Defender leaves after four-and-a-half years at Griffin Park

Jake Bidwell has left Brentford and signed for Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed fee. Brentford accepted an offer from QPR yesterday and the 23-year-old completed the move today, Friday 1 July, after passing a medical. It ends a four-and-a-half year stay at Griffin Park for the left back, who captained Brentford for the 2015/16 season and racked up more than 200 games for The Bees.

Jake signed from Everton on a permanent deal in the summer of 2013 after a series of loan deals that started in November 2011. He played 25 games for The Bees in his first spell at the Club in 2011/12 and then played 50 games in all competitions the following season after arriving in late August 2012 before making a permanent switch at the end of that season. Jake had come through the youth ranks at Everton and played one game for The Toffees before moving south.

He was named in the Sky Bet League One Team of the Year for the 2013/14 season after helping The Bees to promotion and made his 150th appearance for the Club during the 2014/15 campaign, his first in the Sky Bet Championship. He scored his first Brentford goal in December 2015 and added two more last season. He leaves Griffin Park having played 211 games in all competitions, 190 in the league.

Dean Smith, Head Coach, said: "We are sad to see Jake leave. He has been a big influence on the group with his professionalism, he has been great to work with as both a player and a captain since I arrived at Brentford. Unfortunately Jake has chosen to leave and we reluctantly accepted a bid. He has been a fantastic servant for the club amassing more than 200 games in a successful spell for the club and he has been a pleasure to work with.

"We are pursuing a number of options to replace Jake to compliment Tom Field who showed great promise last season."

Phil Giles, Co-Director of Football, said: "On behalf of everyone at Brentford I'd like to thank Jake for everything he has done for the Club. I'm sure that everyone would recognise that he never gave anything less than his best on every occasion that he played.

"Having been unable to reach an agreement with Jake on a new contract, and with only one year remaining on his existing deal, we were faced with a choice of setting a price for which we would sell, or running down to the end of the contract, at which point no compensation would've been due as Jake will be 24 before the end of next season. I acknowledge that his move to our local rivals may not be popular among many fans, but I believe that we have done the best financial deal for Brentford."