Brentford have officially confirmed their first signing of the 23/24 summer window by bringing in goalkeeper Mark Flekken from Bundesliga outfit SC Freiburg. The Dutch keeper has put pen to paper a four-year deal, with the Bees reportedly paying Freiburg around 13 million euros for his services.
Flekken’s arrival paves the way for the departure of current Brentford No.1 David Raya. The Spaniard has been linked with a host of top flight clubs, with the likes of Man Utd, Spurs and Chelsea all interested in the 27-year-old. The London club have however slapped a £40m price tag on Raya, whose current contract with the Bees expires at the end of the 23/24 campaign.
Apart from Flekken, Brentford were also linked with the likes of Alban Lafont and Caoimhin Kelleher, but chose to go with the 29-year-old Dutch international, who earned his first cap for the Oranje last year.
Brentford finished 9th in the recently concluded 2022/23 season, narrowly missing out on Europe.
They ended up two points behind 7th placed Villa, who took the last Conference League spot. Interestingly, the Bees lost only 9 games last season- the same number of league defeats as third placed Manchester United.
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