Director of football Phil Giles believes that Brentford’s first-team squad is in ‘good shape’ following the conclusion of the summer transfer window.

Neal Maupay completed his return to the club on deadline day, while Mark Flekken and Nathan Collins were recruited ahead of the Bees’ tour of the USA in July. Saman Ghoddos also signed a new one-year deal in August, having initially left at the end of last season following the expiry of his previous contract.

“I’m happy with it,” Giles began. “We thought we’d lose our goalkeeper [David Raya], so we needed one in. We did that nice and early. Mark was lined up from a long way out.

“We also lost Pontus [Jansson], and we had an experienced group of centre-backs, so we wanted a younger one to come in and we got that done relatively early. Nathan was the best possible option. He’s been great for us so far and we’ve really liked having him here.

“Saman left when we thought we weren’t going to be able to offer him minutes, but things change - players get injured and opportunities open up. That was another easy one to do and it gave us great pleasure to bring him back, because he’s a great guy.”

Giles revealed that Maupay’s return to TW8 had been in the making for some time.

“It’s not something we magicked out of thin air on the last day,” he said.

“We spoke with Everton at the start of the summer about him, but we had other options to explore in the meantime.

“Remember when Jota came back and scored his first goal for us? I don’t think there will be anything better than when Neal scores his first goal back with us. Those are the moments you look forward to.”

Brentford’s director of football also paid tribute to defender Mads Bech, who joined Superliga side Midtjylland on deadline day.

“He’s been fantastic,” said Giles. “He did an unbelievable job during our promotion season, having come through our B team. He’s a really nice guy.

“Over the last 18 months he’s not played as much as he wanted, so he needed to go home and start from fresh back in Denmark.”