Since late last season the Bees have switched to two up top and that duo is now established as Toney and Bryan. Toney is the big personality and team leader in many ways and is always going to capture the headlines, but they create for each other and whilst Bryan is one (left) footed , he can ghost past players and is incredibly quick, the fastest at a club which prides itself on pace. The goals are surely going to come big time for Bryan, he has scored twice this season, but been denied by the woodwork SIX times, no other EPL player has done so more than twice, no TEAM (aside from the Bees) more than five times ( nine teams have hit the woodwork once, or not at all). You could argue that he is just an awful finisher and some deluded Brentford supporters (there are some, despite them having the talent to pick the correct team to follow) would agree with you , but you would all be wrong ! His scoring record alone should tell you that he has been incredibly unlucky and he could easily be behind only Mo and Jamie ( see what I did there ?) in the goalscoring list. I suspect the floodgates will open some time soon and suggest we keep an eye on Bryan, who has only just turned 22 yo, but is already a massive talent, albeit one still improving .

 

Bryan is going to finish his second season in the EPL on Sunday against Manchester City, he is now 23yo, has become a full international, played at last year's World Cup and made 72 EPL appearances with 13 goals and 14 assists, he has hit the woodwork 9 times and has an xG of 18.4, with 135 attempts on goal. I can tell you that since returning from the WC he is a more confident player, Bryan is a shy, almost introverted, still young man who had barely moved an hour away from his place of birth, apart from on a team bus, until he joined the Bees, moving to London as a 19 yo who spoke almost no English. So there is still a huge amount of personal growth to come and as a player, his potential remains almost unlimited. He has stepped from under the long shadow created by Ivan Toney in the last two games , scoring three goals and creating an assist and will take more of the main role in what more often than not will be a very fluid three up top next season, alongside Yoane Wissa and lightning fast Kevin Schade, in the 20-25 game absence of Toney. 

 

Bryan is super fit, very fast, a tireless worker, happy and able to press from the front for 90+ minutes and has played five full seasons as a first team player and missed less than a handful of games through injury ( he typed whilst knocking loudly on wood!) and has never been suspended (picks up 4 yellow cards per season), despite being asked to play defensive duties at times, less so nowadays, basically, he is the model pro.

 

Brentford coaching staff have worked hard with him on his finishing, he is no longer trying to hit the "perfect " shot and anyone who saw his two goals at Tottenham last weekend will have seen the benefit and Bryan looks set for his most productive season in 23/24. 15+ goals is very possible and he is likely to be the Brentford penalty taker in the absence of Toney, with the Bees awarded seven spot kicks this season (second most in the EPL).

 

Good luck!