Don Goodman has hailed Bryan Mbeumo for the way he has stepped up to life at Brentford.
The Bees narrowly missed out on promotion last term after falling short in the play-off final against West London rivals Fulham.
Since then Thomas Frank's side have lost two of their biggest stars from last season with Ollie Watkins heading to Aston Villa and Said Benrahma going to West Ham United.
Replacing their goals and creativity was always going to be a big ask but Brentford have coped relatively seamlessly.
Ivan Toney, of course, has taken on a huge chunk of the goalscoring responsibility, but according to Goodman, he's been equally impressed by Mbeumo who has really impressed since arriving at the club.
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Speaking on the Sky Sports EFL Podcast, Goodman said: "I look at the journey that he came on and I look at the journey that Brentford have been on.
“He came for, I think, about £6million but for Brentford to be talking in terms of that amount of money – they could only have dreamed of that five years ago.
“Mbeumo was one of the first big-name signings to come to Brentford and when you’ve got that kind of price tag, you’re coming to a foreign country, you’re a young man and there’s pressure on but he was brilliant.
“I had him in my team of the year ahead of Benrahma because at the time he was ahead of Said Benrahma for goals and assists.
“They’ve lost Watkins and they’ve lost Benrahma but you’d never know and that’s the biggest compliment that you can give to Brentford.
“They’re doing things the right way and the short turnaround from the play-off final to now being on a 13-game unbeaten run – I can’t tell you how impressive that is.”
The Verdict
Brentford look like the real deal this season.
After the disappointment of missing out on promotion it wouldn't have been a surprise to see the team struggle to get themselves together ahead of another demanding season.
However with Thomas Frank in charge it seems that they're more determined than ever, and that's why it would take a brave person to bet against them going up this time around.