Toulouse striker Thijs Dallinga has revealed the French side stood in the way of a move to Brentford in the January transfer window.
The 23-year-old has been speaking to Viggo Sport, relayed by Soccer News, about how he would have made the switch had he been given the opportunity to do so.
Brentford were active late in the window, negotiating a deal for Club Brugge’s Ahmed Nusa before that deal ultimately didn’t go through because of problems discovered during his medical.
It did show they were keen to spend, though, and particularly on youngsters, having also brought in 18-year-old Yunus Emre Konak for €4.5m and 22-year-old Hakon Rafn Valdimarsson for €3m too.
Dallinga would certainly fall into that idea, with the striker only 23-years-old and very much a player for the future.
The youngster has been impressing for the French side this season, with six goals and one assist in 19 games in Ligue 1 to date and 11 goals and two assists in 28 games in all competitions.
That comes after an equally impressive season last year that saw him bag 18 goals and three assists in 42 games in all competitions, numbers which had seemingly convinced Brentford to move. Toulouse, though, weren’t keen on a sale.
“It has been a fairly hectic period,” he said.
“We assumed nothing more would happen. In the last week of the transfer window there were a number of things that started to arise seriously. I was open to that myself, but the club ultimately decided differently. You have to respect that too.
“Brentford, among others, reported, yes. And there was another club that was very serious. I thought about that carefully and indicated that I wanted to take the step.
“But in the situation we are in now, I understand that the club wanted to keep me. We haven’t really made an appointment, but we have discussed that I want to make the move in the summer.”
