Brentford are in the mix to qualify for European competition for the first time in their history — and one player looking to launch them there, quite literally, is Michael Kayode.
The right-back moved to the Gtech Community Stadium on loan from Fiorentina at the end of January 2025 and made the move to west London permanent last summer.
It is a move that is suiting player and club. “It’s amazing. The fans are crazy every game,” Kayode, 21, tells The Athletic. “They come every time to every away game. Macclesfield (in the FA Cup fourth round) was a lot of fans. I didn’t expect this because it was far to come (on a Monday night). So, I say ‘thank you’ to them.
“Brentford is a special team. The first time I went to the club, I felt like I was three or four years with the team. I love this club and for me, everything is so easy here.”
In a Premier League season where set-piece goals are regularly deciding games, the Italy Under-21 international has played a huge part in the renaissance with his long throw-ins, which have been hurled up to 45 yards.
He is yet to register an official assist this season, but his throws into the box have led to plenty of goals for Keith Andrews’ side against a host of teams, including Liverpool, Newcastle United and Arsenal. No club is more threatening from throw-ins and no player has taken more long throws (at least 20 metres) in the top flight than Kayode (122).
His approach? “Let’s see what happens in the box,” he laughs.
Michael Kayode prepares to release the trebuchet (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
What usually happens is complete chaos. Brentford have a combined expected goals (xG) of 4.3 in the 10 seconds that follow their throw-ins, the highest in the league, showing how Kayode’s lobs into the box lead to goalscoring chances.
Kayode’s throws have helped Brentford reach lofty heights as they look to eclipse their record Premier League points tally of 59 from the 2022-23 season. They are seventh in the table on 44 points with nine games remaining.
But his most memorable throw of all was not taken during an actual game.
He recently went viral on social media when he and his partner, who is pregnant with their first child, shared a unique baby gender reveal. In the video, Kayode threw a ball into the goal at Brentford’s stadium and pink smoke burst into the air to reveal they are having a girl.
It is a stadium that clearly holds plenty of special memories for Kayode. But that might top the lot for a player who spent seven years at Juventus’ academy before moving to Serie D side Gozzano, where he made his senior debut at 16 against opposition players two decades older than him.
Kayode was born in Borgomanero, Italy, to Nigerian parents Victoria and Anthony. He grew up in Gattico, a frazione (small town or village) in the north of Italy that has a population of around 5,000 people and is roughly a one-hour drive north-west of Milan. It was a quiet place to grow up for him and his brother Davide, who both had an active childhood involving lots of football, athletics and swimming.
One of Kayode’s biggest dreams is to make his senior international debut for Italy.
Having failed to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, Italy have a World Cup semi-final play-off against Northern Ireland this month. The play-off and World Cup may come too soon for Kayode to be included in the squad despite the recent injury to Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who usually plays at right-back. Italy head coach Gennaro Gattuso may not want to risk siding with a debutant when he has more experienced options, such as versatile Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori or Juventus wing-back Andrea Cambiaso.
That will not stop Kayode from working towards his goal of featuring for the Azzurri.
“For every player, it’s a dream to be in the national team, especially now because of the qualifications for the World Cup. I really hope we qualify,” Kayode says. “It’s important to do very well at the club because if you don’t do well at your club, you don’t get a call-up. So I just think about Brentford and if I get the opportunity (with Italy), that’s it.”
Kayode has tasted success representing Italy’s youth teams and wants to replicate it at senior level. In July 2023, playing on the right wing, he scored the only goal, a header, in the European Under-19 Championship final against Portugal.
Michael Kayode on Italy under-21 duty in 2024 (Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
“I was lucky,” he says, playing it down. “The ‘keeper made a little bit of a mistake. But, yeah, I’m still happy about that. I remember this day every day.”
As he strives towards a call-up from Italy, Kayode is eligible to represent Nigeria, a heritage he is deeply proud of and connected to through his parents.
“I’m happy that the Nigerian people are happy for me. The opportunity to (be eligible to) play for both is amazing.”
His parents love watching him play in the Premier League, given how much he and they had to sacrifice to get to this point.
“For them it’s so special,” he says. “They are very proud of me, but I have to say thank you because they took me everywhere, when it was really far. They believe in me — if I’m here, it’s because of that.”
When Kayode played for Juventus’ academy in Turin, it meant a two- or three-hour journey — depending on traffic and how many player pickups there were on the route — around five times a week. Some nights, he would not return home until 11pm and then he would have to be up early for school the next day and back at training that evening.
“I was so tired, definitely, but it was my passion — it is still my passion, which makes it easier.”
Kayode has settled in well at Brentford and has only missed one league game this season in what many believed would be a difficult campaign after a busy summer.
“You know everyone can talk, but every time I was thinking, ‘That’s not us’. We are here now because we’re a fantastic group. We have a crazy, good relationship and Keith Andrews has done an amazing job — I’m so happy for him.”
Not only did Brentford lose key players Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United, Yoane Wissa to Newcastle United and Christian Norgaard to Arsenal — but they also had to replace their manager of seven years, Thomas Frank. Getting Brentford promoted to the top flight was a notable achievement in itself, so solidifying their place was even more impressive. When Tottenham Hotspur headhunted Frank, it was Andrews, Frank’s former set-piece coach, who was chosen to replace him.
Michael Kayode hugs Thomas Frank, who signed him for Brentford, last season (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Frank has since left Spurs while Brentford have gone from strength to strength.
“I was coached by him (Frank) for five months because I came here in the last days of January,” Kayode says. “I have a very, very good relationship with him. I have to say thank you to him because I’m at Brentford. It’s not easy to see what happened (to him at Spurs), but he will always be an amazing coach.”
Brentford’s season has been spearheaded by 18 league goals from Brazilian striker Igor Thiago, who has been rewarded with a contract that runs to 2031. Alongside Thiago, Kayode has been one of Andrews’ star players as they chase European qualification.
Kayode got his first taste of the magic those nights can provide when he was mascot alongside Leonardo Bonucci for Juventus’ Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich in April 2013.
He felt nervous stepping out onto the pitch that night as Juventus lost 2-0 (4-0 on aggregate) to the eventual champions. But it lit a spark for a teenage Kayode, as did watching his Fiorentina team-mates lose back-to-back Conference League finals in 2023 against West Ham United and 2024 against Olympiacos. Kayode made 13 appearances in UEFA competitions for Fiorentina but was an unused substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Olympiacos in Athens. “Still now I feel so sad about it,” he says.
It will mean everything to Brentford fans if they are to qualify for Europe. And in Kayode, they have a player who is going to go the distance to get them there — especially with his throws.
