Brentford midfielder Christian Norgaard has signed a new contract keeping him at the club for another three and a half years.
The Denmark international, who joined from Fiorentina in 2019, has agreed a new deal until the end of the 2024/25 season, with the option of an additional year.
Boss Thomas Frank told the club’s official website: ” “This is a fantastic New Year’s Day gift for all Brentford fans. We are on a great journey here and we are very pleased that Christian is going to stay on that journey with us. Christian has been a key part in the rise of Brentford in the past three years.
“I think Christian has had a fantastic first half season in the Premier League. He has shown that he can compete in this league against some of the best in the world in his position. He is also consistently working to develop himself.
“Christian shows great leadership qualities in training every day and he helps build our culture. That is very important to us. He has an unbelievably important role in this team, and it is great that he will be part of our future.”
Norgaard has featured 86 times for the Bees, including all-but one of their Premier League games this season.
The Bees could also offer Pontus Jansson a new contract as Premier League rivals consider a move for the 30-year-old Sweden defender.
Leicester, Newcastle and Everton are reported to be interested in signing Jansson during the January transfer window, but Frank is determined to keep his club captain.
Jansson is out of contract at the end of the season and, when asked if he will be offered a new deal, Frank said: “You never know. It’s just been Christmas so maybe!
“The last time I looked he was our player. Without naming too many players who will be playing against Aston Villa on Sunday, I’m pretty sure that he will start.
“He’s our club captain and we’re very pleased with him. This is his best season so far and that’s remarkable after stepping up to the Premier League.
“He’s played at a very high, stable level. The last two years he’s been hit by more injuries, but he’s in the form of his life.”
Villa’s visit to the Brentford Community Stadium will complete a busy festive schedule of four games in 12 days, but Frank insists his team, who were promoted from the Championship last season, have taken it in their stride.
“We’ve done this for the last two years in the Championship. Last year it was even more,” he said.
“We played 11 games so it was basically Saturday, midweek, Saturday, midweek, for 11 games in a row.
“Of course as a coach you’d prefer Saturday to Saturday – more time, more details. But we know this and we love to play games. I love the Christmas programme, I think it’s fantastic.
“The thing I would say is that I understand when some managers talk about there being only one day between games, I think that is too little.
“Two is fine, we’ve done that a lot of times, but one is simply…I don’t understand it basically.”
Brentford have accumulated 20 points as they near the halfway stage of the league campaign.
“With injuries and Covid, it’s remarkable the number of points that we’ve got. If you look at the performances we could have had even more,” Frank said.
“I have such big ambitions and am such a big believer in this club and this team. But I try to get away from thinking about the table.
“Instead, I look to maximise every single minute we have on the training pitch and in games because that gives us the opportunity to finish as high as possible.”
