Luka Bentt: Bouncing Back | OneFootball

An injury impacted start to this season has helped Brentford Under-18s midfielder Luka Bentt “learn so much about myself”.

A first-year scholar at Jersey Road, Bentt has had to endure multiple injury setbacks through the first half of the 2024/25 campaign.

He returned to the pitch in a 1-0 win against Swansea City on 18 January before scoring against Bournemouth last time out. Now, Bentt is eyeing a strong second half of the season.

“I’m really excited, the last six months have been plagued with injuries and I’ve just been looking forward to getting back onto the pitch, it’s what I enjoy doing most. I’m just really happy,” said Bentt.

“I tore my hip flexor in the second match of pre-season and then I was out for about six weeks, came back for a couple of weeks in September and then had a reoccurrence.

“The past four months have just been recovering from that, I’ve had little hiccups in the journey which is why it’s taken longer. Now I’m just progressively getting back into matches.”

Reflecting on his time away from the pitch, Bentt said it allowed him extra time to focus on his schoolwork and his passion for music.

“In this timespan where I’ve been injured, I’ve learnt so much about myself,” explained Bentt.

“When football’s the main thing in your life and it’s pretty much all you’re doing, you feel like that’s your purpose, that’s who you are. Then when that’s taken away from you, you feel like you lose yourself.

“It’s finding ways to cope with that, which I’ve done. I’ve been really busy with school.

“Something that I’m really interested in is music production, so I’ve had a little bit more time to do that. I use something called FL Studios, just producing beats and things like that.”

Bentt brings with him to west London a wealth of world experience, having been born and raised in America.

His travels have helped him to learn and now speak four languages - English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

“I was born in Washington DC and I lived there until I was 15. I played at Bethesda Soccer Club then I played for another team called Achilles. Most of my time there was spent with DC United,” said Bentt.

“It’s very different, the football there, to here, so I’ve taken the positives from that and tried to implement them here.

“Then when I moved here I played for a private academy called Creative, then after that Brentford came to have a look.”

Thanks to the Bees’ interest, Bentt joined the U18s squad on trial, attending their tour to Spain last season.

Following two games against Atlético Madrid and Getafe, Bentt knew he wanted to make west London home.

“I loved it. I felt like I was playing some of my best football at the time and I really enjoyed not just the on-pitch part, but off pitch I thought the boys were great, it felt like a really good experience,” explained Bentt.

“There’s definitely a culture difference which you can see, but I think it’s what makes the bond with the team even better.

“No matter what’s going on the pitch, I think off the pitch we gel so well together and I think it’s showing more and more on the pitch.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of this campaign, Luka and the squad have some goals in mind.

In the long term, a Premier League debut and playing abroad are on Bentt's wishlist.

“We still have 18s PDL Cup, I think we can definitely win that one. Also, in the league I think it’s just finishing as high as possible, I think we’re in sixth right now, finishing towards the top would be great,” he said.

“My main goal is to play in the Premier League at some point in my life, but I also want to play overseas, somewhere in France or Belgium. My mum’s from Belgium so it’d be local to me.”