Brentford’s Rico Henry has a lot to proove this season he believes.

The 22-year-old left-back missed a large part of last season as he recovered from a knee injury that also kept him out for the majority of the 2017/18 campaign.

Now fully fit, he’s established himself as Thomas Frank’s first choice left-back, and feels he needs to show the club his gratitude in sticking by his side through a tough sell on the sidelines.

With strong interest from Aston Villa and Celtic in the summer, Henry revealed he wasn’t tempted by a move as he sought to repay the club and its fans for their loyalty.

“I want to be here,” he said.

“I had a lot of injuries so feel like I need to prove myself to the fans, everyone at Brentford, and to myself.

“I heard the rumours, but there was nothing concrete, my agent just told me to keep my head down, stay focussed and do well here.

“I do feel I can play in the Premier League, it’d be a good challenge, but I feel like I owe Brentford something, they’ve been great to me.”

Henry admitted he believes he can achieve his goal of playing in the top flight with the ambitious Bees, who move into their new stadium at the start of next season.

“We want promotion, we’ve got a strong team with a lot of confidence running through it,” he added.

“All the new signings it only builds our confidence, makes us want to do better, the guys that are here we want to prove ourselves to the new guys.”

One signing Henry was admitted that came out of left-field was that of defender Pontus Jansson.

“It caught us by surprise, we didn’t have a clue.

“It’s obviously a big signing for us, with his experience, he’s been promoted with previous clubs, and a real vocal presence at the back, it’s only good for the team.”

Brentford welcome Hull City to Griffin Park on Saturday.