Phil Giles, the Brentford Co-Director of Football, is 'livid' with the situation which has seen Scott Hogan not play a minute of football for the London club since January 2nd.
Hogan, who has 14 goals in the Championship this season, has been the subject of transfer speculation for over a month - the bulk of it from West Ham. Slaven Bilic's side have been linked with a move, rumoured to be worth somewhere around £13 million, for much of January.
Numerous times over the last three weeks, the transfer looked to be on the verge of completion - but still it rumbles on.
Hogan wasn't even in the bench for Brentford's 2-1 loss to Wigan on Saturday. The previous week, he was an unused substitute against Newcastle. Giles, who spoke to Tom Moore for GetWestLondon.co.uk, says this comes down to the player being distracted.
Before the Newcastle game, Scott was meant to be involved. On Friday night, he got a call saying a club were going to make a bid. It'll be done on Saturday night.
He's completely distracted. It's not his fault. He's completely distracted – it's not his fault but his focus is not on the game anymore.
This week, he trains all week. He had a slightly tight hamstring. He was going to be involved – the same thing last night happened. He got a call saying there were things moving and he got a call and I got a call. No criticism of Scott.
He wants to play and needs to play. It's unfair on him and Dean who is trying to make plans for the game today. The whole thing is completely out of control. The whole system needs looking at. All clubs are getting affected by this.
Giles believes situations like the current one would not happen if a transfer window was not in place. He feels its absence would give agents less power - he ultimately blames them for the circumstances. The installation of a Brentford transfer deadline for outgoing players, something which could decrease disruption, is a possibility.
Agents are making the calls telling him you're going to get a big move, it's your big chance. Of course, he's going to get distracted by that. No criticism of him whatsoever. We support him and he wants to play and I support Dean [Smith, Brentford manager] and the way he deals with it. The whole system is completely crazy.
He was meant to be involved today [against Wigan] and then he gets a phone call. It changes our plans completely. The whole thing is ridiculous. We're looking ahead to next week – what are we going to do then? We want to pick our best players. We're paying our best players to play a big game.
Since late last season, the possibility of Hogan playing international football for Ireland has been touted. The 24-year-old was born in Salford but is also eligible to play for Ireland through his grandparents.
Hogan making a decision on his international allegiance has been constantly postponed, the reason being that he wanted to concentrate on club football after a lengthy period out of action due to knee injuries. In terms of his club form, that was probably for the best given how distracted he has become by the recent transfer speculation.
