Hull-born Keane Lewis-Potter joined his hometown club at the age of 14, after multiple attempts by the club to bring him into their academy.
"Every year [Hull] were coming back and asking and asking but I didn't really want to," he said in an interview in February 2024. It all felt a bit too serious at the time. I just enjoyed playing football with my friends and having a laugh.”
In conversation with brentfordfc.com last year, Lewis-Potter’s football team manager at St Mary’s College from Year 8 to Year 11 gave the forward a glowing report, speaking as part of the Long Read: “Keane was a dedicated, committed, determined and self-confident footballer. He was always driven to win and, when he joined the Hull City Academy, he matured very quickly. Keane was always committed to being a professional footballer from the time he started the school in Year 7. That was his sole career aspiration.”
Lewis-Potter made his senior debut in an FA Cup match against Millwall in January 2019 and played 22 times in 2019/20, but Grant McCann facilitated his breakout the following season and West Ham-bound Jarrod Bowen’s heir went on to score 15 goals and provide six assists as the Tigers won League One.
He followed that up with 13 goals and three assists back in the Championship, which, naturally, led to a first England Under-21 call-up and interest from Premier League clubs.
On 12 July 2022, he signed a six-year contract at Brentford for an undisclosed fee. “We have a player who scores his goals by arriving in the box and attacking the last line,” said Thomas Frank when his arrival was announced. “He gets in the position to convert the chances made for him. He is a flexible player, he can play both sides, as a striker and as a 10 if we want to do that. He has a very good mentality.”
Lewis-Potter managed one goal and one assist in a first season prematurely curtailed by a knee injury, but was utilised more frequently in 2023/24, featuring in 30 Premier League games. He scored three goals, too; the first a clever improvised finish against Aston Villa, the second a clinical first-time connection on Mads Roerslev’s cross after an incisive breakaway at Crystal Palace, and the third a simple header at the back post in the 5-1 rout of Luton Town.