Harlee Dean has committed his future to Brentford Football Club by signing a new three-year contract.

The central defender, who turns 22 next week, first joined The Bees on loan from Southampton in November 2011 and became a regular at the heart of Brentford’s back line.

He started every game from late January until the end of the 2011/12 season and joined Brentford permanently last summer after leaving The Saints.

Prior to this evening’s pre-season friendly against Millwall, Harlee signed a new contract to keep him at Griffin Park until the summer of 2016.

Brentford Manager Uwe Rösler said: “I am delighted that Harlee has committed himself to us.

“He has seen the plans the Club has and that Brentford has been very good for his development.

“As a manager I am very happy that the hard work [Sporting Director] Mark Warburton and I have put in to convince Harlee and his agent to sign for us has paid off.

“It shows the ambitions of the Club to keep our best young players.

“Harlee will be a key player in the years to come.”

The defender started out at Dagenham and Redbridge and had spells on loan at Redbridge, Bishop’s Stortford, Thurrock, Braintree Town and Grays Athletic.

He made one appearance for The Daggers before joining Southampton in the summer of 2010.

Harlee passed 50 games for Brentford in November 2012 and at the end of the 2012/13 season had played 84 games for The Bees, scoring five goals.

Mark Warburton, Brentford FC Sporting Director, added: “I am delighted Harlee has committed his long term future to the Club.

“He has, together with our other young players – Adam Forshaw, Simon Moore and Jake Bidwell, developed fantastically over the past 18 months.

“These four have been joined by others like Will Grigg who have come in and added to the ranks of talented young players at Brentford

“We all look forward to watching them continuing their development at Brentford.

“Harlee was outstanding last season and fully justifies a new contract.

“We hope he will be an integral part of what we hope will be an exciting future for Brentford FC.”