Brentford captain Christian Norgaard has admitted that teammate Bryan Mbeumo is “likely” to leave the club this summer amid reported interest from a number of Premier League clubs.
Mbeumo joined the Bees when they were in the Championship for a then club-record fee of £5.8m in July 2019 and he has since established himself as an integral first-team star under head coach Thomas Frank.
The 25-year-old attacker has recorded 68 goals and 50 assists in 239 appearances across all competitions, scoring 18 goals and registering six assists in 35 Premier League outings so far this season.
Mbeumo has stepped up since the departure of Ivan Toney to Saudi Arabia last summer and his impressive performances in the final third are understood to have caught the eye of several clubs including Manchester United.
The Red Devils are said to have joined the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United in the race for the Cameroon international, who is allegedly valued by Brentford at around £60m.
Norgaard: ‘I think Mbeumo is likely to go’
Mbeumo is not the only Brentford attacker who has been tipped to leave, as strike partner Yoane Wissa, who has also scored 18 Premier League goals this season, has attracted interest from the likes of Nottingham Forest, who failed with an offer last summer.
Frank recently opened the door to potential high-profile departures this summer when he admitted that Brentford are a “selling club”.
While Bees skipper Norgaard would not be too surprised to see Mbeumo seek pastures new, the midfielder is unsure as to what the future holds for Wissa.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Norgaard said: “I think Bryan is likely to go. I don’t know about Wissa yet.
“Everyone hopes that he might stay. Either way, I’m happy for the season and am happy for both of them. They deserve it so much.”
Norgaard is “pretty calm” about the situation regarding Mbeumo and Wissa as Brentford have responded well in the past when selling high-profile stars.
Norgaard “pretty calm” despite Mbeumo, Wissa exit rumours
Before allowing Toney to join Al-Ahli for £40m last summer, the Bees recouped around £54m from the combined sales of Ollie Watkins to Aston Villa and Said Benrahma to West Ham United in the summer of 2020.
“I’m pretty calm about what will happen with Bryan and Wissa,” Norgaard added. “A lot of questions are asked about them and you can almost feel the worries around the players, when you talk about them maybe leaving us.
“I was one [of them] when we were losing Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma, Ivan Toney. So it continues, but the club has already brought in Igor Thiago, who is another fantastic character and he will also take the league by storm at some point.
“When that is, I don’t know but I’m sure he will be ready if Wissa gets his dream move, or Bryan leaves and there will be a change of the offensive players. I think the club is so talented in recruiting and always being two or three steps ahead.”
Brentford are one of only three teams in Europe’s top-five league who have at least three players that have scored 10 or more league goals this season (along with Barcelona and Bayern Munich), with Mbeumo, Wissa and Kevin Schade having all reached double figures in the Premier League.
Schade, who was linked with a move to Borussia Dortmund in January, increased his goal tally to 10 at the weekend after scoring a brace in Brentford’s action-packed 4-3 win over Man United.
