Brentford head coach Keith Andrews says that Kevin Schade is ready to be a "more prominent figure" within the side.

The German forward opened his account for the 2025/26 season against Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday following a superb pass from Jordan Henderson.

Schade netted 12 goals in all competitions last term and Andrews believes that the 23-year-old will deliver for the Bees again this year.

"Kev has been really good," Andrews began.

"Right from the go in pre-season, I felt he was ready for that next step in his journey to be a more prominent figure within the team. With that comes a level of responsibility.

"When you want to make those steps, you have to produce, you have to lead by example, and I think he’s been doing that really, really well.

"I felt early in pre-season that Jordan Henderson and Kevin Schade struck up a good relationship, even when Kevin was coming from the left and Jordan was in crossing positions.

"In general, I think Kevin can be versatile with how he plays and where he plays. He was selfless in his approach to the Chelsea game, understanding what was needed to get a result."

Asked about his side's other attacking options, Andrews added: "They’re all natural goalscorers and they all have different attributes.

"Our forwards, and I’ve said it to all of them, need to be versatile, I like the flexibility of how we can play.

"In the previous chapter it was evident that a lot of the players had played together for a number of years. We're now in this new chapter of building relationships.

"It takes time to build that rapport with players and the understanding of what types of runs people will make."

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