IT’S probably safe to assume who’s going to win the award when all is said and done, but Bryan Mbeumo being among the eight nominees for this season’s Premier League Player of the Year ought to be seen as a victory in itself – both for Mbeumo and Brentford alike.

The Cameroonian is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the first Brentford player to be nominated for the award. Granted, this is only their fourth season in the competition. However, it speaks to the excellence of Mbeumo’s campaign, as well as the rapidity of the Bees’ rise, that they’re already at a point where one of their players can be genuinely considered for the honour of the competition’s best performer.

With the 25-year-old hitting new heights this term, the downside is that it seems likely to signal the end of his time at the club. Mbeumo has long been linked with a bigger move, and after producing his best campaign since coming to England back in 2019, a club as savvy as Brentford will now be prepared for locating his replacement this summer. “I think Bryan is likely to go,” admitted captain Christian Norgaard in a recent interview with Sky.

So, just how special has Mbeumo’s season been?

Most goals and assists in a Premier League season for Brentford

In teeing up Kevin Schade for the winning goal against Ipswich last time out, Mbeumo now holds the record for the most goal involvements by a Brentford player in a Premier League season, overtaking Ivan Toney’s memorable 2022-23 campaign.

It’s an impressive milestone to conquer despite Brentford’s relatively short history in the competition, especially when you consider the company he’s keeping in the Premier League this term. Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak are the only other players who’ve been able to match Mbeumo’s performance on the goals & assists front, while his tally (25) is currently one better than Erling Haaland’s (24).

Indeed, becoming the first player to be directly involved in 25+ goals for a club in a Premier League season is a pretty rare occurrence too. Before Mbeumo this term, you have to go back to 2016-17 for the last player to do so, with Romelu Lukaku becoming the first Everton player to hit that tally. The other names from this century are Riyad Mahrez (2015-16, Leicester), Carlos Tevez (2009-10, Man City) and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2000-01, Chelsea), making it a pretty exclusive club.

It’s yet to be determined exactly where Brentford will finish this season, but Mbeumo’s production is likely to be pretty notable in Premier League history with respect to the team he’s done so for. The Cameroonian has produced like a player on one of the league’s strongest teams, yet without the supporting cast of one.

Only eight players this century have been directly involved in 25+ goals in a Premier League campaign for a side who finished outside of the top six. Meanwhile, if the Bees can’t quite hold on to their current position of eighth, Mbeumo would be first player with 25+ goal involvements in a single season for a team finishing outside of the top eight since Darren Bent for Sunderland in 2009-10.

And where Bent did so in true centre forward fashion – scoring 24 goals and only making one assist – Mbeumo has been one of the true double-threat attackers in the Premier League this season, scoring 18 times and providing seven assists. Mohamed Salah is the only other player who’s produced as many in both this term.

On that note, there have been some similarities between Mbeumo and Salah’s style of play in accumulating their goal contributions. Both have been two of the premier dynamic wide forwards in the division this term, standing out for their threat as scorers and creators, while doing so with lots of mobility and being able to create danger on the move.

While Mbeumo leads all players in the Premier League this season for carries leading to goals (8), only Salah (13) ranks ahead of the Brentford man (10) for carries ending in either a goal or an assist.

With that said, Mbeumo’s performance in front of goal is perhaps the biggest factor when it comes to determining his future. Admirers across Europe, who presumably have bigger budgets and higher quality squads, will be intrigued as to what he might be able to produce playing with better teammates and in a stronger attacking core, considering what he’s been able to do with Brentford.

Only Chris Wood (+7.7) has outperformed his xG total by a bigger margin than Mbeumo this season (+7), with the ex-Troyes man furthering his case as one of the deadliest finishers in English football.

Ahead of his likely departure, Brentford will have known that day was coming for quite some time. Finding the next Bryan Mbeumo will now be firmly on their agenda, but doing so will be a different matter – even for a club as smart as them.

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