Brentford director confirms ‘record transfer’ plans for Bundesliga star this summer

Brentford are set to smash their record transfer fee this summer with a permanent move for Bundesliga star Kevin Schade.

The 21-year-old is currently on loan at the West London club from SC Freiburg and has made 12 appearances for the side in all competitions.

Schade has yet to find the net for Brentford and has just one assist to his name, which came in the 3-2 home win over local rivals Fulham.

Nonetheless, the forward has clearly done enough to impress Brentford bosses, who have unveiled plans to make the German a permanent Bee.

When Schade signed on loan from Freiburg, the club confirmed an 'expectation' to sign the player on a five-year contract in the summer for an 'undisclosed fee'.

Now, speaking on The High Performance Podcast, Director of Football Phil Giles confirmed those intentions and admitted the fee paid will be a record number for Brentford.

Giles said: "Going back to the first week of January we brought a player called Kevin Schade in and it's a loan, but it's likely to become permanent in the summer and it'll be a record transfer for us."

Brentford paid an undisclosed fee for talented young forward Keane Lewis-Potter last summer, but this amount is believed to be £16 million - a record spend on one player from the club.

Spending such sums on talent is a refreshing change for Brentford fans, who had to endure years of seeing stars leave for Premier League football when fighting for promotion in the Championship.

Premier League stars Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma, Neal Maupay, Chris Mepham and Ezri Konsa all moved away from the club in recent years before promotion.

Giles spoke about that period on the podcast and sympathised with fan frustrations at the time.

He said: "The biggest challenge with our fans has been when we sold players, not so much results.

"One of the lucky things about working at Brentford is because the history of the club hasn't been great success over many years, the fans are great because even in the Championship they were living their dream, let alone the Premier League. They're incredibly patient with us.

"We've sold out best players year on year on year and we've tried to explain there's a rational calm process behind that towards trying to achieve something, to get promoted. That we are going to reinvest and try to grow the club in a slow, steady, thoughtful, calm way."