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Brentford’s old guard are still Vitaly important From Brazil striker Igor Thiago, to the hugely exciting Mamadou Sangare, Brentford have made some cracking signings in the past couple of years to help the club become established in the Premier League. But journalist and Bees fan Ian Westbrook believes the stalwarts of the squad remain important…. While all the headlines were about Mamadou Sangare’s performance for Brentford against Spurs on Saturday, what was overlooked was the contribution of two Bees stalwarts alongside him in midfield. Mathias Jensen, who joined in 2019 for a reported £3.5m, and Vitaly Janelt, who signed just over a year later for only £500,000, both started the match. Mikkel Damsgaard, who was earning rave reviews just over a year ago, and Yehor Yarmoliuk, last season’s breakthrough star, both had to be content with places on the bench, although both came on in the closing stages. Jensen and Janelt’s selections were not a surprise, as both had started the pre-season friendlies against Rennes and Eintracht Frankfurt. The duo have become key players under Keith Andrews – and took all set-pieces against Spurs. Jensen, for example, started two-thirds of last season’s Premier League matches, whereas in 2024/25, he was on the bench far more than he started. Janelt had one of his best Premier League campaigns last year and his importance to the side was illustrated by the fact that we failed to win any of the eight Premier League games he missed through injury in the closing stages of the season. Both players could have left the club this summer, with their contracts due to expire. But Janelt signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract in January, with a club option for a further year, and the Bees exercised their option on Jensen’s contract in the close season to keep him with us for another 12 months. It is great to have two players who seem to genuinely care about the club, and who provide a link to both Griffin Park and our days in the Championship, still playing a key role in our side. With fierce competition in midfield this season it will be interesting to see if they remain first choice – but given both their performances against Spurs, barring injury there is no reason why not.