Bryan Mbeumo started his career with Troyes in his native France and made 89 appearances for the club’s first team and reserve team combined, latterly in Ligue 2, before moving to England in August 2019, having just turned 20, to join Brentford on a five-year contract, during the final season at Griffin Park.
He enjoyed a storming first season in England, scoring 16 goals and providing eight assists as he made up one-third of the fabled ‘BMW’ front three, which combined of Saïd Benrahma, Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins.
Both Watkins and Benrahma left for pastures new after the Bees lost the Championship play-off final at Wembley in 2020, but Mbeumo remained and played a key role in promotion to the Premier League at the second time of asking with eight league goals and 12 assists.
As Brentford adapted to life in the top flight, Mbeumo was often paired up front with Ivan Toney in a 3-5-2 formation and, though he racked up 11 goal contributions throughout the historic season, he was denied by the woodwork seven times - a season-high figure matched only by Leeds United’s Raphinha. He signed a new four-year contract in January 2022.
In 2022/23, he featured in every single one of Brentford’s league games, contributing heavily to the unprecedented ninth-place finish – and doing so as a Cameroon international, having been persuaded to switch his allegiance from France during a meeting with Samuel Eto’o. He was named in the Indomitable Lions’ squad for the 2022 World Cup, where he started all three of their Group G matches.
Mbeumo made a typically impressive start to 2023/24, with seven goals and three assists by the start of December, before an ankle injury that required surgery kept him out of action until the middle of March, compounding the Bees’ injury crisis.
He returned to the starting line-up in April 2024, scoring two goals and assisting three more across the final seven games.