Free agent Ben Mee accepts contract offer from Brentford

Ben Mee who has been a free agent since leaving Burnley at the end of last season is set to join Brentford.

Sky Sports have reported that “Brentford have agreed terms with free agent Ben Mee and the defender will undergo medical checks on Thursday.

“The former Burnley captain left Turf Moor after 11 years in the summer and is said to have rejected two other Premier League clubs who made approaches.”

Mee started his career at Manchester City but he never played in the Premier League for the Citizens and had loan spells at Leicester City and then Burnley. He joined the Clarets permanently in 2012.

Ben Mee made quite a name for himself at Burnley

He made 376 appearances in total for Burnley with 217 of those in the Premier League. He was promoted to the top flight twice with the club topping the Championship in the 2015/16 season.

His highest finish in the Premier League was 7th in the 2017/18 season which got the club into the Europa League qualifiers.

Under Sean Dyche, he made four appearances in the Europa League qualifying rounds. Mee is a Burnley legend but his time at the club ended in heartache as they were relegated on the final day of last season.

Mee made 21 appearances in the Premier League last season scoring three goals. However, he did miss the end of the campaign after he broke his leg in March. Hopefully, for Mee, this injury is behind him as he embarks on a fresh challenge.

It will hit home to Burnley fans who will not see Mee at the heart of their defence for the first time in 11 years. Next season will be strange for their fans as they will be without long-serving manager Sean Dyche and seasoned veterans including James Tarkowski, Aaron Lennon, Erik Pieters, Dale Stephens and Phil Bardsley.

However, the Lancashire side can look forward to a season with Vincent Kompany at the helm as they embark on a season in the second tier.

What will Ben Mee offer Brentford?

Brentford finished last season in 13th place which is not bad given it was their first ever season in the Premier League. But Thomas Frank’s side should be wary of second-season syndrome.

Mee is an experienced Premier League defender who will no doubt improve Brentford at the back. The West London side already has captain Pontus Jansson, Mads Bech Sørensen, Ethan Pinnock and Kristoffer Ajer as centre halves so he will provide competition for places. Mee can also fill in at left-back so can cover Rico Henry if need be.

A player of his quality will likely start alongside Janson for the club and Sky reporting that he turned down two other Premier League clubs to join Brentford shows that he must have been impressed with the role the club will be offering him next season.

The challenge for the Bees will be at the front as they need to find a replacement for Christian Erikson who opted to go to Manchester United instead of staying at the club which gave him a chance to play football again following his cardiac arrest. Although signing a player of Erikson’s quality will be an almost impossible task for Brentford.

Brentford start their Premier League campaign with a visit to one of Mee’s former clubs in Leicester on Sunday the 7th of August.