Dean Smith revealed that Brentford have three or four irons in the fire when it comes to strikers but progress has been slow on getting one in through the Griffin Park door.

The Bees have been linked with French U21 international Neal Maupay in the past 24 hours and the 20-year-old could play anywhere along Brentford's front three.

Ollie Watkins has been the latest player linked with a move to Brentford, with the Bees admiring the 21-year-old Exeter forward for over a year.

Speaking last week, Smith said: “Progress has been slow. There are three or four different ones we're moving on. We haven't quite got there but hopefully it'll get over the line soon.”

The Brentford head coach, though, wants to see a striker come in that fits in with Brentford's team ethos and is, in particular, a hard worker.

Neal Maupay

He added: “What I want for the team is a team player. Someone who can work hard up there. We create chances as our supporters know.

“Someone who works hard and get into goalscoring positions will take those chances. We talk about that ethos and the togetherness.

“That's going to lead the line for you but also the first line of defence for us. They also can keep the defence on their toes with problems in behind."

Brentford co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen has previously made it clear that one striker is going to come in rather than two.

He said in June: “We need to have one striker in. We have Sergi (Canos) who can cover as can Florian Jozefzoon when we have games where we defend with a lower block. We have options but there's no doubt with Hoff (Philipp Hofmann) going that we need a new striker.”