Brentford made sure they didn’t miss out on a striker who once missed an open goal from two yards.
Bees beat off Bundesliga outfit SV Darmstadt for the signature of Philipp Hofmann from FC Kaiserslautern for an undisclosed fee, subject to international clearance.
The 22-year-old was as red as Kaiserlautern’s shirt when he somehow scooped over a sitter against Union Berlin last September.
You really must see the video to believe it.
But that’s not the reason Bees head coach Marinus Dijkhuizen made his move for the forward, as the second video shows.
“Philipp is a target man, physically strong, and a good header of the ball. His style of play is similar to mine when I played,” he said.
“He is a different type of striker to Andre Gray, so it gives us more tactical options. Philipp is only 22 so can still improve his game.”
Hofmann has represented Germany from U18 all the way to U21 level and scored 18 goals in 36 games.
He scored two against England in a friendly in March. Hofmann was also part of the Germany squad at the recent UEFA European Under-21 Championships.
He came through the youth system at FC Schalke 04 and had loan spells at SC Paderborn 07 and FC Ingolstadt 04. Philipp moved to Kaiserslautern last summer and scored eight goals in 33 games for the German second tier side.
Hofmann has been pencilled in for a part in the friendly against Stoke City on Saturday.
