Iván Morante

Defensive Midfielder - Brentford
23 Nov 2027
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Iván Morante

48 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Milton Keynes Dons come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Brentford

Michael Kayode was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Iván Morante gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

Back issues
43 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Yair Arismendi asks to leave Brentford

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Brentford

Kevin Schade was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Iván Morante gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

42 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Iván Morante: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Jordan Henderson puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Brentford

Michael Kayode was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Josh Dasilva gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Yehor Yarmoliuk knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Brentford, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Thiago linked with a move away

The name of Thiago keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Brentford say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

26 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Eyes on Thiago again

The phone has started ringing about Thiago again, and this time the name on the line is Paris Saint-Germain. Brentford are listening politely and promising nothing.

Player ratings

Reiss Nelson runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Brentford

Nathan Collins was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Brentford against Brighton

0‑2 to Brighton, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Brentford count the cost of losing Iván Morante

16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Dango Ouattara

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Boardroom

Wages eat 86% of everything Brentford earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Player ratings

Dango Ouattara keeps on missing

Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

Squad

Sepp van den Berg knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Brentford, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

19 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Aaron Hickey shuts the door

Defensive actions: 30, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Squad

William Mikelbrencis keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Brentford may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Vitaly Janelt

Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

Nathan Collins in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kevin Schade

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Brentford find a way past Arsenal

Arsenal made Brentford work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Reiss Nelson in the eights

A performance of 8.57 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

No hiding place for Dango Ouattara

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dango Ouattara, and the manager let it.

Squad

Kevin Schade is carrying Brentford

7 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

In brief

10 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Caoimhin Kelleher

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Tempers go at Brentford

Kevin Schade was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Brentford against Aston Villa

2‑3 to Aston Villa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Antoni Milambo

Marked 9.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Boardroom

Wages eat 265% of everything Brentford earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kevin Schade

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Mikkel Damsgaard runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Hákon Rafn Valdimarsson

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Keane Lewis-Potter knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Keane Lewis-Potter trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

4 Edition

The Brentford Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ellery Balcombe moves on

Sheffield pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Jordan Henderson in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kevin Schade

Marked 9.91 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Caoimhin Kelleher gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Nathan Collins in the eights

A performance of 8.81 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Kevin Schade rescues a point for Brentford

It needed Kevin Schade to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Sunderland, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Player ratings

The one thing Thiago could not do

Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

Player ratings

Mikkel Damsgaard's mistake decides it

Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Brentford needed to.

Squad

Nathan Collins finally opens his account

He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Brentford have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.

In brief

1 Edition

The Burgos Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Curro signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Curro commits to Burgos for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Burgos

Oier Luengo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

The clock runs on Curro's contract

36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

Market

Talks stall between Burgos and Grego Sierra

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

Fer Niño knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Burgos, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

Ander Cantero has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Burgos that is a harder question to answer.

In brief