There were also a few others who arrived in that same window who had varying levels of success: Mads Roerslev who Phil Giles considers to be one of the best bargains ever bought by the club, Joel Valencia and Dom Thompson.
In years to come I believe it is very likely that the transfer window that has just closed will be considered with equal fondness and turn out to be just as successful as the one in 2019.
I am going to start off my review of the most recent transfer window by, perhaps surprisingly, talking about some of the deals that never happened – in other words sometimes the best transfer deals are the ones that are never made.
Not only did Brentford keep hold of all of their star players, in particular the likes of Kayode, Thiago and Damsgaard, the first two also signed extended contracts (as did the immortal Ellery Balcombe!) and the still influential Jensen and Rico Henry had their contractual options taken up.
Unlike the chaos of the last preseason which saw turmoil both on and off the pitch, this was a far calmer and more settled preseason. The squad, with the exception of Jordan Henderson who had done the job he was brought in to do and who cannot be blamed for accepting the offer of a two-year contract at Chelsea, remained intact with another year’s experience of playing together and required tweaking rather than wholesale changes.
This time last year the club brought in over 150 million Euros through the sales of Mbeumo, Wissa, Norgaard, Flekken and Roerlev and this Autumn was the time when the Lion’s share of those sums – around 125 million Euros was used to fund the arrivals of five new players.
It still boggles me to speak of Brentford spending such ridiculously high sums when I can clearly remember collecting buckets and begging bowls being passed around to keep the lights on and the likes of Alex Rhodes being signed thanks to a £10,000 donation by the Brentford Lifeline Society – how things change!
To help put things into context and perspective the massive sums laid out by the club this autumn merely meant that Brentford were the 14th highest spender in the Premier League this Autumn and their signings were dwarfed by the money spent by the promoted trio of Coventry, Ipswich and Hull City.
Hull, indeed signed an incredible 18 players at a cost of around 175 million Euros with six arriving in a mad trolley dash on the final day of the window
So, what did Brentford need and where did they need to strengthen? The last third of the season clearly signposted our shortcomings and weaknesses as we saw our European hopes gradually diminish, dwindle and finally disappear – death by a thousand cuts – quite simply because of our lack of strength in depth, and the inability to make meaningful changes off the bench which meant that the key players had to play far too much and for far too long as we did not have adequate replacements to bring on in their place. In many games Keith Andrews was loath to make any changes because the bench resembled a creche packed full of raw B Team prospects rather than battle hardened Premier League-proven players.
All in all, five new players arrived, all selected with the level of care and analysis for which we as a club are justifiably renowned.
20-year-old centre back Jannik Schuster arrived from Red Bull Salzburg for 18 million Euros, Winger Jaidon Anthony cost around the same sum from Burnley, experienced, battle-hardened striker Callum Wilson joined on a free transfer from West Ham, star midfielder Mamadou Sangare cost a near club record fee of 48 million Euros from Lens and late in the window another West Ham player arrived in the form of attacking left back El Hadji Malick Diouf, who cost around 40 million Euros.
Schuster is highly promising and has already played Champions League football for Red Bull. He will look to learn from the likes of Nathan Collins although an injury to the Brentford skipper has meant that he has been blooded perhaps a bit earlier than anticipated.
Anthony was a year below Josh Dasilva in the Arsenal academy and returns to London fresh from an excellent season at relegated Burnley where he scored eight goals and gave Brentford the run-around, scoring in that madcap 4-3 game at Turf Moor. He can play on either flank and will provide competition to both Dango Ouattara and Kevin Schade – you notice I did not call him a “back-up”. He started with a hat trick of assists in the 6-1 pounding of old nemesis Birmingham City and will likely become a fan favourite given his skill and work ethic.
Callum Wilson is quite simply all about goals as he looks to reach his target of 100 Premier League strikes. We know from hard experience just what he can do in front of goal. He will complement Igor Thiago and maybe allow the big man some respite when needed. Callum too has opened his account already against Birmingham.
Eyes were opened when we managed to sign Malian international Mamadou Sangare from Lens. We struck whilst other bigger clubs dithered and the benefit has been instantaneous as he ran the entire game on his debut against Spurs who could not get near him as he totally dominated the midfield. He is impossible to categorise and is the complete midfielder and we will really enjoy watching his play for us this season, and hopefully for many more to come.
Given the long-term injuries to Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey we have struggled at full back for far too long. Michael Kayode is an utter law unto himself and Keane Lewis-Potter has deputised brilliantly but the arrival of El Hadji Malick Diouf means that we have signed another specialist left back.
He was one of the brighter sparks in a poor West Ham team last season, impressing more as an attacker than defender, conceding a poor penalty at the Gtech when Dango stitched him up like a kipper. Going forward he is a real threat with brilliant crossing ability and I am sure that he will force his way into the team fairly shortly and our coaching will drastically improve his defending.
There was idle gossip about Mykhailo Mudryk perhaps arriving from Chelsea on loan but given what Spurs are alleged to have paid for him in terms of a loan fee and a reputed £75 million transfer fee should they take up their option they are in cloud cuckoo land and we are shopping in a totally different market!
Time will tell just how successful our recent signings turn out to be but I am feeling particularly optimistic.
Thank you, Phil Giles and Lee Dykes. We are very grateful to you both.
Greville Waterman
Septemebr 2026