Vanarama National League South side Slough Town have confirmed defender Edon Pruti has made the move to Premier League Brentford.
20-year-old Pruti joined Slough in January 2022 from Hanwell Town having worked his way through the academy system with Burnley. He made 22 appearances for Neil Baker and Jon Underwood’s first team as well as one appearance for the club under 23 side.
Capped by Albania at under 18 and 19 levels, Slough confirmed Pruti had joined Brentford with the full support of the club: “We can confirm that we have agreed to the transfer of Edon Pruti to Premier League side Brentford FC. Everyone at the club wishes Edon the best of luck at Brentford and thanks him for his efforts in his time with us.”
A statement on the Slough Town website revealed the move wasn’t entirely straightforward: “Edon joined us at the end of January from Hanwell Town and has made 20 starts in the National League South. His story is one that should give hope to other young talented players, and we have a number in our squad, that if you perform well at this level you will get noticed and can earn this type of opportunity.
“As a club we have to be honest and say the initial deal isn’t what we wanted, with no upfront fee, but there is a point where it becomes a moral dilemma and we weren’t prepared to block an opportunity for a young player whose dream it is to be a professional footballer. If he is successful then the club will do well from the deal and naturally that is what we hope will happen for Edon.”
According to the Brentford website, Pruti will go straight in to the Bees B team with Head Coach Neil MacFarlane saying: “Edon is a brilliant person and I think with the group being a very young squad this season, he will be able to add that little bit of experience because he’s played men’s football. He is a really good standard of defender and we’ll work tirelessly to help Edon to improve.
“He can help our group and we look forward to watching him kick on with his development over the course of the campaign.”
