Brentford boss Thomas Frank admits it will be ‘impossible’ to replace Christian Eriksen after the midfielder chose to join Manchester United.
Eriksen spent the second half of last season with the Bees after joining on a short-term deal in January, scoring in the 4-1 win over Chelsea and making four assists in 11 games.
United then swooped to sign the 30-year-old, with Frank saying: ‘I would have loved him to stay. He brought a lot of quality to us.
‘We can’t replace that, it’s impossible to replace Eriksen’s quality. But we can hopefully replace it with something different.’
The Bees offered Eriksen an improved deal but the Denmark international cited ‘major ambitions’ and joined United on a three-year contract.
Frank added: ‘Hopefully we can construct a different game. Mathias Jensen needs to step up, and I think we still have some very interesting midfielders in Shandon Baptiste, Josh Dasilva and Saman Ghoddos.’
Brentford overcame a mid-season dip in form to finish in a solid 13th last season.
They have had a reasonably good transfer window, bringing in the likes of highly-rated fullback Aaron Hickey from Bologna and hanging on to key forward Ivan Toney.
The Bees will need to get the most out of their squad if they are to enjoy another comfortable Premier League finish.