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Brentford have confirmed the signing of Mikkel Damsgaard on a five-year deal from Sampdoria.
The versatile playmaker joins for a fee that could rise to €20m and has become the Bees’ fifth signing of a busy summer.
90min reported that the west Londoners opened talks with Sampdoria sometime in July and had two bids knocked back before reaching a breakthrough in negotiations.
Damsgaard then flew to England and underwent a medical earlier this week before Brentford announced his signing on Wednesday
Speaking to the club’s official website after the move, Brentford manager Thomas Frank said: “Mikkel is, in my opinion, another classic Brentford signing. He is a young player with big potential to develop further. We know we can help Mikkel reach his highest level, we have the staff here that have experience in doing that and we are looking forward to working with him.
“Mikkel is a player that has shown his promise at FC Nordsjælland and Sampdoria as well as in the European Championships last summer, when he had a fantastic tournament for Denmark. He has been unlucky with injuries in the past year, but we have already seen that he is an extremely skillful player, who can run with the ball and move it well. He is aware of the space around him and plays on the half turn. He also wants to play forward and can do so by either passing or dribbling.
“Mikkel is capable of creating and scoring goals and he has the ability to run with the ball past players. That is a great asset to have in the squad. He will create chances for us and is fantastic at getting out of tight areas with the ball, we will benefit from that.
“We think Mikkel can play as one of our ‘eights’ in a 4-3-3 system or as a ‘ten’. He can also play on the wing. We will use him in the way we think we can get the best out of his offensive abilities. Importantly, he is a player that will fit into our dressing room. He is a great character, he wants to work hard, he wants to work for the team, and he wants to develop.”
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Damsgaard, one of the stars of Euro 2020 last year, came through the youth ranks at Danish club FC Nordsjælland under the guidance of former Brentford B boss Flemming Pedersen, who has a good relationship with current Bees manager Thomas Frank.
The 22-year-old follows Aaron Hickey and Thomas Strakosha in swapping Serie A for the Gtech Community Stadium this summer. The Bees have also brought in Keane Lewis-Potter and Ben Mee this window.
