Brentford make £20 million record signing of Keane Lewis-Potter

Hull City have confirmed that forward Keane Lewis-Potter will join Brentford for a record fee of £16 million, plus £4 million in potential add-ons. S0 what does this mean for the Bees? Can Lewis-Potter help them avoid the drop?

Brentford seem to be on a spending spree this summer. This deal is the second time the Bees have broken their record transfer fee this window. The previous occasion was another young prospect, Aaron Hickey, bought in for £14 million from Bologna.

The loosening of the purse strings by Thomas Frank and alike is not without need. The departure of their star man Christian Eriksen is bound to be devastating. The Norwegian turned the tide at the Brentford Community Stadium last year, and losing his creative spark will undoubtedly affect them. Although it’s maybe not the short-term solution that Brentford needs right now, the signing of Keane Lewis-Potter is aimed at combatting this innovative deficit.

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So who is he?

Having already played two and a half full seasons in the EFL, Lewis-Potter has a wealth of experience for someone who is only 21. Standing at 5ft 7 inches, he’s a small, quick, hard-working forward who has spent most of his time at Hull deployed down the left side of the attack, but he has some experience at left wing-back and central attacking midfield.

His main aim at the MKM Stadium was to pick up the ball and drive at defenders due to his dribbling ability. This would allow him to cut inside on his right foot and shoot or bring overlapping wing-backs into play to set up crossing opportunities.

In the 2021-2022 season, the England Under-21 international was vital in helping The Tigers avoid relegation from the Championship, as shown when Lewis-Potter won Fans’ Player, Players’ Player and Coaches’ Player of the season.

Although the higher division will test his ability, Lewis-Potter has all the attributes to thrive in the Premier League. Furthermore, he is used to having to sit back and then create chances with sparse opportunities as the tigers only average 46.1% possession over the season. This will suit Brentford’s style of play next year, having only averaged 44.3% possession in their first season in England’s top division.

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Where will he line up for the Bees?

Thomas Frank tended to play with a 5-3-2 formation before the signing of Christian Eriksen, after which he switched to playing a 4-3-3. In all likelihood, Brentford will probably revert to their more defensive mindset, having lost their star man.

This probably means Lewis-Potter is competing with Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbuemo for the second striker role alongside Ivan Toney. Alternatively, should Toney get injured, or Frank decide that Brentford have the quality in midfield to play more expansively, then the new man could be part of a front three operating down the left-hand side as he did at Hull. For the latter option to happen, however, Brentford would probably need to strengthen in central midfield, which seems unlikely due to the copious spending we have seen already this window.

Ultimately, the future for Keane Lewis-Potter is unknown. He could start as a squad player and work his way up into becoming a starter or be thrust straight into the spotlight. From past examples, the former is the smarter of the two options, in which case he will provide much-needed depth to an attack that will need to improve when Christian Eriksen is not around.

The English forward seems to have a bright future. It’s time to see if he can deliver on all that potential.

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