Back in September 2024, Mamadou Sangaré stood on a chair in front of his new Mali teammates, belting out an initiation song as every debutant must in the modern game.
Yves Bissouma, then Mali's captain, called him up onto the makeshift stage and asked which position he fancied playing for the national side.
Yours
Sangaré's answer, delivered with total confidence, has stuck with Tom Saintfiet, Mali's manager at the time.
I loved that. He's an open, intelligent person - and confident. He knows what he can do.
Sangaré never actually took Bissouma's shirt at international level - the pair ended up playing together for Mali - but almost two years on, it is the 24-year-old who has claimed the bigger prize domestically.
Brentford open their season against Tottenham Hotspur, and Sangaré will line up as the Bees' most expensive signing in their history. Bissouma, released by Spurs this summer, is still searching for a new club.
According to The Athletic, the move was finalised on 1 August 2026, with Sangaré putting pen to paper on a five-year contract that includes the option of a further year. The same report put the fee at around €48 million, or roughly £41.1 million - a figure France 24 described as a record sale for Lens as well as a record purchase for Brentford.
That kind of outlay tells you plenty about how highly RC Lens' hierarchy rated him. Sangaré was central to their run to second place in Ligue 1 last term, as well as their French Cup triumph, and he was subsequently named in Ligue 1's Team of the Year ahead of the likes of João Neves and Fabián Ruiz.
He could easily have stuck around and sampled Champions League football with Lens this season. Instead, with a queue of admirers forming, he opted for west London.
I remember a few months ago when I was talking to him, there were some different names already mentioned. There were some top clubs in the English Premier League, the real giants.
Casual Premier League followers may not know much about Sangaré yet, but anyone who kept an eye on Ligue 1 last season will understand exactly why Brentford moved so decisively. One report from Tribuna noted he contributed three goals and four assists in 29 Ligue 1 appearances last season.
His defensive and ball-winning numbers put him in a category of his own in France, drawing comparisons to Newcastle's Elliot Anderson for sheer volume of work in that area. Yet reducing him to a pure destroyer would be a mistake, according to Saintfiet, who has even used him as a wide midfielder for Mali.
If you talk about ball recovery, tackling, then you look really to the Claude Makelele, the Gennaro Gattuso, the real die-hard No 6. And for me, he's not really a No 6. He's different from that.
He's more of a No 8 than a No 6, and he can even play as a No 10. His multifunctional qualities are his strengths.
That versatility suits Brentford nicely, given they already have a specialist holding midfielder emerging in Yehor Yarmoliuk, who statistically played something close to the Anderson role for the Bees themselves last season. With Yarmoliuk shielding the back four, Sangaré is freer to cause damage further up the pitch.
The timing also fits neatly with Brentford's summer business. Yahoo Sports reported the club moved for Sangaré after parting ways with Jordan Henderson, leaving a gap in the middle of the park that needed filling urgently.
Saintfiet is adamant Sangaré's real value lies in what he does on the ball rather than what he takes off opponents.
When he has the ball, he is very confident on the ball. He is able to find solutions very fast under pressure, to give good passes, both short and long. So he's much more than only someone who can recover a ball, in my eyes.
Put him in Barcelona's team, and he will have an important role in such a team - because of his style of playing. He is confident on the ball, he is very smart in his passing. Even if he is strong in ball recovery, he combines that with so many other skills, which is so important in modern football.
There is another dimension to his game worth watching too - his shooting from range. Only two Ligue 1 players attempted more shots from outside the box than Sangaré last season, and Brentford fans got an early glimpse of that threat when he opened his account for the club with a long-range strike in their 7-0 pre-season win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Saintfiet believes there is more end product still to come, if Sangaré can be persuaded to shoot rather than pass more often.
I think he can score a few more goals a season. He has a very good shot, he has a good free kick, but he doesn't use it. In training, I'm always impressed with his shots from distance and during small side games.
And maybe, sometimes he is too much a team player. He wants to give the chance to another player. He gives a pass when he has the opportunity to take the shot himself. So I think he can be a little bit being more selfish in front of the goal.
A player who delivers final passes, assists, that's welcome. But if you can have three, four, five goals a season, that will be better. And I think he has that ability to do that. He only has to take now the responsibility to show it.
A proven big-game temperament
Sangaré has never needed much settling-in time. He walked straight into Lens' first team from Austrian side Rapid Vienna and became an instant success, and Brentford's own preview of a pre-season friendly against Rennes noted he had recently lifted the Coupe de France alongside former Lens teammate Seko Fofana Thomasson, underlining the pedigree he brings with him.
He has already had a taste of Brentford colours too, having played the second half of a pre-season friendly against League One opposition, according to Brentford's official match preview.
Fan sentiment already appears to back up the hype, with BBC Sport reporting that supporters have described him as exactly what Brentford have needed.
Saintfiet, who knows both players well, is now happy to compare the man who once eyed Bissouma's spot to Bissouma himself.
For me, Yves Bissouma is a fantastic player. He has a proven record in the highest level of Europe. Probably Yves could have reached even higher if he had taken different decisions in his career.
Sangare is starting to be on a real top level now. Brentford is a good step, they have always shown in the past to have an eye for talented players who are maybe less known in England.
But for me, knowing Mamadou Sangare, Brentford is not his final destination. He can reach the top in England.
What happens next
Sangaré was named in Brentford's starting XI for the pre-season friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt on 15 August 2026, a sign he is being quickly integrated into Keith Andrews' plans, according to OneFootball.
His competitive Premier League bow is scheduled for 22 August 2026, when Brentford travel to face Tottenham Hotspur on the opening weekend of the season, as listed by StatsHub.
