It’s been an exciting few weeks for Brentford B winger Michael Olakigbe.

The 19-year-old, who is about to go into his second campaign in red and white, has had the opportunity to spend some extended time with the first team having joined them for the Premier League Summer Series in America.

He then netted twice against LOSC Lille in a behind closed doors friendly against the French side in a 5-1 win.

That comes off the back of an impressive debut campaign with the young Bees which he rounded off in style with an emphatic goal at the Gtech Community Stadium as Brentford came from behind to beat Manchester City’s under-21s.

With a year of hard work behind him, he now finds himself in a positive place having got to work with Thomas Frank’s side ahead of the 2023/24 season.

“I'm very excited,” smiled Michael. I'm looking forward to the upcoming games. Looking forward to developing and learning more about the culture of this club. I feel like it's been unbelievable (pre-season.)

"I’ve played games and I’ve been training with quality players. We have top coaches as well that I'm learning from, so it's only positives that I can take from that.”

Reflecting on the trip to the USA Michael, who was joined on tour by fellow B team players Ji-soo Kim and Ethan Brierley, says it was an unforgettable experience on the pitch as well as off it as they had the opportunity to sample three different cities.

He continued: “I liked the way that it wasn't just football, football, football, and we still got to go out and see what was around in America. We went to Washington, Philadelphia and Atlanta. It was good to see different places because I hadn’t been there before.

"It was very, very hot and everything's a lot bigger there. Even the stadiums, like the Mercedes-Benz stadium with loads of fans, it just felt very surreal.”

Michael featured in the Premier League Summer Series for the Bees

Of course, Michael spent time with the first team group over the course of the 2022/23 campaign. He was able to join the side on a trip to Spain during the World Cup break last season but to have another two weeks away with the players and staff has helped him to adjust to what life is like with the first team, and having had a taste, the determined youngster is pushing as hard as he can to keep being involved.

“I'm more comfortable around them (the players), at dinner, not just in football but also outside of football. I’m getting more in touch with the group and I'm settling in well, so I'm enjoying that.

“I've been speaking with Bryan Mbeumo quite a lot. After training sessions I am asking him where I can do better.

“Players like Josh Dasilva and Bryan. Obviously, playing positions similar to me. Bryan's crosses are unbelievable. Josh's finishing when he comes in on his left foot, even though I’m right footed I can still learn to use my left, so I always ask questions and try to learn from them every day.

“I feel like I just need to take it day by day. In training sessions I need to keep performing and sharing my quality and just have that bravery to keep doing what I'm doing because that's the way I play.

"I think I'm an exciting player and as long as I share that bravery and I work hard I want to show that I can play for Brentford.”

Michael knows the task at hand. He’s well aware how hard it is to break into a Premier League squad. That’s where the little things come in and where he feels he needs to adhere to the culture of the club and make those small marginal gains to get him to where he wants to be.

“I've realised the culture in terms of in training sessions, like the standards. You can't just leave certain equipment on the pitch. I felt like as soon as I came in I picked that up (the culture) straight away,” said Michael.

“There are certain values at the club like being hard working. The togetherness is such a big part of Brentford too. I feel like the coaches and the other players have had a massive influence on me to put that within myself.”

Michael will look to continue to build his minutes within the B team programme under the stewardship of Neil MacFarlane and his staff. With the variety in the games programme Michael feels the B team can continue to help propel him into the first team picture.

He explained: “I feel like the B team schedule and the games aren’t like a normal under-21 programme where you're just playing in Premier League 2.

"The games last season we had were real high-quality so I believe this season, as long as we're playing men's teams and high-quality teams, that’ll be massive for my development.

"That means I'll be playing against men so that when I play with the first team it's no surprise to me or anything like that.”