Frank insists Bees won’t make panic signings

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Brentford boss Thomas Frank insists the club will not make any rash signings to help steer the club away from the relegation zone – but bringing in a full-back is a priority.

The Bees were crushed 4-1 by Wolves on Wednesday and are now just four points clear of the relegation zone after slipping to their sixth defeat in seven matches.


Ivan Toney is set to return for the trip to Nottingham Forest on January 20 after serving a nine-month ban, but Bryan Mbeumo, Kevin Schade, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey are all out long-term.

Full-backs Hickey and Henry have been huge losses for the Bees and with Kristoffer Ajer struggling to stay fit, boss Frank has been forced to deploy midfielders Saman Ghoddos and Vitaly Janelt as wing-backs.

But Frank believes staying calm and not panicking is the key to his side getting out of any potential trouble.

“We don’t like to make transfers unless we need to improve the squad,” he said.

“If we do something it will be to improve the squad and it will be because we would have done it anyway. I would say the only thing is that it would be good to have one more full-back.”

Toney’s return cannot come quick enough for the Bees, who have struggled for goals since losing top scorer Mbeumo with a serious ankle injury earlier this month.

“Even we were top of the league or near the bottom I would look forward to getting Ivan back,” Frank said.

“It is getting closer. We had an in-house game the other day and he scored two goals and looked pretty good, So it will be just like a new signing.”