There is only one place to start with Brentford’s Michael Kayode: his unique baby gender reveal at an empty Gtech Community Stadium in February. The 21-year-old walked towards the West Stand, the frame of the goal covered in balloons, and after wiping the ball with a towel, it was time for his trademark long throw, though on this occasion only from the edge of the D. After the ball rippled the net, pink smoke confirmed his partner, Eleonora, is expecting a girl.

Given Kayode launched the ball 65.4 metres last September – further than any other player in the Premier League since Opta began recording such data in 2019-20 – it is hard not to think he was underselling himself. “I didn’t want to miss,” he says, breaking into laughter, “so I just kept it easy.” Family, friends, a videographer and photographer, plus the couple’s pomeranian, Kiri, were the only ones present. “It was a really special moment and celebrating like this was unbelievable … I just have to say thanks to Brentford for giving me use of the stadium.”

Significantly, there is substance to Kayode’s long throw: of the 157 he has hurled into the box in the Premier League this season, 40 have resulted in a shot and five have culminated in goals, almost 10% of Brentford’s goals scored tally. He downplays his part. “It is simple. Obviously it is a weapon, but across 90 minutes, in that period the ball is out for maybe not even five minutes for throw-ins.” Does he practise throw-ins? “No, no, not at all.”

Brentford were the first team in England to hire a specialist set-piece coach when they appointed Gianni Vio in 2015 and, these days, long throws are part of the furniture. For Kayode, it is his USP and an attribute that alerted Brentford when he was an 18-year-old playing in Serie A for Fiorentina, but there is much more to his game. “It is hard to defend, I think harder to defend than a corner. But it’s just a part of the game – I don’t play just because I have a long throw. There are a lot of different aspects to my performance. You have to watch me as a player.”

What is Italian for pigeonholed? Brentford were confident Kayode’s athleticism, power and physicality would be a perfect match for the English top flight and no player 21 or under has played more minutes in the Premier League this season than Kayode, who signed permanently in a £15m deal at the end of last season and has missed one league match this campaign. Some at the club even felt Kayode could be better suited to the Premier League than Serie A. “Two totally different types of football,” he says. “More runs, more duels. I really enjoy it.”

Kayode spent seven years in Juventus’s academy but aged 14 joined Serie D Gozzano, for whom he made his first-team debut aged 16. “To drop down was hard, but after I was like: ‘I want to come back to that level,’ so I used that as fuel.” His performances in the fourth tier led him to Fiorentina and the way he tamed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in a 3-1 win over Napoli cemented his reputation as a burgeoning talent. “I was 19 and before the game, everyone was saying: ‘You have to mark him, it’s going to be really hard.’ The staff prepared me a lot, showed me a lot of clips, so I was a little bit shaky at first,” he says, smiling.

Kayode, raised by Nigerian parents in Gattico, about 70 miles north-east of Turin, joined Brentford on loan in January 2025, when Thomas Frank was in charge and Keith Andrews, promoted to the role of head coach last summer, was the set-piece coach. Outsiders often forget Andrews was not solely focused on set pieces and was also an instrumental part of Frank’s staff. “For me, he was still like a manager last season,” says Kayode.

The right-back’s heat maps talk to his all-action displays, evidenced last weekend when he attacked the box to force the opening goal in a 3-0 victory against West Ham. Staff recall being pleasantly surprised by the moment he popped up high on the left flank, overlapping Keane Lewis-Potter, the full-back on the opposite side, at Ipswich on his fourth start. It is no wonder that Kayode is among the top 10 players for distance run in the Premier League this season; Adrien Truffert of Bournemouth is the only defender to have covered more ground, Kayode clocking up 355km and counting. On the field, Kayode is a live wire, a creator of chaos, but off it he is a humble and infectious personality, immensely popular around the training ground.

How helpful was it that Andrews, who has exceeded all external expectations, was in the building? “For me, very. Before he was the manager, I was working a lot with him. He helped me a lot last season in terms of set pieces, but also understanding tactics and to integrate really easily with my teammates. I’m so, so happy for him because I think he’s doing a crazy job given this is his first time as a manager,” Kayode says, puffing his cheeks. “I can only imagine how proud he is. If we can achieve something special this season, it will be for him.”

Brentford have flourished since absorbing the sales of their captain Christian Nørgaard, top scorers Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, both of whom registered 20 goals across last season, and the loss of Frank and several of his staff. “Football can be like this: players going, some players coming – I was never worried,” Kayode says. “I knew we were a strong team and we are a team with amazing relationships so I knew it would be easy to work and fix everything.”

Brentford could eclipse their best Premier League finish, ninth in 2023, and, if they win at Manchester City on Saturday, they could also better their top-flight record of 59 points. “We really hope we can get a European spot,” says Kayode, who played in the Conference League for Fiorentina but was an unused substitute when they reached the 2024 final. “We have got a few hard games but we can make it. It would be great for the club and the fans.”

Kayode’s other target is a senior call-up to the Italy squad and, if it comes, it will represent something of a full-circle moment. Kayode was an eight-year-old mascot to Leonardo Bonucci in 2013 when Juventus hosted Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals. “I felt so small … Bonucci was crazily big. Bayern had [Arjen] Robben, [Franck] Ribéry … Dante was massive. [Hearing] the Champions League anthem, [seeing] the big players, it was incredible. Now I think about it and for people to watch me as a player, it is just an amazing feeling.”

Now Bonucci is part of the Azzurri’s technical staff, the Italian Football Federation reeling after failing to qualify for a third straight World Cup. “I spoke with them and they suggested: enjoy everything and the call-up will be on your table,” Kayode says. “I have spoken to all of the staff, Bonucci and [previously Gennaro] Gattuso and [Gianluigi] Buffon. It was so disappointing not to qualify again, but we have a lot of good players, so we can start again and do a lot of really good things.”