Revealed: How much compensation Brentford will land as Antoni Milambo news emerges
Antoni Milambo has suffered a huge setback while on international duty and Brentford will want to be compensated for their future losses.
Brentford lost a number of key stars during the summer window, not least head-coach Thomas Frank as he was poached by Tottenham, with the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa also leaving the club.
Keith Andrews was appointed as Brentford’s new boss, and he set about building a new-look attack spearheaded by burly Brazilian Igor Thiago, who feels like a new signing after he spent most of last season out injured.
Their marquee signing was Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth for £42.5m, but a lesser-known forward also bolstered their ranks as Antoni Milambo was picked up from Feyenoord for around £20m in July.
Milambo has struggled for minutes with the West London club up to now, and a negative new update from his time on international duty looks to have brought his season to a very premature end, with FIFA potentially set to act in a case like his.
Brentford unlikely to receive any Milambo compensation from FIFA
Milambo was taken off on a stretcher in the Netherlands Under-21’s European Championship qualifying clash against Bosnia on Friday (10 October) after suffering what looked to be a serious injury.
Brentford officially confirmed on Wednesday (15 October), via X, that the 20-year-old suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury and is now set to undergo surgery and be in rehabilitation for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign.
His absence will serve as a major blow to their hopes of survival in the Premier League this season, as he did have the potential to be a key man, but the Bees will have been hopeful of compensation through FIFA’s Club Protection Programme.
FIFA’s CPP is an insurance scheme that covers the wages of players who are injured playing for their country and are then unavailable for more than 28 consecutive days, which means that his wages could have been covered from 7 November until his recovery, but not past a full year.
However, Brentford will not be in line to receive any official compensation from FIFA, as Milambo’s injury was suffered while playing for the Dutch U21 side, not the senior team.
According to the European Club Association (ECA), the programme only provides cover for clubs in the event that national A-team players are injured, meaning youth sides are not included, so they are not set to be given anything as a result of his long lay-off.
Newcastle were given compensation for Yoane Wissa’s injury
Brentford will be reeling from Milambo’s injury away from the club and subsequent lack of official compensation for his absence, but they could still explore other avenues, such as direct compensation from the Netherlands FA.
It is not the first injury and compensation saga relating to the Bees this season, after Wissa suffered a bad injury on international duty for DR Congo mere days after being sold to Newcastle last month.
Reports revealed not long after that Newcastle were set to land a compensation payout from FIFA for Wissa’s injury, and the Shields Gazette believe that figure to be worth up to £6.5m.
He is set to be back playing within the next month however, and so even though he will be earning a lot more than Milambo, the length of his ACL injury would have seen the Bees in line to earn a similar hefty figure when his earnings are added up.
Instead they are not set to be given anything, despite the injury occurring away from their medical care, which will sting considering how important he may have been this season on the pitch.