Brentford: Bees are out to match AFC Bournemouth's run to Championship title

That was the message from head coach Dean Smith at the club's fans forum at Griffin Park on Monday night, having watched his men held 1-1 at League One Millwall in Saturday's final pre-season warm-up.

The Bees head to Huddersfield Town this weekend boosted by the arrival of full back Callum Elder on a season-long loan from top flight champions Leicester City.

On the road to recovery: Alan Judge has been a smiling presence at the Brentford training ground as he continues his return from a broken leg

Smith also contines to monitor the progress of former Middlesbrough midfielder Emmanuel Ledesma, who is on trial in west London after being released by Rotherham United in the summer. 

Bees owner Matthew Benham is demanding a top six finish in a division that contains Newcastle United, Norwich City and Aston Villa this term.

But Smith insists his men will be shooting for the moon in the hope they will be among the Championships top six shining stars if they come up short.

"I can’t change from what I told the players because I told them that I want to finish first," he said.

"Why would you start any season without wanting to finish at the top?

"It is a really tough league with some big clubs like Aston Villa, Newcastle United, and Norwich City.

Too expensive: A Bees return for Alex Pritchard will be difficult to finance with Alan Judge going nowhere

"That makes it a really exciting league but what better league to win then.

"We know that it will be tough, but as long as we are competing in every game then who knows where you can finish.

"We saw what Bournemouth did a couple of seasons ago and if we could emulate that it would be brilliant."

Co-director of football Phil Giles added: "I think the top six is incredibly realistic to be honest.

"If we go on how we finished last season, then it is definitely within our compass and maybe, with a fair wind, we can emulate what we did a couple of years ago."

Smith has said he will only pass judgement on Ledesma, who he worked with at Walsall, until he is fully fit and will have talks with the Argentinian today.

The Bees are looking at all options with Alan Judge - out of contract next summer - still on the injury comeback trail and a move for former loanee Alex Pritchard looking increasingly unlikely.

Staying in Spain: Jota, in action against AFC Bournemouth, is unlikely to return to Brentford

Co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen has revealed the Irishman's broken leg forced a rethink on plans to cash in on his fine campaign last term.

"We were in a position where we could have sold Alan for a lot of money this summer and now we can’t," he said.

"We have to hope that he recovers quickly and comes back before Christmas to play for us.

"We haven’t had contact with him about renewing his contract. We want him to focus on his recovery but soon we need to sit down with him and discuss the future. Then we will see what the options are."