Keane Lewis-Potter: Virtue and Versatility | OneFootball

“Thomas Frank called me into his office to speak with him… I thought I was in trouble!” Keane Lewis Potter recalls. “But he sat me down and just said, ‘I’ve got an idea’.

“He explained that he wanted me to play left-back and detailed what he thought I could do to help the team in that position.

“At the end, he just asked me, ‘Would you be okay with that?’. I could have turned around and told him I didn’t want to do it!

“But as soon as he described the plan he had for me, I just said: ‘I’ll do whatever you want me to for this team’.”

Lewis-Potter has played as a wing-back before, on both the left and the right, but playing full-back in a four-man defence is a completely different challenge altogether.

And he admits that he’s essentially learning on the job which, in the Premier League, is certainly not an easy task.

He says: “It is quite a big change to where I usually play - there’s a lot of stuff that has been thrown my way over the last few weeks, things I’ve had to learn to help play in that position.

“But I have to give big credit to the coaches who have really helped me.

“It’s mainly work going into the defensive side because, going forward, it’s pretty much sticking to what I’m used to doing anyway. When we’ve got the ball, Thomas wants me to have that freedom to go as high as I want.

“I’m now learning about what I can do defensively. Things like how narrow we need to be, getting out to stop crosses, my body shape, and how I defend in the box.

“But the biggest thing that helps me play at left-back is that I’m coming up against wingers, which is obviously the position I usually play. I try and put myself in their shoes and think, ‘What would I do next?’, which helps me work out what they might do.

“I told some of the lads I was at Hull with since I was 14 and we had a joke because, when we were in the under-18s and under-21s, we’d do small-sided games… me and Jacob Greaves [current Ipswich Town centre-back] would swap positions, so he would go as a striker and I’d go in defence, so maybe that helped me as well!

“I’d like to think I’ve done well at left-back and, to be honest, it’s something I’m really proud of.”

Keane has already blocked more shots and crosses this season (nine) and made more tackles (20) than he has across his previous two seasons at the club combined (five shots and crosses blocked, 18 tackles).

But that hasn’t stunted his attacking numbers: the 23-year-old has already completed 10 key passes this term (he made 13 last season), as well as recording an assist for Bryan Mbeumo’s volley against Tottenham Hotspur.

A man-of-the-match performance against Bournemouth highlighted how good he was in that 3-2 win, but the same could be said of his performances across the entire campaign, where he has played in all 15 Premier League games.

“I’ve always believed in myself and what I can do. Some people might have been surprised by my performances, but I’ve always believed I could play at this level,” Lewis-Potter says.

“This season has been really good. Playing games regularly is all I’ve wanted to do since I moved to the club.

“I’m doing what I know I can do: getting the ball as much as I can and dribbling at defenders, taking them on. I always want to express myself as much as possible and, going into a game, I want to be the best player on the pitch, no matter where I play.”

He adds: “I think I’m getting close to my top level, slowly and steadily. But, also, I know I’ve got so much more to give; as cliché as it sounds, I feel like this is just the start for me here at Brentford.

“I know this is my third season, but this feels like it’s the start of my career here. I’m playing regularly, putting in good performances, and helping the team.”

Lewis-Potter alludes to it there: it hasn’t been easy for him since his move to west London from Hull City in July 2022.

He played just 318 Premier League minutes in his first season at the club (which was mainly down to a knee injury he picked up in March 2023), before the 1442 minutes he made last term.

And the mere 15 starts he made last campaign led to thoughts about leaving the club creeping into his mind - something he insists he is “so glad” he didn’t act upon.

He describes: “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t angry and frustrated by it because I was. I just wanted to play football, so it was tough.

“Back at Hull, I was playing every week and, when you sign for a new club, you hope that you are going to crack on and play straight away like you were at your previous team. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be for me.

“But I’ve worked on myself and, mentally, I know how to deal with those things now. Patience is a part of that and that’s an important trait to have as a footballer.”

He, honestly, adds: “Leaving probably went through my head at one point, just because of the frustration of not playing.

“But, at the same time, I’d moved here to play for this club in the Premier League and I was so desperate to help the team as much as I can. I wanted to stick at it and prove to everyone why I should be here.

“And I’m so glad that I did have that patience because I’ve now got my chance.”

As previously stated, injuries have held Lewis-Potter back in the past - and a hip problem during the Bees’ tour of Portugal threatened to do the same thing again this term.

However, despite missing a large part of pre-season, the hard work he put in and the resilience he showed ensured that he would still be able to hit the ground running ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

Lewis-Potter states: “I was so excited for this season, but I had those couple of injuries and, in my head, I just thought, ‘There’s no way this is stopping you this time’. It had in the past but I couldn’t let it happen again.

“There was a bit of a shift in my mentality. I worked really hard, I trained as well as I could, and I feel like that’s starting to pay off now.

“I also had a chat with Thomas in pre-season and he could tell that, when I got those injuries, I was really angry about not being able to help the team or prove to him that I want to play.

“When I got back fit, I spoke to him again and he just said, ‘Show me. I know you’ve got the ability to do that.’

“Thankfully enough, I did that on a regular basis and I showed him that I can play and help the team.”

As well as the graft Lewis-Potter put in, Thomas’ faith in him has played a big part in him flourishing this term. Not just mentally, with the confidence the Bees boss has installed in the wide-man, but technically, too, as he clarified the more intricate details he wanted the forward to add to his game.

“When I went to go and see Thomas when I wasn’t starting, he told me the things I needed to work on to play,” Lewis-Potter explains.

“He’s so honest with what he says. If he says, ‘Prove it to me’ and you show him, he will play you.

“At the same time, he spoke about patience a lot and that’s massive as well. He’s spoken to me about it, and probably Mikkel Damsgaard as well.

“And if you look back at it now, he’s right in what he said: we had that patience, showed him what we can do, and now we’re getting that time on the pitch.”

Lewis-Potter adds: “Even when I’m playing now, he’ll grab me before every game and ask me, ‘What are you going to do today?’. He already knows the answer I’m going to give back - it’s that I’ll get the ball, turn, and run at the defence.

“Whenever I’m coming off the pitch or at half-time and my head’s dropped a bit, he’ll come up to me and ask me that same question, knowing we both know the response, but it just installs that into me, that’s what he wants me to do.

“The gaffer putting me in the team week in, week out has boosted my confidence massively. He’s always there to chat with me about things I need as well. He’s got so much belief in me and I can only thank him for that.”

It’s not just Frank who has faith in him at the Robert Rowan Performance Centre. Lewis-Potter reveals that he will regularly receive comments, at times jovially, from people at Jersey Road about being called up to the England squad, with the national team’s lack of left-sided defenders potentially working in his favour.

Lewis-Potter smiles: “People at the training ground keep telling me I’m going to get called up as a left-back! I have a laugh with them but I’m not thinking about it at all at the moment.

“Playing regularly is the biggest thing you need to get called up and I’m doing that now. It’s always been a dream of mine and, hopefully, I can fulfil that one day.”

He has had a taste of pulling on a Three Lions shirt, with four England Under-21 caps in 2022 under the senior side’s former interim boss Lee Carsley.

And Lewis-Potter played alongside some of the players that Carsley handed debuts to over the last couple of international breaks, the likes of Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Tino Livramento.

“I know it was only for the U21s but it gave me so much pride to represent my country,” says Lewis-Potter.

“Some of the lads I was with back then got the call-up when Cars was in charge and fair play to them, I know they’ve all worked so hard to get to where they are now. Credit where credit’s due, they’re all shining now.

“Hopefully, for me, that senior cap will come one day too. I’d love to represent my country and fingers crossed I can do that.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, whilst admitting he “eventually wants to be back further up the pitch!”, Lewis-Potter is more than happy with his short-term, or perhaps indefinite, stint at full-back.

“If the position needs filling or if I’m doing a good job there, I’m happy to do it for as long as he wants me to,” he says.

“I’m not going to knock on Thomas’ door and say, ‘Put me back in my normal position, I’m not doing this anymore.’

“If me playing at left-back is helping the team, I’ll do whatever the manager wants me to do.”