Brentford have released six players from their B Team upon expiry of their contracts.
Nico Jones, Roy Syla, Lucias Vine, Lachlan Brook, Roco Rees and J’Neil Bennett will all leave the club once their contracts expire on 30 June.
Jones, Roco and Syla’s departures comes after the trio spent two campaigns with the Bees’ B team, during which Syla featured in Brentford’s Premier League Cup success against Blackburn Rovers in May 2023.
Brentford B Head Coach, Neil MacFarlane explained that the decision to release the trio was down to the club’s belief that they are now “in a good place” performance wise to go and achieve senior football elsewhere.
Vine’s exit comes after making 15 appearances during his single season at the West London club, whilst Bennett managed to score three goals in 18 appearances for the B team this season.
Explaining why Vine has been released following “a stop-start season”, MacFarlane said: “It hasn’t quite worked out for him and he picked up a long-term injury earlier in the season. Now he is back fit we feel he now needs to find the next step.”
Brook meanwhile managed 35 appearances in total for the B team since he joined on a three-year contract in October 2020, during which he spent the second half of 2021-22 season on loan at Australia’s Adelaide United – where he previously played his football before he joined the Bees.
The 22 year-old forward then spent this season out on loan at League Two’s Crewe Alexandra, where he scored three goals in 39 appearances as the Railwaymen finished 13th in the table amidst First Round exits in FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
“Lachlan has been able to gain some good experience out on loan with Crewe this season,” commented MacFarlane as he reflected on the Australian’s spell with the League Two club this season.
MacFarlane added that Brook is ready for senior football elsewhere, as he added: “He is a talented, technical, player who we feel has the ability to forge himself a career away from Brentford and build on his experience of playing men’s football over the past year.”
Bennett joined the club from London rivals, Tottenham on an initial trial which left MacFarlane with “a real impression” despite the youngster suffering a back injury, which kept him out for a lengthy period despite signing a contract until end of season.
McFarlane though believes that Bennett can be a future talent wherever he ends up playing, as he said: “He’s played in the league before, and I am sure he will be aiming to get back to that level and we feel it’s the right time for him to do that.”
Max Dickov, Max Wilcox, Angel Waruih, Kyreece Lisbie and Charlie Farr have all received one-year contract extensions, whilst B team captain – Alex Gilbert.
Brentford have also opted to activate one-year extensions on the contracts of; Ben Winterbottom, Aaron Pressley, Chanse Headman and Reggie Rose.