Michael Olakigbe Joins WSG Tirol on Loan from Brentford

Michael Olakigbe’s next lesson in senior football will come in the Alps.

The Brentford B winger has completed a season-long loan move to Austrian Bundesliga side WSG Tirol, the latest stop in a career being carefully built on challenges rather than comfort.

The 20-year-old heads to Austria on the back of a productive spell with Swindon Town, where he spent the second half of the 2025/26 campaign. After joining the League Two side in January, he made 18 appearances in all competitions, scoring once and providing three assists, with six of those outings coming from the start. It was another taste of the rough and tumble of men’s football. Now comes a different test: a new country, a new league, and a club fighting to push clear of the bottom pack.

WSG Tirol ended last season seventh before the Austrian Bundesliga split, and then did just enough to stay above the relegation group, finishing three points clear. It is the kind of environment where a young winger either sinks or swims. Brentford expect Olakigbe to swim.

“It’s a good opportunity for Michael to go and test himself again in men’s football, but this time abroad and showcase what he can do,” he said. “From his loans in the Football League, it’ll be interesting to see how he goes and expresses himself abroad. I’m sure that he’ll get some great exposure and some good learnings, and we look forward to seeing him when he gets back.”

Brentford have already invested heavily in his development. Olakigbe signed a long-term contract with the Bees in November 2023, a season in which he broke into the first team and made eight Premier League appearances. Those minutes underlined the club’s belief that he can eventually compete at the top level, but the pathway has been deliberately staged.

The club sent him to Peterborough United on loan in January 2024, where he featured in five league games during the second half of the 2023/24 season. That spell ended in frustration, with Posh falling in the League One play-off semi-final. The following May, he moved to Wigan Athletic on loan, playing 18 times before Brentford recalled him mid-season.

His next stop was Chesterfield Town, joining the Spireites in January 2025 for the remainder of the campaign. Again, the story finished at the play-off hurdle, this time in the League Two semi-final. Different shirts, different managers, the same theme: pressure games, unforgiving margins.

Now comes a fresh backdrop. New language, new teammates, new tactical demands. For a winger who thrives on expressing himself in the final third, Austria offers a stage and a spotlight.

Brentford will watch closely. WSG Tirol will expect impact. Olakigbe, after years of short-term loans and near misses in the play-offs, finally has a full season to show exactly how far his game has come.