Frank insists there are no concerns about Damsgaard’s long-term fitness

New signing Mikkel Damsgaard could make his Brentford debut against Manchester United but will need time to get up to speed, boss Thomas Frank says.

Damsgaard completed his move from Sampdoria on Wednesday and has been training with his new team-mates.

But Frank says the player was not involved in Sampdoria;s training for 10 days prior to his move to west London, meaning he is not yet ready to start for his new club.

“There’s no training that is better than others but they train differently in Italy, and he said we definitely train a lot harder here than he did in Italy,” Frank said.

“He hadn’t trained for 10 days so obviously he needs time to get up to pace. His general fitness is good and I’m definitely considering bringing him in the squad.

“He’s a player that we believe in, so if we believe in him we should involve him. He had a full pre-season, trained well and played games for Sampdoria.

“But he hasn’t played or trained the last 10 days with the team. Of course he’s done something and kept himself fit by running.

“That, of course, is part of him not being at his top level. Then he’s going into a level where we train harder and with more intensity so of course he needs to bridge that gap.

“That’s not saying that he can’t play 10, 15 or 20 minutes at a decent level. So that’s a consideration for this game, and then going forward it’s just about getting him up to that maximum pace.”

Damsgaard arrived off the back of an injury-hit season with Sampdoria, where he played just 11 times in Serie A due to suffering with a form of arthritis.

But Frank insists the Denmark international’s medical did not present any issues and added that the 22-year-old should not be viewed as a direct replacement for Christian Eriksen, who will return to Brentford with his new side Manchester United tomorrow.

“Absolutely perfect medical, nothing to be concerned about,” Frank continued.

“We did all sorts of tests that came out extremely positive, so that’s good.

“I know people have been talking about him and Eriksen being the same but its two different styles of player.

“I think they are different. I think Mikkel is more of a winger, eight and 10, if that makes sense. He’s in that bracket. He’s really good between lines, coming inside and combining to link up play.

“But, also, where he’s really good is that penetration of the last line, either by his runs or passes or dribbling.”

Meanwhile, Ethan Pinnock, Sergi Canos and Kristoffer Ajer will again not be involved against United because of injuries.

Frank hopes Canos and Ajer will return later this month, but Pinnock is expected to be out for a longer period with a knee problem.