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With 31 goals and 24 assists in 123 games for Brentford FC since joining them in 2019, it’s clear that Bryan Mbeumo is one of the stars at Brentford Community Stadium these days.

The 22-year-old tends to be one of the first names on Thomas Frank’s team sheet most weeks, and while he only has three goals and three assists in 24 league appearances this season, he’s still a key player for them.

Born in Avallon, Mbeumo came through at Troyes in 2013, where he stayed until the Bees spent close to £6m to bring him to England, even if he didn’t really know much about the club at the time.

He’s admitted as much in a very candid interview with So Foot in France, where he revealed Brentford’s process in convincing him to eventually sign for the now Premier League side.

He said: “I’ll be honest, when there was first contact, I didn’t really know the club, its history and wasn’t watching the Championship. I just knew they were a London club. When they approached me, I obviously gathered information afterwards.”

Brentford came packed with data about Mbeumo to show him everything they knew about him, which ranged from the number of times they had scouted him (27-28 times in 35 games) to his strong and weak points.

As for how they convinced him to join: “They were in the Championship, but their speech was coherent with their ranking. They were an ambitious club who wanted to get promoted to the Premier League in the next two years, which we did in the second year.

“There were already a few names in the squad that I knew, like Saïd Benrahma, who helped me settle going forward. I liked it.”