Brentford have launched an internal investigation into how the club have suffered so many serious injuries this season.
The Bees have suffered as many as 29 injuries this season, including a season-ending ACL issue for Rico Henry, a hamstring problem to Josh Dasilva that required surgery, and a serious hamstring injury to Aaron Hickey that threatens to prevent him representing Scotland at Euro 2024.
It is a situation that has impacted Brentford’s results this term, with the Bees 15th and just four points off the relegation zone despite having finished ninth last season.
In response, the club have now started a review into why so many injuries have been suffered and how players’ recovery times before returning to action can be shortened ahead of next season.
“Of course, it is serious — we have had too many injuries”, manager Thomas Frank explained.
“We’re doing a big review into what kind of injuries we’ve had and how quickly they [injured players] have returned to be able to play. That’s what we look into across all the departments — the coaching staff, sports science, performance department and medical department. Everything is linked.
“The main thing is that we’ve been very unlucky. A lot of contact injuries, a lot of big injuries like ACLs that are difficult to do something about. But we are still looking into what it is we can do to improve everything in terms of how can we avoid it.
“Contact injuries are difficult [to avoid], but how can we improve to get players back quicker? It has just been flagged. Because we’ve had so many, can we do something? That’s what we’re looking into.”
Meanwhile, Frank offered hope to Shandon Baptiste and Saman Ghoddos that they could be offered contract extensions that prevent them leaving the club as free agents in the summer. Baptiste has a one-year optional further year in his contract which the Bees are considering triggering, while Ghoddos’s contract does not.
“That’s a discussion we have with Shandon and his agent and us”, Frank said.
“With Saman, it’s been very good we got him back. He’s played valuable minutes and he is fantastic for the squad. I love to work with Saman. The players really see him as a fantastic teammate and player, so let’s see [whether he stays on].”
