Exclusive: MLS club set sights on appointing Brentford recruitment chief
Brentford technical director Lee Dykes is on the shortlist for the sporting director role at MLS side St. Louis City SC, sources have told Football Insider.
Highly-regarded recruitment chief Dykes has been at Brentford since joining the club in 2019 from Bury.
The 41-year-old has played an instrumental role in helping the club on their rise from the Championship to the Premier League.
St Louis City SC are on the search for a new sporting director following the departure of Lutz Pfannenstiel at the end of August and Dykes is understood to be one of the names under consideration for the role.
Lee Dykes has sterling reputation at Brentford
Brentford are widely thought of as one of the best-run clubs in the country, and a lot of that is down to their superb recruitment team.
In recent years, they have sold the likes of Ivan Toney, David Raya, and Ollie Watkins for big profits, thanks to the scouting abilities of Dykes and his team.
Even this summer, Brentford made over £125million on the sales of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa alone.
Mbeumo joined Manchester United for £71m, after signing for the Bees back in 2019 for just £5.8m, which was a club-record fee at the time.
It was a similar story for Wissa, who was sold to Newcastle United for £55m, four years after Brentford paid £8.5m to bring him in.
Brentford can replace anyone
A key part of the Brentford set-up is their ability to replace anyone in any position at the club.
The West London side will be confident in finding someone to fill the void left by Dykes, if he does decide to make the switch to the United States.
Earlier this summer, Thomas Frank left Brentford to join Tottenham, in what was a huge blow to the club as they lost their long-serving manager.
However, Keith Andrews was quickly promoted to replace Frank, although it is yet to be seen whether he can have the same success as his predecessor.
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