Maybe it was a distraction technique or just because he couldn’t believe Bryan Mbeumo would miss again. The sight of Yoane Wissa raising his arms in celebration and running towards the away supporters before his strike partner – and nextdoor neighbour – had even started his run-up for the retaken penalty against Crystal Palace on Saturday was one of the more comical moments of the season.
But it said everything about the relationship between the two forwards, whose goals have made Brentford the fifth-highest scoring team in the Premier League before their meeting with Tottenham on Sunday, with both reaching double figures before the halfway mark.
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“We have a really good relationship off the pitch; he’s now living one house down from me – he just wants to be next to me all the time,” said Mbeumo, whose goal against Palace took him to 14 for the campaign and maintained his perfect record from the spot since he arrived in west London from Troyes for around £6m in 2019.
Wissa’s 11th of the season, in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City, meant he surpassed Ivan Toney as Brentford’s highest scorer in the Premier League, and Mbeumo is one behind on 36. Wissa started out as a goalkeeper and decided to change position at his mother’s request because she didn’t think he was involved enough in the game.
Yet what has made the Democratic Republic of the Congo forward’s success even more startling is that he was subjected to a horrific acid attack days before he was due to complete his move to Brentford from the French club Lorient for £8.5m in 2021. He appeared in court in Brittany this week to give evidence against his assailant, who was sentenced to 18 years in jail for attempted murder and attempting to kidnap Wissa’s daughter.
“I opened a door, and had liquid thrown in my face,” Wissa, who has scarring on his face from the attack and said it took six months before his sight was fully restored, told the court in Vannes. “I screamed and could not breathe. This hugely delayed my move to Brentford. I missed their pre-season, and when I arrived the manager said he had already drawn up his first team. He sympathised with me, and gave me time to adapt but I got injured quickly as I wasn’t feeling great.”
Wissa also revealed he struggles to get to sleep alone and has “become withdrawn” since the incident. “I can no longer tolerate being around people I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t now express as much love as I used to, and when I’m walking I instinctively look behind me.”
Somehow his instincts in front of goal have improved and he stepped into the boots of Toney at the start of last season when the England striker was serving a ban for gambling offences. He finished with 12 Premier League goals, his best return, and only Erling Haaland scored more non-penalty goals in 2024. This season Wissa is in the top five for shots-to-goal ratio with 27% and is well on course to surpass his previous best tally. He was a guest on Canal+ Sport Africa this week and did not exactly close the door on a potential move to Nottingham Forest, who had a £22m bid rejected last week.
“It’s true that there has been interest since the summer,” the 28-year-old said. “They are having a very good season and I too am continuing my momentum. It’s true that for the moment I’m focused on Brentford but we’ll see what happens.”
Given that the strike duo have contributed almost 60% of Brentford’s league goals, Thomas Frank, the manager, must have concerns Mbeumo will also be a wanted man in the summer. The Cameroon international will enter the final year of his contract at the end of the season, although Brentford are understood to have an option to extend by 12 months. Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are believed to be among the clubs to have shown an interest in the 25-year-old, even if Frank has dismissed suggestions it may be difficult to keep hold of Mbeumo. “It would be that big a fee that I can’t imagine the size of the fee,” he said. “I’m not even focused on keeping the best players – I’m just expecting them to stay.”
In the era of the solitary striker, Mbeumo and Wissa are a reminder of how effective partnerships can be successful, even if like all neighbours they don’t always see eye-to-eye. “We do have arguments every now and then; mainly about being in the box, when either of us is in the right or wrong positions to shoot,” Wissa told Brentford’s website in September. “That’s the only sort of disagreements we have on the pitch … apart from when we lose, that’s always tough.”
