Undoubtedly, the biggest issue facing Brentford is what to do without Ivan Toney for the first five months of the season.
Bryan Mbeumo has come up with plenty of big performances for the club in the last two seasons, while Yoane Wissa has proved a valuable squad player and the recently-signed Kevin Schade has shown exciting glimpses off the bench, so it will be keenly awaited to see whether Thomas Frank places his trust in that trio, or whether he opts to dip into the transfer market further, with a loan signing potentially a solution.
Brentford have already been fairly active before the window has even opened, bringing in Schade in a club-record permanent deal as well as signing Mark Flekken and Ethan Brierley, but that is unlikely to be the last of their business.
The future of Frank himself can never be 100% certain given the job he has done in West London, and with vacancies at elite clubs often coming available, including one in North London this summer, that could change the entire structure of the club.
One thing which looks more and more likely is the departure of David Raya, as the side's dependable goalkeeper has been attracting interest from Tottenham Hotspur in particular.
Brentford are understood to be holding out for a transfer fee of around £40m which they can use to reinvest, but they do already have Thomas Strakosha in reserve, a man who was Lazio's starting keeper for much of his six years in Rome.
With Brentford proving they are an excellently run club, these issues are likely to be quickly resolved should they arise though, similar to how Brighton & Hove Albion have dealt with player and manager outgoings in recent years. body check tags ::
