Thomas Frank says Nottingham Forest’s astonishing signing of Morgan Gibbs-White shows what Brentford are up against in the Premier League.
Newly-promoted Forest landed Wolves midfielder Gibbs-White in a deal which could rise to an eye-watering £45million – which Frank revealed was the Bees’ entire summer spend so far.
While Forest have brought in 16 signings Frank has captured five; Aaron Hickey, Keane Lewis-Potter, Thomas Strakosha, Ben Mee and Mikkel Damsgaard.
Frank, whose side stunned Manchester United 4-0 last weekend, face a west London derby trip to Fulham on Saturday.
“We are playing a club which I think it’s fair to say historically is bigger than Brentford,” said the Bees boss.
“They played in the Premier League for many years, they have far more Premier League experience in the squad.
“They’ve used £50m, we’ve used £45m, so it’s going to be difficult.
“Speaking about the numbers, money is a big thing. What we are up against at Brentford is we have the second lowest budget.
“Nottingham Forest have spent £45m on Morgan Gibbs-White. That’s the same amount we spent on all our five signings. That’s what we are fighting against.
“But no problem. It is what it is. We try to do things a bit different and take a gamble on younger players because we believe in our strategy and we like the challenge.”
Saturday’s Craven Cottage clash will be the first time these derby rivals have met in the top flight.
It will also bring back sore memories for the Bees, who were beaten by Fulham in the 2020 Championship play-off final.
“When we think about Fulham that’s a painful memory that won’t go away,” added Frank.
“Of course it helps that we got promoted the year after. We can handle it a little bit more.
“I’m really looking forward to playing Fulham, it will be a great atmosphere against a team playing very well.
“In some ways it’s maybe bigger than the United game. We have a long history of local derbies, we’ve faced Fulham a lot more often than Man United.”
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