Brentford could be in ‘big trouble’ amid Brighton claim
Brentford have been warned that their data-led approach could lead to their collapse in the Premier League.
This is according to former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that Brighton and Bournemouth have now fallen off after using a similar model.
Brentford have focused on buying low and selling high for a number of years now, which has put them in the race for European football this season.
However, there are fears about how long the Bees can keep this up.
🥹🏆 The emotional moment Igor Thiago received his Premier League Player of the Month award. 🇧🇷
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Footballtweet) February 17, 2026
🗣️ His Brentford teammate Joshua Dasilva: “Lord, we pray that more will come from this… we pray for more goals, more wins.” 🙏❤️pic.twitter.com/5y2rFeRQw1
Stefan Borson: One bad year could see Brentford collapse
In recent years, Brentford have done a masterful job of replacing their star players.
Despite being tipped for relegation by many this season after the losses of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, they are arguably playing better than ever before.
Two other clubs that became masterful at doing this in recent years were Bournemouth and Brighton.
However, the Cherries surprisingly went down in 2020 after a few poor years before they returned to the Premier League in 2022, while the Seagulls are currently having their worst campaign in years.
It’s six games without a win for Brighton… is the pressure on Fabian Hurzeler? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/HPf5BwSpKW
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 14, 2026
As a result, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson warned Brentford that their data-led approach will have to be almost perfect if they are not to follow the same route.
He said: “They’re in that sweet spot that Brighton have been before, and Bournemouth have been.
“The problem is almost not, when you look back at those numbers, they’re good numbers. They’re fine. Then this year is going to be good. The problem is, can you keep doing it every single year? And this is what Brighton are finding now.
“You know, they’re just starting to go, ‘actually, the data-led approach doesn’t seem
to be working quite as well as it did.’ It’s going to be almost perfect when you’re in that
kind of position.
“You have one season where it doesn’t go right, and all of a sudden you could be in trouble.”
Are Brentford about to hit their peak?
For Brentford, the last few seasons couldn’t have gone better.
Despite the losses of some of their star players and their former manager, Thomas Frank, they could easily qualify for Europe and even beat their record high ninth-place finish in the top-flight.
However, realistically, the Bees are going to break into the top six consistently anytime soon, with many teams proving in recent years that this just isn’t possible without substantial investment.
With European football also having the potential to divert focus from the Premier League, this could easily be the peak of Brentford’s time in the top-flight.