Brentford have announced that Tariqe Fosu and Joel Valencia will leave the club upon expiry of their contracts on 30 June.
Fosu arrived at Brentford in January 2020 from Oxford United and went on to score five goals in 63 appearances for the club, during which he helped the Bees claim promotion to the Premier League in 2021-22 season.
The 27 year-old however has struggled for first-team football in the last two seasons and spent this season on loan at Stoke City then Rotherham United, where he helped the Millers avoid relegation to League One with one goal in 19 appearances.
Brentford’s Director of Football, Phil Giles paid tribute to Fosu for his involvement in the club’s promotion campaign, as he praised the midfielder for his “big contribution” in that season with his midfield “adaptability” which benefitted the team at both ends of the football pitch.
Valencia meanwhile joined from Poland’s Piast Gliwice in July 2019 and went on to score one goal in 24 appearances, although he has spent the last three seasons out on loan at; Legia Warsaw, AD Alcorcon and De Graafschap respectively.
Addressing Valencia’s departure, Giles commented: “I think it’s fair to say that Joel struggled a little bit to adapt to English football, especially the more physical nature of the game here.
“This limited his game time with us and, in recent years, he has been very unlucky with injuries too, meaning he hasn’t got as many minutes as he would’ve wanted.
“However, whenever called upon, he made a contribution, in particular with that goal at Reading, and was a positive influence around our younger players at the training ground whenever he found himself out of the team.”
Giles proceeded to iterate that both players “will be welcome visitors back to Brentford in future,” alongside Pontus Jansson and Saman Ghoddos, who too are leaving the club this summer.
Charlie Goode, Halil Dervisoglu, Mads Bidstrup, Mads Bech, Ellery Balcombe, Myles Peart-Harris and Paris Maghoma meanwhile will all return to the club, having spent the season out on loan at various clubs.
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