Brentford director of football Phil Giles “wouldn’t be massively surprised” if Bryan Mbeumo is still at the club next season.
The Cameroon winger, 25, has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, who submitted an improved bid in the region of £60million around a week ago.
Giles, speaking on Monday afternoon at the unveiling of new head coach Keith Andrews, said the London club would be “open” to a deal which was “right for us financially”, but insisted Mbeumo staying put was “not off the table”.
“In terms of expectations, I don’t actually know where that will end up,” Giles said.
“I think we made our point clear that Bryan had such a great season and if he earned a massive move now, which is right for us financially, then we would be open for that, but if he’s here next season I wouldn’t be massively surprised, it would be welcomed, we would be delighted.
“It would save me a massive headache, frankly, and that’s not off the table, so let’s see how it goes.”
Brentford scored a club-record 66 Premier League goals last season en route to an impressive 10th-place finish, with Mbeumo’s 20-goal haul a big factor.
“With Bryan, he had 20 Premier League goals last season so we expected lots of interest and there has been lots of interest,” Giles added.
“He has his own views for the next part of his career and where he will end up, which is fair, because it’s his career and those conversations have been going on for the last couple of weeks.”
If Mbeumo does leave, he would add to a growing list of summer departures from Brentford, with manager Thomas Frank joining Tottenham, goalkeeper Mark Flekken heading to Bayer Leverkusen and midfielder Christian Norgaard “more likely than not”, in Giles’ words, to leave.
