Welcome to my Fulham transfer window review, where we saw an absolutely ridiculous turnover of players- With 14 incomings and 26 outgoings. I'll look over the signings we've made and what they can add to the team, and also if it was the right decision to get rid of the players we did- I won't look over all the outgoings because I don't fancy writing a book today.
Ins (note these are in chronological order)
Shaun Hutchinson- From what we've seen of him thus far he's a very mixed bag. He looked shockingly bad against Ipswich and was at fault for both goals in my opinion, however he looked much more composed against Brentford- and him alongside Burn delivered our first clean sheet of the season so something has to be said for that.
Adam Taggart- He's yet to pull on a Fulham shirt so there's not much you can say about him, however every person thats seen him play has said he's got bags of goals in him- and you would have to hope the fact he was deemed good enough to get into the Australian World Cup squad, and play against Spain is a good sign.
Tim Hoogland- As a Right-Back he's a bit meh, however playing as a Defensive Midfielder in the enforcer role he's looking like a very shrewd but of business on the part of Felix Magath. He looked very comfortable in the role and could be the answer to our long standing plea for a Holding Midfielder. He's also chipped in with two goals this season already and if we can get 5+ from him thats a very good return.
Kay Voser- In direct contrast with Hoogland, Voser looked very good in the right-back role. He looked very comfortable going up and down the line- and preoccupied Fabio quite a lot at the Weekend which in turn created more space for other people. However his crossing is woeful, As such I think he'd work best doing overlapping runs with someone like Chris David, Bryan Ruiz or Emerson Hyndman as they can then receive the ball and cross it.
Ross McCormack- Our only proper big money signing this summer, and so far its been a mixed bag with regard to performances from him. He was pretty ineffective against Ipswich and Wolves, however when he came on against Millwall he looked very dangerous- and if Magath is to be believed his fitness is only just starting to get to 100%, which is understandable because he's looked very good in our last two games against Brentford and Cardiff, scoring and assisting in these two games and looking very dangerous.
Kostas Stafylidis- He's looked alright. He played very well in Pre-Season and I think that inflated a lot of peoples expectations, and when he's been played Left-Back he's looked very competent- if a bit wasteful in possession. However when he's been played Central-Midfield he's looked very out of his depth.
Thomas Eisfeld- He's looked decisively average from what I've seen of him so far, however from speaking to Arsenal supporting friends they really rate him, as such I'm willing to give him more time- however he can't afford to keep missing chances like he did against Cardiff.
Adil Chihi- When he came on against Cardiff I think my brother said it best... "Wheres Patrick Roberts". He didn't look attrocious, his first touch was pretty bad- and for a winger he looked like he'd swallowed a tyre. He's not bad, but we have much better wide options available to us.
Nikolay Bodurov- He's been the pleasant surprise from this window. I assumed he'd be a squad player, filling in for Amorebieta and Burn if they were injured- and would be playing cup games. However he's turned into *at this stage* the best signing we've made this summer by a long way. He looked very self-assured and was by far and a way our best defender until Dan Burn came in against Brentford and Cardiff.
Mark Fotheringham- No, Just No.
Dino Fazlic- What to say about a guy who's not even made it onto the bench for one game, and was a free agent prior to signing for us? His name's Dino.
Tiago Casasola- Again its way to early to judge Casasola, and I know very little about him outside of Football Manager where he develops into one of the Worlds best Centre-Backs.
Gabor Kiraly- I'm hoping the fact Kiraly started on the bench on Saturday means we're going to play Bettinelli as our starting goalkeeper, and we won't see those sexy trackies that often. However if we're going to use him as our second goalkeeper its a very shrewd bit of business as he can provide Joronen and Bettinelli with a senior head to mentor them.
Matt Smith- Our only Deadline Day signing, and one that got Leeds fans very upset- which makes it alright by me. I think we weren't buying Matt Smith for his individual talents as much as we're buying him for his link up play with McCormack which judging by the statistics from last season looks very, very good for us. We also needed a Target-Man desperately in my opinion as Woodrow has looked decisively average so far this season, and he was the closest thing we had to a Target-Man before his arrival.
Overall these signings were good, however I (and I'm sure many others) expected us to sign 3 experience players on Deadline Day, as Magath said that and all.
Outs (I'm only going to cover the main ones)
John Arne Riise (APOEL Nicosia)- Possibly the worst Left-Back we've ever had, and one of the worst attitudes to boot. The fact he's going to be playing Champions League this season is shocking- however the idea of him getting absolutely destroyed in the Champions League comforts me greatly.
Steve Sidwell (Stoke)- I'm not upset that he's gone, although I would obviously of loved him to stay it wasn't ever going to be likely after the season he had. Although the fact we let him go for free was an awful bit of business. The fact whomever is in charge of contracts deemed it unnecessary to give Sidwell a new contract was frankly stupid. Even if we intended to sell him Sidwell could of easily commanded 2-3 million after last season.
Brede Hangeland (Crystal Palace)- I don't claim to know the behind the scenes aspects at Fulham, what is common knowledge is Hangeland had a year left on his contract. Even if Magath/Hangeland decided they no longer wanted to work with each other we should of at least tried to get a fee for him rather than allowing him to go on a free.
Kieran Richardson (Aston Villa)- He was coming into his own as a Left-Midfielder for us last season, and I did hope we'd of been able to hang onto him. However with his long-standing injury problems and presumably Premier League wages I understand why we done it. At least we got a fee for him.
Pajtim Kasami (Olympiakos)- How we managed to get the fee we got for him is beyond me. Yes, He scored one of the best goals ever. That was one goal surrounded by an entire season of mediocrity- and this was by far our best bit of business sales wise this window.
Sascha Riether (SC Freiburg)- He played very well in his first season, but aside from Stoke home last season he was pretty average, and his shortcomings were highlighted quite a lot. As such I'm happy for him going back to his first club- and I'm also happy for us getting North of £1million for him.
Damien Duff (Melbourne Heart)- He's been a fantastic servant for the club, however he's way passed it at this point and I can fully understand him going.
Johnny Heitinga (Hertha Berlin)- I'd hoped we might of been able to convince him to stay, however once again I full understand why we don't currently have him.
Giorgos Karagounis (Free)- It was pretty clear he wasn't going to stay with us for quite a while, but I still maintain we should of played him more as the games he did start against Spurs and Villa under Meulensteen we looked noticeably better.
Muamer Tankovic (AZ Alkmaar)- Clearly those 45 minutes against Man Utd made him too first team for Magaths liking, and we saw the end of Mujo and Fulham. Once again I'd hoped we could of kept him, however I'm more annoyed we've left one of our most promising youngsters leave on a free- and he's currently doing very well for Alkmaar.
David Stockdale (Brighton)- This is the one (if there was going to be one) that I would of stopped going through at all costs. He's shown a willingness to stay and fight for the cause, and he is by far (and still would be) the best Keeper we would have. The fact we sold him to a fellow Championship team is also criminal in my opinion as he's going to greatly strengthen Brighton's promotion push, and with limited places and with us hoping to get up there we categorically shouldn't of done it.
Ashkan Dejagah (Al Arabi)- I was hoping because he knew Magath well, and he clearly got the best out of himself under Magath he'd of wanted to stay- however with the fee we got offered, and also the wages Dejagah got offered I fully understand why he didn't stay.
Maarten Stekelenburg (Monaco-Loan)- Once Stockdale was sold, I had a faint hope we'd of kept Stekelenburg to play. However if the stories are to be believed Stekelenburg doesn't want to play under Magath- and the loan aspect is interesting as (assuming we haven't been incredibly naive) we could recall Stekelenburg WHEN we sack Magath.
Kostas Mitroglou (Olympiakos-Loan)- *sigh*
Ryan Tunnicliffe (Blackburn-Loan)- Once again we've strengthened a Championship rival, although it seems he has an attitude problem his performances with Ipswich last season has shown he's clearly good enough for this level, and I hope this doesn't come back to bite us.
Alex Kacaniklic (FC Copenhagen-Loan)- This transfer was truly bizarre. He signed a contract extension with us and went out on loan on the same day. Once again we could of clearly used him to our advantage in the Championship but for whatever reason he's been deemed surplus to requirements.
These are all of the outs which I perceive to be "major", however there are more
Perhaps more noteworthy, we've managed to hang on to Rodallega, Amorebieta and Ruiz (At the time of writing this is true) which provides us with very strong options we've been lacking for quite a while.
Thanks for reading, I know this is a longer than usual blog- but there's been a lot of transfers from Fulham this summer. This'll be my last Fulham related blog for about a week (barring something major happening). So I'll be back in the build up to the Reading game. Feedback and Opinions are very much appreciated- If you disagree with a point I've made feel free to tell me. Thanks again.
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