Brentford player proving what Stoke City faithful always knew: view | OneFootball

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Former Stoke City defender Nathan Collins is excelling at Brentford, who look set for yet another enjoyable Premier League season.

The Ireland international has featured in all 12 of the Bees' league games so far this campaign in a defence which has conceded 17 goals this season, which is only two more than that of high-flying Tottenham who they drew 2-2 with at the G-Tech community stadium back in August.

Collins has helped form a strong Brentford backline alongside the likes of stalwart Ethan Pinnock and Mads Roerslev who, like Pinnock, played for the Bees in the Championship.

The West Londoners will be hoping the injury that the Irishman suffered on international duty doesn't keep him sidelined too long because he has been outstanding for them this term.

The current success of Collins will not come as a surprise to Stoke City fans who saw the defender make his first steps into senior football.

During Collins' time at Stoke City, the club never really looked like mounting a play-off challenge but the ace himself always looked a cut above the rest.

In the 2020/21 Championship campaign, which was the defender's second full season in the second, he made 22 appearances and impressed the Potters faithful with his ball-playing skills as well as his strong defensive attributes. As per FotMob, during that campaign he had a pass accuracy of 74.2% and an impressive dribble success rate of 71.4%.

Having established himself in the first team, Premier League links became increasingly frequent and eventually his performances in Stoke colours earned him a move to the top fligth with Burnley, where the centre-half would go on to make 22 appearances.

Following the Clarets' relegation in 2022, Collins was able to stay in the Premier League courtesy of a move to Wolves where he spent the 2022-23 campaign before his most recent transfer to Brentford.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has trusted the summer arrival, selecting him week in, week out and so far the Irishman is repaying his gaffer's faith in him.

Fans of the Potters, who saw the emergence of the star, will have always known Collins had the ability to play regular Premier League football and will be proud of what their academy graduate has so far achieved in a football career, which still has so much promise.

Remarkably, Collins is still just 22 years old and, once he returns to full fitness, is likely to continue his upward trajectory, which could see him become one of English football's most sought-after defenders in the years to come.

The Championship is often the footballing birthplace of some of the game's biggest gems, such as England and Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham, who was playing in England's second tier for Birmingham City as recently as 2020.

In the years to come, Collins could be viewed as one of the finest assets to come out of the Championship and still has the potential to become one of the Premier League's best defenders.

However high he rises, Stoke fans won't forget where he cut his teeth and made his name.