Said Benrahma has opened the door to a potential move to Newcastle United – saying he’s focused on Brentford ‘for the moment’ but hopes to play Premier League football soon.
The 23-year-old has been heavily linked with a summer switch to St James’ Park over the past week, with the Sun tipping us to make a £15m bid – while the Northern Echo reported this morning that NUFC scouts watched him during Brentford’s 3-2 win over Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Speaking to the BBC following recent links to Newcastle, Leicester and Arsenal, here’s what the Algerian star has had to say:
“For the moment I am focused on Brentford.
“This summer I will see but for the moment I am so focused here.
“I am happy, I play, I score, I win, it’s a good position so I am happy. For the moment I am here.”
“My ambition is to play in the Premier League. That’s my first ambition.
“It’s the first step and then continue to progress.”
Benrahma is without doubt one of the Championship’s most exciting talents and looks more than capable of making the step up to Premier League level.
He’s bagged 19 goals and 23 assists from out wide over the past season and a half and could be the latest star player Brentford are forced to cash in on should they miss out on promotion.
That said, their potential asking price could be key, with our refusal to pay £22m for Jarrod Bowen suggesting we’re still reluctant to make big money moves for second tier stars.
With us clearly in the market for another winger and the winger clearly keen to play Premier League football, Benrahma could be an exciting one to watch this summer should the Bees fail to go up.
