July 20, (THEWILL) – English Premier League newboys Brentford FC have added some midfield talent to their club ahead of life in the top flight of English football with the Nigerian Frank Onyeka completing a move from FC Midtjylland, Denmark, to Brentford, UK.
Onyeka becomes the first to be announced as the Bees’ beef up their side for the competition that is definitely going to come their way. The Nigeria midfielder signed a five-year deal after arriving in the UK on Sunday and earning his work permit.
Following COVID-19 health and safety protocols and travel guidelines, Onyeka will quarantine accordingly before he will meet up with his new team-mates for pre-season preparations ahead of the August commencement of fixtures.
Nigeria’s 23-year-old midfielder is a graduate of the Under-19 squad of his Danish club where his youth career blossomed enough for a promotion to the senior squad. In a career spanning 127 appearances from the June 2017 signing for the senior Midtjylland side, he scored 17 times to cement his place in the starting lineup.
The terms of his move from Midtjylland, which is Brentford’s sister club as they are both owned by Matthew Benham, had been agreed with the management of the new EPL club but Onyeka remained in Denmark, where he completed a medical and continued to train pending the sorting out of his work permit.
A priority for Brentford is strengthening their right-back, right centre-back, midfield and wings positions, which comes off as trying to engineer an overhaul of the entire squad. But, bringing in Onyeka is a step towards making the midfield stronger to advance the team game and break opponents linkup play from the central midfield defensive position.
Thomas Frank, Brentford head coach believes this is the way to getting a strong foothold in the top division and surviving long enough to avoid a rapid relegation at the season’s end. Yet, he thinks the reality of playing Premier League football has finally sunk in after the 2021/22 fixtures were released.
But, he will worry that as they prepare to confront staple EPL opposition like Arsenal in their first match on opening day, his side is also losing talent. Right-back Henrik Dalsgaard has moved in the opposite direction to Midtjylland, and attacker Emiliano Marcondes has left the club, while top-goalscorer Ivan Toney is likely to be poached.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
