Brentford are set to suffer another loss this summer as academy director Stephen Torpey is due to leave to join Manchester United.
The Red Devils are bringing in the 43-year-old to head up their own academy and replace Nick Cox, who is departing to join Everton as technical director, report The Athletic.
That move to Merseyside was agreed in June but Cox has remained in place in Manchester until a replacement could be found.
Torpey has been in his role at Brentford since January 2024, having spent time at United’s rivals beforehand.
After a playing career spent mainly in non-league football, Torpey began his coaching life in Liverpool’s academy before moving to Manchester City in 2014.
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He made his way up the ranks at the Etihad to become head of the academy before leaving for Brentford last year.
It is another blow for the Bees after a tumultuous summer of loss both on and off the field for the club.
Manager Thomas Frank was tempted away by Tottenham, while Manchester United signed star striker Bryan Mbeumo.
Captain Christian Norgaard has moved to Arsenal, while goalkeeper Mark Flekken left for Bayer Leverkusen.
There could yet be another high profile departure, with Newcastle keen on Yoane Wissa and the forward seemingly set on securing the switch to St James’ Park.
Frank also took members of his backroom staff with him to Spurs, with Justin Cochrane, Chris Haslam and Joe Newton all leaving Brentford.
Keith Andrews has been installed as the new manager, his first role in a top job, and got off to a tough start with a 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
On that loss at the City Ground, Andrews said: ‘It was always going to be difficult but we made it harder for ourselves. We knew their strengths and we knew the problems they would cause. Set-pieces were always going to be a threat.
‘Get back to basics. Basics in the game is a dirty word at times, but you have to have an edge and do the ugly side of the game and compete as a team. I didn’t think we did that.
‘I saw it a lot in the first half and it’s something we need to address. The second half was a lot better on a lot of fronts.’