Brentford’s Joel Valencia: Has he got a future at the Bees after his Legia Warsaw stint? | OneFootball

Brentford will be hoping they’re playing Premier League football next season but whichever division they’re in, it’s hard to see Joel Valencia being part of Thomas Frank’s squad.

The 26-year-old winger has not featured for the Bees since July 2020 and has spent the season on loan with Legia Warsaw, with the Colombian hoping to recapture some form in the division that earned him his move to west London in the first place.

Valencia arrived at Brentford in July 2019 after a season that had seen him score six times and add six assists for Piast Gliwice in the Ekstraklasa.

Unfortunately, his return to Poland’s top flight has not been a success so far.

Legia Warsaw are on course to win the title but Valencia has been little more than a bit-part player.

Does the Brentford Community Stadium have a higher or lower capacity than these 18 grounds?

The winger has made 12 appearances in total, failing to add a single goal or an assist.

His last game for the club came in January as a knee injury has kept him sidelined, though reports in Poland have revealed that he was back training with the squad this week and looked enthusiastic.

Unless the Colombian finishes the season in remarkable style, nothing that Frank and his coaches will have seen during his loan spell this season will likely have persuaded them that he should be part of their squad next term.

Looking at the quality of Brentford’s current forward line, which includes the likes of Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbuemo, Sergi Canos, and Marcus Forss, only further suggests that the Bees are likely to offload Valencia when the summer window opens.

Even if the Bees fall short of promotion and lose a number of their key forward players, you feel the west London club is more likely to look to the transfer market than reintroduce the winger.

A fresh start looks likely to be the best move for all involved.