Brentford’s bargain midfielder announced himself in style

How did Brentford sign Mamadou Sangare for less than £50 million? The 24-year-old midfielder stole the show in Brentford’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.

On his first appearance in English football, Sangare overshadowed Spurs’ £100m club-record signing Sandro Tonali and Lucas Bergvall. This was supposed to be the day when Spurs officially kickstarted a new era under Roberto De Zerbi, but Sangare gleefully ruined it, prompting Brentford fans to chant his name to the tune of Whitney Houston’s 1987 hit single I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).

Former Spurs and Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp described him as a “revelation” on Sky Sports.

A value signing in an inflated market

The average price tag for a central midfielder has skyrocketed recently. Arsenal and Chelsea kickstarted the trend in the summer of 2023 when they both spent over £100m to sign Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo respectively. On top of Tonali, Spurs spent £85m to prise Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United. Manchester City broke the British record transfer fee with their £116m move for Elliot Anderson. Carlos Baleba was substituted at half-time on four occasions and underperformed for Brighton & Hove Albion last season, but Manchester United are still set to pay up to £70m to sign him. And Arsenal spent a similar amount on Bruno Guimaraes earlier this month.

Brentford’s purchase of Sangare will cause dismay in recruitment departments across the division. Scouts use data to prevent players like Sangare, who spent time in Belgium and Austria before spending a single season in France with Lens — who finished second in Ligue 1 under now Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage — from slipping through the cracks. Despite Paris Saint-Germain’s embarrassment of riches, Sangare was named in Ligue 1’s team of the season last year, winning the Prix Marc-Vivien Foe as the top African player in the division.

Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal have prioritised Premier League experience when upgrading their central midfield options this summer, which has worked in Brentford’s favour. Brentford broke their club record to sign Sangare, but he already feels like a bargain. A contact around the player says it was technical director Les Dykes who was the driver of the move, especially around the presentation the club made to the player.

Instant chemistry for the Bees

The west London side’s midfield has been over-reliant on Vitaly Janelt and Mathias Jensen since they were in the Championship, and Sangare has provided the fresh impetus they desperately required. Now it makes sense why they were not worried about losing Jordan Henderson to Chelsea.

Markus Katzer, Rapid Vienna’s sporting director, told The Athletic earlier this month that Sangare is “a mix between a No 6 and a no 8” who “can dribble and find solutions in really tight spaces”. Katzer added, “winning the ball is his biggest strength.” He must have forgotten to mention Sangare’s eclectic passing range.

In the seventh minute against Tottenham, Sangare’s clever line-breaking pass led to Keane Lewis-Potter whipping a dangerous cross into the box. Moments later, Sangare’s slick one-two with Dango Ouattara ended with Lewis-Potter giving Brentford the lead. He used to arrive at Rapid Vienna’s training sessions on an electric scooter wearing a pair of Crocs; now he speeds past elite players for fun on the pitch.

“He is such a humble guy, hard-working, but he is absolutely unbelievable and a joy to play with every single day and all credit to him,” Lewis-Potter told a group of reporters, including The Athletic, after the game. “He’s someone who I can link with as well and try to build a relationship with him.”

Sangare’s pirouette and backheel just before half-time created a chance for Ouattara. In the second half, Spurs’ goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky failed to properly clear Sangare’s fierce half-volley, which allowed Michael Kayode to put Brentford 3-0 up. There were other moments which demonstrated Sangare’s intelligence, including overlapping his team-mates to distract defenders and create more space.

Brentford’s goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher called him “superb” and captain Nathan Collins knew he was talented “straight away”.

“He is a great player but also a really good person which is really important for what we want to do,” Collins added. “Off the pitch he’s really good and enjoys life at Brentford. I think that shows in his football.”

Fan favourite in waiting

Sangare is an instant fan-favourite, which is encouraging because some of Brentford’s recent high-profile signings needed a lot more time to make a positive impression. Igor Thiago suffered a knee injury which ruined his debut campaign, Mikkel Damsgaard underwent multiple surgeries across his first two seasons, Lewis-Potter bounced around different positions before showing his true value as a left-back, while Collins made two errors which led directly to goals in a 4-1 defeat by his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The evidence — albeit just one game — suggests Sangare will avoid those teething issues.

“It’s been really nice working with him and I think the club deserves a lot of credit for getting that deal done,” head coach Keith Andrews said in his post-match press conference. “A lot of clubs, I’m sure, were looking at Mamadou. We were pretty keen to get that deal done and you have seen today what he is capable of, the attributes that he has. “He has slotted in really well and adapted really well. You never know, different league, different language, even though his English is pretty impeccable, he is just a humble young man who is very hungry.”

Maybe everybody is getting slightly carried away by his performance. De Zerbi said Spurs “are not a team yet” because some of their most important players are injured or working their way back to full fitness after featuring in the latter stages of this summer’s World Cup, including new captain Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro and Mohammed Kudus.

Even so, given Brentford have come narrowly close to qualifying for European competition for the first time in their history in the last two seasons, Sangare might provide them with the extra sprinkle of quality they need to get over the line.