A SWARM OF BEES - Brentford FC.


Midfielders:
8. Mathias Jensen - Mathias was once again vital player for our team! Upgrading his average rating in the Premier League since last year and proving to be our most important player! Jensen finishes the campaign with 4 goals & 5 assists, also winning record for the club 4th Player of the Month award! Favorite player in my stay at Brentford FC!

20. Lovro Majer -
Our best signing this year, the young Croatian had tremendous second half of the season winning 2 Player of the Month awards in the final 3 months! Lovro is becoming one of the leaders for the team and we need to build around him. 7 goals, 4 assists, 2 POTM - SUPERB PLAYER!

26. Shandon Baptiste
- He keeps on improving every year! Playing a lot more and turning everywhere in midfield Baptiste is our great box-to-box player! With 2 goals and 5 assists he is getting more and more attention to him, however I want to keep him for us!

14. Josh Dasilva
- Again he wasn't on top of his game and I expected much more from him. Played only 21 games in all competitions in which he got 1 goal and 2 assists. In the end of the season we had a talk that he is not performing well and that's why he has not guaranteed place in the starting XI, he didn't like that and maybe he will leave in the summer.

7. Pedro Chirivella - Nothing close to last year as he was injured for a long period of time. Played just 12 matches in which he got 1 assist and nothing more. After winning Young Player of the Year last year he was expected to shine even brighter this year, but that wasn't the case. Hopefully next year he will show his potential again!

17. Ben Pearson - Had okay season until he came into my office demanding more playing time or he will leave. I showed him the door right away. However he got more chances and can contribute more for the team if he doesn't leave. Just 1 assist for him, probably will leave.

23. Yousseff Bennasser - Okay for first season, can expect more from him next time as he played mostly as substitute or in cups. 1 goal & 1 assist, but need to improve.

24. Amine Harit -
Came in the winter becoming our most expensive player, yet he didn't show why. Really poor performances plus injury for the last few matches. Need big improvement next year, but I believe in him.

12. Alfa Semedo
- Meh player, using him only when we want to brake opponents legs. Scored in the final game against Chelsea, he is not important to the team and if we get an offer probably will seek for a substitute.

88. Flynn Downes - Didn't get a lot of time in the first half of the season and was loaned to Genoa. Will use him next year.

Overall: We have a lot of potential in this zone as Majer & Harit are yet to show their true qualities, also we have already got a new player in the face of Vitinha (from Porto) who will join us but we always try to find great players to add. Also we will have probably some of these player leaving the club. It's important to have equally good players as we will enter one more tournament this year and need to be balanced.





Wingers:

19. Bryan Mbeumo - His performances were not the best through the season, but better than last year. However he can be a lot more lethal in front of the goal. Now with the more competition for the starting place we need everybody to show their 100%. Mbeumo finishes with 4 goals & 5 assist!

10. Said Benrahma -
Said is improving with every year! He was really good this time, constantly threatening oppositions goalkeepers or providing deadly passes! Shining bright with 8 goals & 6 assist the Algerian had really good season.

22. Patrick Roberts - Started really well his career and won Player of the Month award in September. However his performance dropped and he lost himself in the battle for the right winger position. He was okay, but with this kind of a start I expected much more. 3 goals, 4 assist, 1 POTM and big expectations for next year.

28. Ebere Eze -
Came in the winter, has some problems with injuries and played only 5 matches in which he got 1 assist. Next year will be the big test for him.

77. Jeong Woo-Yeong - Really poor start of the season after which he was loaned to Tenerife.

SOLD. Ayoze Perez -
As last year expected much more from him, yet he got 1 goal & 2 assist before we sold him for €18M to Udinese. Making double the money is okay for me even tough I could have been happier if he just played well.




Strikers:

11. Ollie Watkins - Player of the Season for sure! Absolutely phenomenal! He was one of the main reasons that we finished 5th! With his 17 goals he became the 3rd goalscorer in the league, also gave 3 assists and won Player of the Month 2 times! Big time player, moving from the wing to the striker position and still was the best. I'm sure that we will have troubles keeping him but he is vital for the team!

9. Alexander Isak - The biggest improvement since last year as he almost doubled his scoring account and did a lot better! The Swedish international scored 14 goals and assisted once, winning Player of the Month award 2 times and score 2 hattricks. If he continue like that next year he can lead us to even bigger achievements!

99. Amine Gouiri - Really good first season for him! He was used mostly as substitute and yet again he scored 8 goals and provided 2 assists. Bright future for him at the club!

Overall: All 3 strikers performed really well and I won't bring anyone new if we don't sell first. Also Fross is returning from loan next year so the competition for places will be great!

We have a lot of players and need to offload some of them, but this is normal when we don't buy big price players sometimes it won't work out, sometimes it will be great transfer for almost no money.





We are described as biggest overachievers for a second year in a row as we were predicted to finish 17th. Btw, look at the best match in the competition, LOL!


CONTINUING IN THE POST BELOW...
 
CONTINUEING FROM THE POST ABOVE..

Around The World
England - Chelsea (2) wins domestic treble! They win the league for the second time from my appointment, also FA Cup for second time and EFL for the 3rd time! They are bossing the English football. Tottenham played in 3 straight FA finals, 1 win, 2 losses. Leicester are relegated after second awful season. Newcastle, Fulham & Nottm Forest are the three new members from the Championship!

Spain - Barcelona (2) won with 11 points the league for a second straight time. No massive surprises in the league. Barca won their third straight Copa Del Ray after beating Real Madrid in the extra time in the final. Celta Vigo finally returns to the La Liga.

Italy - Inter (2) win back the Schudetto and Juventus (1) wins back TIM Cup so they have 2 from the past 3 years. Genoa & Udinese are going to Serie B after poor seasons.

Germany - Borussia Dortmund (1) dethrones Bayern (2) and Germany has new champion for the first time since 2013! The drama is full as Dortmund beat their rivals by just 1 point! However Bayern wins their 3rd straight DFB-Pokal! Hertha back in the top flight!

France - PSG (3) of course wins here, they do the double after lifting the cup, nothing interesting again. 21 points away from the 2nd team in the league.

Champions League - Manchester City (1) win their first CL after beating Liverpool in the final! They also eliminated the past two champions - Bayern & Barcelona on the way of becoming the best European team. 2 days after winning the CL, Man City fired Diego Simeone as their manager.

Europa League
- Atletico Madrid (1) are the champions! They reach the final for a second straight time, this time winning it against the 19/20 champions Benfica (1). They also eliminated Lazio, Napoli & Arsenal from the tournament.

Conference League - Tottenham (1) are the first champions of the new tournament beating Milan in the final! Beating Olympiakos, Utrecht & Athletic Bilbao on the road to the final.

Thanks for reading once again & hope you enjoy it.
 
A Swarm Of Bees - Big Changes In The Swarm (EP 38)


After another successful campaign we should upgrade our team even more so we could be competitive to the never ending funds of the big teams. Quite frankly we have also enormous budget of over €80M, however my restrictions and entire view of the football game doesn't allow me to spend so big, it's just not fun. I'm trying to find just those elite players that can be stolen for a few millions.

With the Brexit bullsh*t all the new stars that rise in the football horizon from South America or Africa are unavailable for me - just because if we want them to have a work permit we shout buy them for at least €20M which is way over our transfer record. Really frustrating.

The other problem that we faced and I'm not sure how to deal with it - as we don't have an academy, we don't have home grown players by the team and with European competition soon on the horizon it will be total chaos when filling the registration. A lot of player will moan and maybe the whole good vibe and happiness around the team will be destroyed. Pretty dark times.

We received a lot of offers for our players including almost €40M for Mathias Jensen, €15M for Pontus, €20M for Said Benrahma - all of which were rejected.

The Departures



David Raya (GK) was one of the players that were almost transferred last window, but he rejected a contract. Having 4 elite goalkeepers we needed to sell at least one and we didn't wait long before the offer from the newly promoted Newcastle came in. Raya was spectacular servant, superb goalkeeper and I'm sad that we need to let him go. €21M is a lot of money for a GK, wishing him the best!


We received really odd for me offer for Patrick Gunnarsson (GK) from the champions Chelsea at the beginning of the transfer window, but they were offering just €5M which I quickly refused. All from nothing they came back in August giving 3 times more than that for our 3rd choice keeper who didn't have the best season last year - getting relegated in Championship. Almost the same money as Raya and we now have 2 less goalkeepers, hoping that won't hunt us in the future.



If there wasn't an offer for Ethan Pinnock (CB) I wouldn't sell him just like that, but when Championship side Blackburn gave us €9.5M, we decided that we can invest these money in new talents and give path to the younger center backs in the team for more playing time. Ethan was wonderful in the 1st season and after that every time when we used him - he was on point! Another "original" bee leaving but the offer is too good.



Almost the same case with Youssef Bennasser (MC) who was with us just for 1 season and didn't show us something special, but I was willing to give him another chance. He came for just €3.2M and we make €10M profit out of him as he is leaving for Mainz. We are making MO-NEYH!



One of the guys that I needed to sell, for 2 season he didn't impress me even once (maybe just scoring the winner against Chelsea). Russian side Ufa came with a nice offer €10M and we quickly said yes. Nothing more, again great profit from Alfa Semedo (DM) as he was bought for just €1.8M 2 years ago. Now we need a new defensive midfielder for sure.



Ben Pearson (MC) had troubles with not playing so much even though I didn't think that way. That's why he returned to Championship playing for Darby. I liked him and wished that he wasn't complaining all the time, had 2 really good season under the Brentford badge. He was bought from Preston for €4.1M, and now goes for €11.25M.



The toughest one. Josh Dasilva (MC) has great potential to become one of the greatest box-to-box midfielders, however he never show that to us in the PL. Josh was rocking in Championship, leading the team match after match. However from our promotion in the PL he is not the same player and just don't show the level that I need. €27.5M was the perfect amount that ensured his departure. Original bee, but we've got Baptiste on his position who is improving every year.

Brentford FC also sold some of the younger players that are not needed by the club.


Franciso Sierralta was one of the guys I was hoping to develop in the loans, however all last year he was used on another position (RB). Forss also had great potential but with his 4 goals in 32 matches at Maritimo and one of the signings that we made, I just didn't believe in him anymore

We also continued the tradition of letting our young starlets on loan to get first team experience.


Unfortunately there was no space for Bryan Mbeumo & Jeong Woo in the squad because of the restrictions of the EL and also too many players turned 22 and needed to be registered for Premier League too, I had a lot of headaches because of that. BMW will be paused for this year.


CONTINUING IN THE POST BELOW...
 
CONTINUING FROM THE POST ABOVE...

The Arrivals

We made total of €121M in outgoing transfers which is unbelievable! We were a small Championship side, now we sell for such a great prices. With the €80M which we had from the club to spend - that mean €200M for transfers. Of course we won't do it that way!


First of all - we got 4 superb youngsters for FREE, before the window was opened! DYLAN LEVITT, 21, WALES (MC) comes from Manchester United, FRAN LOPEZ, 20, SPAIN (ST) comes from Celta, EDDY OUATTARA, 21, FRANCE (ST) comes from Lille and GOR MANVELYAN, 20, FRANCE (AMC) comes from Nantes. All of them look really promising.

Eddy was loaned out to Oxford right away, other 3 will stay at the Brentford B ready to use them as they don't need to be registered. They will get a couple of minutes through the season for sure as we will play in 4 competitions.


As we sold 2 goalkeepers we needed someone for a 3 choice keeper, but with great potential (James Trafford who we bought last year was loanee at Port Vale). But we also needed to ensure that the new keeper will be under 21 so he would not fill up a space. Coming from Borussia Dortmund ALBERTO VIGANO (GK) is our player. It was the last days of the summer and we didn't have much choice buy spending much for him - €6.5M or risking the season with just 2 GK so we bought him. He is only 20 and has great potential, however maybe the first player on which I think we overspend.



We sold Ethan Pinnock so we needed a backup defender who can fill gaps when we have troubles with the 4 main defenders. We turned to the champions Chelsea and one of their "rejects". MARC GUEHI (CB) had played last 3 seasons on loan, last in Ligue 1 Amiens and looks exactly like the player we need. He comes for just €3.6M, I don't have big expectations for him so he can easily impress me!


LUCAS TOUSART (DM) is a Bee! We steal him for exactly €10M after he wanted to leave Hertha as they continue with ups and downs in the Bundesliga. Big talent who can easily punish opponents with devastating tackles and also can provide a deadly pass cutting through all of opponents midfield! Can become vital part of our midfield and lead our club to another highs.


We like to buy players from Benfica and once again we turn to them when it's about great talents. RONALDO CAMARA (MC/AMC) is described as one of the wonderkids in the Portuguese football. Only 19 years old he will have the chance to play in the biggest league in the world. He comes for €9.5M and will have the tough job of competing with Jensen & Majer for the spot in the team.


We are not finished purchasing from the Portuguese team. Another wonderkid TIAGO DANTAS (MC) is also coming to our team. His stats look impressive for just an 21 year old boy! He comes for just €5M which is unbelievable steal for our team. Future looks bright for Brenford FC with these kind of players.


Continuing our purchasing spree from Liga NOS we break our transfer record (just with little) as we buy ABEL RUIZ (AML/ST). The league is too short of potential for the La Masia graduate and he wanted a new challenge! Now he got it, coming to us for the sum of €16.75M. It's unbelievable that we have like 200M in the bank and our highest transfer is less than 10% of it, right?


The big surprise! I break my own rules for the first time, but this I could not resist. PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (ST) comes for fockin ZERO cents as he is released by Arsenal. Although we are not signing anyone over 31, I could not let him slip and he will play for the Bees in the next 2 season (and he only wanted €2M as salary). 33 years of age, I think he could still show big quality and push us ahead!

Overall

At the end of the day we spent €46M for 11 players and received €121M from players leaving the club. The profit grows every year and we have more and more money. Of course we could have bough almost every player in the world or every talent, but we must follow the club structure.

Interesting thing was that I offer the club the possibility of having an actual academy and raising our own talents, but they refused talking how the strategy now works just fine and we are having the best time in the club history.

The big problem is the registration of the competitions and I just hope that this doesn't kill the club momentum and the players understand the problem.
Pre-Season & Verdict


We had a great pre-season, scoring a lot of goals and allowing just 1. The win over Ajax was the most important for us as the players showed that we can compete with the Europe very best teams. We don't have any injuries in the start of the season which is great.

Also our group in Europe League is not the hardest one as I think we should definitely go through.


As this year will be something new for everyone as the World Cup will be in the winter the opening months are going to be packed. We have pretty good schedule in PL and can try to push in August.

Norwich (H), Newcastle (A), Everton (A), Watford (H), Gillingham (EFL Cup, A), Nottm Forest (H)


Thanks for reading & hope you enjoy it!
 
Top