Dean Smith has admitted strengthening his midfield will be Brentford's number one priority in the January transfer window.

While the Bees have plenty of options at the back, and one of the Championship's top scorers in Scott Hogan up top, the mix in the middle has not been working for some time now.

While there are unquestionably some talented players in there, the role of a deep-lying defensive midfielder to allow the others to blossom needs urgently filling.

Head coach Smith said: “There are different areas we want to strengthen. Macca's been injured a few times and Nico's got a recurring calf problem, so midfield is an area we want to strengthen, and wide areas.

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“But we have to have our fingers on the pulse with everything. We're probably after someone more defensive minded for sure, whether it's a bite yer ankles type I'm not so sure. When we were playing well it wasn't a problem, when we're not playing well it gets highlighted.

“But it's got to be the right people, we feel we've got an identity and people need to fit into that. We have numerous meetings every month, talking about future players and recommendations, and possible changes within the squad – we've had out fingers on the pulse a long time.”

Smith is hoping for a few less headaches than last January, when having only been in the job a month, he had to cope with Toumani Diagouraga leaving, James Tarkowski going on strike before leaving, and speculation surrounding Alan Judge going right up to deadline day.

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He added: “We're more pragmatic about it, our planning will be better this year. I came in at the start of December last year so it was hard to plan for January. A number of things made it more of a window than it should have been.

“We had all the rumours about Judgey, we had Toums and Tarkowski going on in the background, but the planning which went into the close season and into this window means we should be better prepared.”

Nevertheless, the Bees will still find themselves inevitably fending off interest in Hogan, who has bagged 13 goals so far this term.

Smith added: “This time last year it was all about Alan Judge, now it's about Scott Hogan. But he just goes out to play his football and the speculation goes over his head.”

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