Analysis: Why Lewis-Potter earned new Brentford deal | OneFootball

Keane Lewis-Potter has earned himself a new Brentford contract after he has shown his quality and versatility this season.

With Rico Henry nearing a return, he will have Lewis-Potter to thank for keeping his place warm, with the former Hull City man adeptly filling in at left-back.

As well as showing his defensive prowess, Lewis-Potter has been a threat going forward, which was evident against Southampton last time out when the 23-year-old scored the Bees' fourth goal in a 5-0 thrashing.

Lewis-Potter's adaptability and fitness have ensured he is just one of three Brentford players to feature in the 24 games across all competitions, alongside Kevin Schade and Mikkel Damsgaard. Of those 24, 21 have been starts - a number bettered only by Nathan Collins and Mark Flekken (22).

It's no surprise that he has been so readily available for Thomas Frank's side. While at Hull City he managed a run of 81 games in a row (of which 73 were starts) between December 2020 and May 2022. Lewis-Potter started the last 60 of those 81 before going on to make the switch to west London that summer.

Lewis-Potter's defensive work has seen him make 26 tackles in the Premier League so far this season, ranking him fifth out of his team-mates; although no player has blocked as many crosses (seven) as the wide man.

Of course, it's going forward where Lewis-Potter excels and his numbers show him being a key part of the attack.

This season, Lewis-Potter is third in the Brentford rankings for accurate crosses (nine), successful dribbles (19), and key passes (12) - Bryan Mbeumo and Damsgaard are the only players ahead of him in each of those categories.

And while the winger only scored his first league goal of the season against the Saints last Saturday (after having netted the winner against Colchester United in the Carabao Cup back in August), it'd be a shock if there weren't more on the way.

In total, Lewis-Potter has attempted 18 shots this season behind the trio of Schade, Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa. Of those 18, eight were from the outside of the box (only Mbeumo has attempted more from distance).

Although that's a large portion of attempts from outside the area, 10 of his efforts have been on target, with only the front two of Schade and Mbeumo having more attempts on target this campaign.

At just 23, there is still plenty more to come from Keane Lewis-Potter in the future - and his new deal shows that the club has faith that he will continue to develop.