Brighton & Hove Albion travel to Brentford on Saturday and it's a chance to remind us all that they've achieved something special too. The Seagulls are an established Premier League team and have been since they were promoted in 2017. They've finished in the top half three times in eight seasons, the culmination of a 25-year journey from the bottom tier of the Football League in the wake of near oblivion.
Chelsea have now joined the race to sign the Brentford striker Igor Thiago. They have intensified their monitoring of the player and are exploring ways to open formal negotiations with Brentford. The player has 17 goals in the Premier League this season and has proven himself a reliable performer in the top flight. Chelsea need a reliable goal scorer, and the Brazilian could prove to be a huge upgrade on Liam Delap.
The Bees conducted interviews in January before settling on the appointment of Rainford. The 46-year-old former Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder joins Brentford having been the head of education and academy player care at the Premier League since 2020. Since Torpey left the role with Brentford's academy to join Manchester United in September, Jamie Greenwood has been in place as interim academy director.
Kevin Schade scored a perfect hat-trick as Brentford picked up their sixth home league win of the season with a 4-1 win over Bournemouth on Saturday. Brentford needed just six minutes to open the scoring when Schade coolly finished into the bottom-right corner after being set up by a fine pass from striker Igor Thiago. The Bees' dominant start was further rewarded six minutes before half-time when Djordje Petrovic bundled into his own net after Bafode Diakite's attempted clearance rebounded off the Bournemouth goalkeeper.
Brentford have confirmed midfielder Antoni Milambo will miss the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury on international duty. Milmabo, who joined the Bees from Feyenoord in the summer, sustained the injury while playing for Netherlands Under-21s against Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was taken off on a stretcher. The 20-year-old has received limited playing time at Brentford so far, making three appearances, two of them coming in the EFL Cup.
Brentford have had two offers rejected for PSV Eindhoven midfielder Joey Veerman. The Dutch club responded to Brentford's second offer, believed to be in the region of 25m, with the message that Veerman is not for sale. The Bees are now considering whether to return with a new offer for the 26-year-old, who has 16 caps for the Netherlands. Brentford remain keen to strengthen their squad before the transfer deadline on Monday but are having difficulty in landing their top targets.
