Thomas Frank says Mikkel Damsgaard will make his Brentford debut at Colchester

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has revealed summer signing Mikkel Damsgaard will make his Bees debut in the Carabao Cup tie at Colchester.

Frank insists he will name a strong side at the JobServe Community Stadium, with recent acquisition Damsgaard pencilled in to start.

The 22-year-old Denmark international joined Brentford from Sampdoria but has been unable to feature while building up his fitness following an injury-hit season in Serie A.

But Frank plans to hand the midfielder his bow in their first cup tie of the campaign.

“He will start, so we’re looking forward to that,” Frank told reporters on the eve of the contest, adding: “That’s part of a bigger plan for him.”

Brentford made it to the semi-final of the Carabao Cup two years ago, losing to Tottenham, and were quarter-finalists last year as they made their Premier League debut.

“Obviously we will make some changes but we will put a very strong team out there,” added Frank.

“I think it’s very clear how serious we’ve been over the last two years.

“Maybe the two most important years in the club’s recent history – the promotion season in a very tight Covid schedule and the first season in the Premier League – we made history by reaching the semi-final in the first year and then the quarter-final [the season after] is the next best.

“That shows how serious we are about this competition and we want to do very well.

“I could easily choose the first XI, but I don’t think that will benefit us in the other competitions.

“But by putting a very strong team out there, and hopefully it’s enough to beat Colchester, I think we tried to put our money out on both competitions.”