AHEAD OF THE GAME: Brentford set to reopen their academy

Brentford are planning to reopen their academy six years after its controversial closure.

The club shut their category two academy and withdrew from the game’s elite player performance plan in 2016, opting instead to focus their youth development on players aged between 17 and 21, as they felt that approach was a better use of their limited resources at the time.

Brentford’s change of heart is the result of their improved financial circumstances following promotion and the fact that the Premier League are considering changing their rules to make academies compulsory.

In addition, the impact of Brexit has made Brentford’s existing model of recruiting talented teenagers, primarily from Scandinavia, less effective.

Following the UK’s departure from the European Union English clubs are no longer able to sign EU players under the age of 18 and are limited to bringing in three players between the ages of 18 and 21 from the continent in each transfer window.

Middlesbrough have already gained a financial windfall from Djed Spence following Forest’s promotion to the Premier League as they prepare to cash in by selling the 21-year-old for over £20 million this summer. 

Boro shrewdly added bonus and promotion clauses worth hundreds of thousands of pounds when Spence’s loan agreement with Forest was renegotiated in January —despite the fact that Forest were well outside the play-off places at the time, as well as extending the right back’s contract by a further 12 months to protect his transfer value.

Forest are keen to sign Spence on a permanent basis, after he was integral to Steve Cooper’s side winning promotion, but they face competition from Tottenham, Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund.

Referee Paul Tierney’s operation of VAR at