Fulham: 21/22 Summer Window Preview

Well here we are again. Another annual Summer Window Preview, and another time we're preparing for life in a different division to the one we started the season in. In-terms of talking about the season that's just finished, I'm not going to go into too much detail. I'll just leave it with this quote from my Season Preview I posted back in September in relation to our chances of staying up which more or less sums up how the season unfolded.
"I do think tactically we're better suited to being in the Premier League this time around, but frankly I just don't think we'll have enough quality over 38 games."

I'd prefer to look ahead, rather than backwards- because this summer is arguably going to be one of the biggest summers we've had in our recent history. Simply for the fact that we need to work out where we are, and what we want to be as a club. And I'll say straight away, I almost don't want to get promoted next season to break the Yo-Yo cycle we're currently in. Obviously I want us to win every game- but at the same time I'd take a year in the Championship rebuilding a new, fresher, younger team both with signings and also by using the likes of Fabio Carvalho and then a proper run at promotion in our second and final year of Parachute Payments if it meant that if/when we got promoted we had a better chance of staying in the Premier League.  

I suppose you can also consider this next over-long blog my job application to be the new Assistant Director of Football that we're supposedly after- because what I want to get across with these signing suggestions is a real and clear philosophy of where I want us to go as a club. At our best in the season just gone, we were a young, hungry, high-energy team and I'd like to see us continue on that path. I also just want us to be an exciting team to watch again. Especially in the Championship, I want to see us take the game to other teams and have some real drive and impetus rather than constantly playing with the handbrake on regardless of the opposition or score. 

As usual with these Summer Window Previews, I do have to add in the disclaimer that I'm not expecting us to sign all of the names in this shortlist- and I'm not expecting us to necessarily sign these exact names and it's more that they're the profile of player I'd be chasing this summer. If we did sign the exact names it would be great though, because there are some really good players coming up.  

Ins
Goalkeeper
For the first time in a couple of years, I'm actually going to be looking at potential Keepers. Ultimately it will come down to Marcus Bettinelli, and whether he's happy to be the "Cup Keeper" behind Rodak for next season which I'll look at in more detail later on. But if the position did become available, my preference would be to sign someone with loads of experience coming toward the end of their career on a Free- but someone who'd be happy to play back-up to Rodak all the same. I'd prefer this to having a Youth Keeper on the bench, just because I'd prefer to loan out said Youth Keepers for experience combined with the security of knowing that the Keeper on the bench can make the step up and be comfortable in "Mens Football". 

Eldin Jakupovic (Leicester)
Jakupovic has been a completely forgotten man since he joined Leicester. But he was actually a very solid Keeper at Hull, which earned him the move in the first place. To me Jakupovic is the ideal profile of Keeper that we should be looking at. He's obviously got experience in spades, he'd be a good player to have in the dressing room because of said experience- and he'd be able to do a job for us in Cup games and league games should Rodak be injured, suspended etc. 

Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday)
Westwood's contract with Sheffield Wednesday expires this summer with him confirming his departure following their relegation a few days ago. Similar to Jakupovic in many ways, Westwood would be a good player to have in the dressing room- but the added bonus with Westwood is that he has more recent Championship experience and just recent game experience in general as Jakupovic has been firmly 3rd choice at Leicester since he signed. 

Defenders
Our defence is actually in a decent spot going into the summer, even with the obvious departure of Joachim Andersen. For the Championship, the level of Defender we have is very good. But with that said, we should still be looking to add should the right player become available. And should a player or players leave, we obviously need replacements lined up. Some of it is also system dependant as well, given Parker's switched between a 4 and a 5-back throughout the season which lends itself to different characteristics of potential signings. 

Jonathan Panzo (Dijon)
Our current Centre-Back options after departures are Tosin, Tim Ream, Michael Hector, Terence Kongolo and Alfie Mawson- which on paper is exceptional for the Championship. But when you factor in Kongolo and Mawson's injury records, and especially with Mawson a potential departure- combined with me wanting to see Tim Ream moved to the back-burner due to his age and inability to make the step up it suddenly becomes more of a priority for us. 

As I've already talked about, in general I want us to build on what our best characteristics were in the season just gone of being a young, hungry, high-energy team. With that in mind, Jonathan Panzo would be a very smart signing in my opinion. Dijon joined us in the relegation gang by comfortably finishing last in Ligue 1, and added on to that with the finances of basically every French team not named PSG on the ropes- you would imagine Panzo would be available if the right offer came on for him. Young, English and Left-Footed as a Centre-Back is a very, very attractive proposal- and the potential is definitely there with Panzo. 

It goes without saying we'll have limited funds this summer, so if the price for Panzo was extortionate I wouldn't touch him. But without actually knowing, I would think Panzo would be a relatively good price with all factors considered- and we have a potential bargaining chip in that AK47's spent the second half of the season on loan at Dijon as well. Although maybe that'll mean they make us spend more. 

Joseph Okumu (Elfsborg)
This is the first of (probably) many names in this Shortlist that are "straight to Google" names for the majority of people, and that's if Jonathan Panzo wasn't already. Okumu's the best Defender in Sweden right now, and on paper he has absolutely everything needed to succeed for us next season. He's strong, tall and deceptively quick for someone his size. We'd face major competition for Okumu's signature should we be in for him if reports are to be believed, the strongest link I've seen with him so far is Rangers to give an idea of his "level" generally speaking. 

My preference between Okumu and Panzo would be entirely dependant on which side Parker sees as Tosin's best. He's spent most of the season as a Left Centre-Back, but of course he is naturally right-footed and he was moved to the right partnering Ream for the games against Man Utd and Newcastle.

Issa Kabore (Man City)
Right-Back will be an interesting one to watch this summer. If the report in The Athletic is to be believed, Kenny Tete could well be staying this summer- and then we also have Denis Odoi contracted for another year and Steven Sessegnon returning from loan. However neither of those two options as back-up is that encouraging to me. I want us to try and build something that'll last, and that immediately rules Odoi out- and Sessegnon hasn't pulled up any trees at Bristol City. My preference when talking about another Right-Back would be someone who has different characteristics to what we already have with Kenny Tete.

Enter Issa Kabore, whereas Tete is relatively defence-minded- to the point where if we play a five-at-the-back next season I'd rather Tete play on the right side of the three rather than the Wing-Back. Kabore on the other hand is the definition of a Wing-Back. Kabore's all pace as he's shown on loan at Mechelen, and as usual with what I do in these blogs in recent years he could finally be the replacement for Fredericks we still haven't found. 

As I've already talked about, in the scenario of us playing a five-at-the-back Kabore would suit the Wing-Back role perfectly- but also in games where we'll firmly be on the front foot and we won't have to worry about defending as much I'd prefer to have the attacking option of Kabore starting instead of Tete. 

Deian Sorescu (Dinamo Bucharest)
Sorescu is similar to Kabore in many ways, in that he has pace to spare and he'd be more of an attack-minded option at Right-Back. But Sorescu would be a completely different level to what Kabore would offer, in the sense that he's more or less a Winger playing as a Right-Back. However, I'd completely back it- because as I've said I want to see us be a front-foot team next season and take the game to teams and having Sorescu at Right-Back who is a genuine goal threat would be a good addition with that in mind.

Ian Maatsen (Chelsea)
I'll look at our Left-Back situation more in the Outs section later, but it's definitely fair to say there'll be a scenario where we will need to be in the market for a back-up Left-Back behind either Robinson or Bryan this summer. And I should say now, in-terms of straight loans- I'd only want to have Loan players as back-ups. Loan + Options (the Tony Khan special) I wouldn't mind as much in the way we signed Knockaert, Cavaleiro, Bobby Reid etc. in our last Championship window for FFP purposes.

Maatsen's coming off a decent season on loan at Charlton, and I would expect to see him in the Championship next season one way or another. Maatsen would be a very strong option for us next season- and offer us some versatility as well given that while he spent most of the season at Left-Back he also deputised as a Right-Winger on occasion which is also another signal of the attacking intent I want to see us approach the season with. 

Midfielders
Right off the bat, it needs to be said that the Midfield is where we're going to need major surgery this summer. The only Centre-Mids I would confidently say we'll have at the club next season are Harrison Reed, Josh Onomah and Tom Cairney. And when you factor in Cairney's injury problems, that has us very thin on the ground. With that in mind, it isn't an understatement to say we'll need to sign two, if not three new Centre-Mids this summer before we're in a comfortable position. 

I also want to see us put more of an emphasis on getting goals from the Midfield as well, because that's been a very big problem for us since Scott Parker's been in charge which I don't think can be illustrated any more than the fact our Centre-Mids scored a grand total of two goals between them all season (Cairney against Palace and Lemina against Liverpool) which is only one more than Liverpool's Goalkeepers.  

Jean Onana (Lille)
While I wouldn't go as far as to call Harrison Reed injury prone, because that would be quite harsh, I also wouldn't back him to start 46 games next season. With that in mind, we do have to look at some defensive-mid options that will be able to step up in Reed's absence both with injury but also the rotation you need to do over such a long season. 

Jean Onana is a very old-school defensive-mid in many ways and he's shown that style off a lot on loan at Mouscron in the season that's just finished. He's not particularly good on the ball, but what he does well is sitting in front of the back-four, breaking up play, making tackles and then passing it to players who can offer more on the ball than he can. And especially in the Championship, that style of player can definitely be useful for us with the sort of games we'll most likely be in a lot of the time.  

Patrick Berg (Bodo/Glimt)
Bodo/Glimt have been somewhat of a fairytale story in Norway over the last couple of years, "doing a Leicester" by winning the Norwegian league and turning into a bit of a talent farm selling the likes of Jens Petter Hauge to Milan and Philip Zinckernagel to Watford over the last year or so. And someone central to this success has been defensive-midfielder and current Norwegian international Patrick Berg who for my money is currently the best player in the league.

Whereas Jean Onana is a very old-fashioned defensive-midfielder, Patrick Berg is the very definition of a modern one. Onana is for want of a better way to put it, quite one-dimensional, Berg is a very dynamic defensive-midfielder who is much more progressive on the ball. Especially if we're only playing with two Centre-Mids next season either with a 4-4-2 or a 3-4-3, Berg's abilities would compliment Harrison Reed's very well and give us a very good balance.

Abdou Harroui (Sparta Rotterdam)
When discussing what my "philosophy" for signings would be this summer, and the sort of player I'd look to recruit- Abdou Harroui is everything I want out of this coming window personified. Harroui is the exact sort of ambitious signing I want us to make this summer, and channel our efforts and finances into rather than going for big name players like a Loftus-Cheek or going down the "proven Championship" route like we did in our last Championship summer window with players like Knockaert on big money.

As I've said already, Harroui is everything I want out of this transfer window. He's a young, exciting, energetic box-to-box midfielder who has a goal in him to boot. With Harroui's contract expiring in 2022, he wouldn't/shouldn't be a ridiculous price either. These sorts of signings are what we need to get better at in general, in that we need to be better at signing players at a good age, give them a good platform to get their name out, improve them in-turn getting their value up and then selling them on for profit.  

Gustavo Hamer (Coventry)
From one young Dutch midfielder to another, Hamer's form definitely tailed off toward the end of the season for Coventry- but he's shown more than enough in the first half of the season to turn some heads- and with respect to Coventry attract the attention of some bigger name clubs. 

Hamer fits a similar profile to Harroui in that he's definitely a proper box-to-box Midfielder who can contribute at both ends of the pitch, but the added attraction with Hamer is that he can actually take a Set-Piece. Of the many flaws we had in the season that's just finished, with the way we were set up to defend and snatch 1-0s- our complete inability to be a threat from direct or in-direct set-pieces compared to a Burnley or Newcastle was arguably one of the biggest reasons we went down. As such I'd like to see us try and take a step to address that this summer one way or another. 

Alexandru Cicaldau (Universitatea Craiova)
A defensive and a box-to-box midfielder are the absolute minimum I want out of this transfer window, but I'd also like to see us look to add a genuine #10 attacking-midfielder- simply because I don't think we can rely on Tom Cairney to play 46 games next season. And with the abject failure of Loftus-Cheek having someone to connect the Midfield and the Attack and a complete lack of creativity as a result completely killed us in the season that's just finished.

So as a result, we're taking second trip to Romania, this time for Alexandru Cicaldau. I'd actually say Cicaldau fits a similar profile to Cairney in many ways in-terms of his goal threat and the threat he carries going forward, but Cicaldau would be a long-term option and someone we can build around going forward as I've made a point of with these signings. Cicaldau will have only just turned 24 when we kick off for the first game of the season in August. In short, coming into what should be his prime years. 

Valon Berisha (Reims)
It's time for an old favourite. When trying to address a general lack of creativity, I thought it was best to look at the teams around us and see what they did. As a result, I ended up looking for a player who fits a similar profile to Matheus Pereira. Someone who can play centrally or out-wide, can take a good set-piece and crucially will be a genuine goal threat. And I couldn't look past someone I've suggested in these multiple times before. 

I've been a big fan of Berisha for literal years at this point, and the previous years versions of these blogs are all the evidence needed to prove it. As I've already talked about, the finances in French Football are pretty ropey right now- so if the right offer came in for Berisha I would assume Reims would accept. Especially for someone Berisha's age where the clock is firmly ticking in-terms of any re-sell value. It's a departure from the general theme of this blog in that Berisha's slightly older (in fact Berisha's the oldest outfield player suggested), but as I've said already when looking at the profile of player I was looking for- I just couldn't see past him. Hopefully this year is the year. 

Forwards
This is probably the most interesting section, in-terms of the fact that so much is up in the air because of stuff we simply don't know as mere mortals. Simply put, we just don't know who's leaving this summer- and as a result any potential incoming suggestion will have an asterisk next to it. As usual I've tried to cover all the bases, covering if Mitrovic stays or goes and then if we make Josh Maja permanent or he goes back to Bordeaux. I'd also like to see us hit the reset button with the Wingers (more later), and as a result even with Fabio Carvalho coming through I'd still like to see us sign one (although it could easily be someone of the Valon Berisha type who can play centrally or out-wide).

Adam Ounas (Napoli)
I've been interested in Adam Ounas for a couple of years now, specifically since he had a good AFCON in 2019. But I've always felt he was above us, in the sense that he's had a few moves to "bigger" teams than us in recent years. However, Ounas is definitely out of favour at Napoli now, spending the first half of the season on Cagliari's bench and the second half of the season on loan at fellow relegation gang member Crotone where he's been much more impressive. 

For want of a better way to put it, Ounas would be the player we thought we were signing with Anthony Knockaert in-terms of his dribbling ability and being a genuine goal threat coming off the Right-Wing on his left-foot. On top of that, Ounas is actually a good age and will have genuine re-sell value down the line whereas we're probably going to end up having to give Knockaert away with the wages he's on. Add that on to the fact that Ounas is out of favour at Napoli and going into the last year of his contract with them, he should be a pretty good price as well. 

Robin Hack (Nurnberg)
Robin Hack is an interesting proposition, because his stock was very high last season coming off the back of a very good goalscoring season with Nurnberg which attracted some attention. However, he ended up staying with Nurnberg over the summer- maybe because of COVID and has had a less successful 20/21 season topped off with a long injury lay-off between January and April. 

The potential is still definitely there with Hack though, and with wanting to add more goals into the team in mind, Hack is a very good finisher- especially when compared to the standard of finishing we saw in our most recent Championship season from Bobby Reid, Knockaert, Cavaleiro etc. and with his stock maybe not being as high as it was last year if the price was right I'd be massively in favour of signing him this summer. 

Nikolai Baden Frederiksen (Juventus)
Moving on to Strikers now, and as I've already referenced so much of these Striker suggestions will have an asterisk due to the uncertain futures of Aleksandar Mitrovic and Josh Maja. We could end up with both or neither lining up for us next season, and nobody other than a select few people (Tony Khan, Scott Parker, the players etc.) will actually know what's likely to happen this summer.

However, we need to look forward (no pun intended)- and when looking at Strikers to sign this summer I've tried to look at Strikers I think Scott Parker will want. In that they're more mobile and can press rather than Mitrovic who's more of the archetypal Target Man that was very clearly out of favour given Cavaleiro spent more time up-front than Mitrovic did in the season that's just finished. But at the same time, we are going into the Championship- so we also need someone up-front who can handle themselves and won't get bullied which is a hard balance to try and strike. 

This suggestion is as close to Austria as I'm getting this time around, the annual trip to Salzburg has been postponed. Frederiksen is coming off the back of an unbelievable season on loan with WSG Tirol in Austria and he's the exact sort of Striker I'd be looking at this summer, in that they might not be completely ready to take the Championship by storm and bag 30 Goals to fire us up next season- but thinking long-term he'd be a very strong option to have at our disposal. 

Terem Moffi (Lorient)
This one wouldn't be cheap, I'll start by saying this. Frederiksen was the one I highlighted if we don't make Maja permanent- whereas Terem Moffi is firmly my choice if we do end up saying goodbye to Mitrovic this summer. We won't have to sell Mitrovic for cheap given he's tied down to a long-term deal- and as a result any potential sale should leave us with money to invest into his replacement. 

Moffi is actually an interesting one because he wasn't originally going to be here,. I had a list of potential signings ready if we didn't beat Brentford in the final last year with names like Robin Hack, and a Striker I had an eye on was Adrian Grbic who ended up signing for Lorient. So I thought I'd see how Grbic was getting on- and turns out he's barely played such has been the form of Moffi this season. I also had a more like for like replacement for Mitrovic in trying to get Vedat Muriqi on loan with an option from Lazio- but then I thought about it and realised it wouldn't really solve the problem Parker almost created for himself by deciding Mitrovic's style of Striker wouldn't work for us anymore. 

Moffi has had an unbelievable career acceleration over the last 18 months or so, being in the Lithuanian league until January 2020 when he signed for Kortrijk before getting another move to Lorient in the summer of 2020 where he's gone on to have a very good season in-front of goal for a team battling relegation in Ligue 1. As with Frederiksen, Moffi is the exact sort of Striker I'd be looking to sign this summer given his current ability but also his age and his potential to develop even further. 

Outs
Before looking at players who are still contracted to Fulham it is worth mentioning that we're saying goodbye to our loanees in Alphonse Areola, Joachim Andersen, Ola Aina, Mario Lemina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ademola Lookman and Josh Maja. It's a genuine shame to see the majority of these leave the club, but that's the risk you run when you do rely so heavily on loan signings I suppose. I do think Josh Maja could still be signed. Bordeaux going into administration will mean Maja will be available to buy, presumably for cheaper than what the Option to Buy was that we secured when we loaned him in the first place as well- so that'll be one to watch in the coming weeks. 

We also have Kevin McDonald, Cyrus Christie and Fabri out of contract this summer. We have an option on Cyrus Christie's deal, but there's no point extending it- and we'll do better to just shift his wages. The real shame will be Kevin McDonald, but I would hope everyone in decision making positions at the club sees the value in keeping McDonald on at the club in some capacity with how valuable he's been to the dressing room in recent years. 

Aleksandar Mitrovic
"My one slight reservation is that I'm not entirely convinced he suits how Scott Parker would ideally want to set his team up. Especially at Championship level Mitrovic is good to the point where you adapt to accommodate him, but I think in an ideal world Parker would prefer a more mobile, pressing Striker. That could perhaps be why he's only scored 1 goal under Parker to date including Pre-Season (and that was a penalty). He'll still score a bagful of goals next season because of how good he is, but I'm not entirely convinced Parker will get the absolute best out of him- and that could very well be his undoing during his time in charge."- My 19/20 Season Preview

This conversation has been brewing for the majority of the season at this point pretty much. While I doubt we'll ever know all the details of what's gone on behind the scenes this season, it has ultimately brought us where we are now where at least under Scott Parker- it would appear as though Mitrovic simply doesn't have a future at Fulham. The conversation then turns to would we be better off with Scott Parker and no Mitrovic or Mitrovic and no Scott Parker next season- but that's perhaps a debate for another time.

As I've already made reference to, even with potential off the field stuff in the equation- we still have no need to let Mitrovic go on the cheap this summer. He's got a contract for three more years after all and as a result any potential suitors for him should be told that they'll have to cough up a significant amount to acquire his services this summer which in-turn would give us the funds to try and replace him. 

It should also be said that this season, for all of the issues we've had, has shown that there is life in us without Mitrovic in the team, and if we're all in on Scott Parker as Manager we need to give him the best possible chance of translating his vision on to the Football pitch and it would appear as though that vision doesn't include Aleksandar Mitrovic. 

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa
When looking at money coming in, Mitrovic and Zambo are the two big money sales we can make this summer that will give us more room to manoeuvre in-terms of bringing players in. It's a shame with Zambo, because if our Player of the Season vote were to have taken place prior to Christmas I have no doubt in my mind that he would have won it. But for one reason or another, whether it was COVID, or just a loss of form he wasn't able to follow it up in the second half of the season. 

My one hope with Zambo this summer is that we actually do sell him, another Loan in the hope that he can return in the event of another promotion is fanciful and also decreases his long-term value for us because his contract expires in 2023. So just take the 20+ million for him and move on. 

Marcus Bettinelli
I already mentioned it in the Goalkeeper section, but Bettinelli's future with us entirely depends on how happy he is to sit on the bench behind Marek Rodak. While on the face of it you would assume Bettinelli would want to get out and play Football- being dropped in favour of Jordan Archer at Boro might make Bettinelli consider a few things, and he might be more content to be the "Cup Keeper" and stay at a club he's been at for absolutely ages and be in a familiar environment. 

Denis Odoi
We do have Denis Odoi contracted for another year, and he would be a useful squad player for us next season. But at the risk of sounding harsh, I just don't see the point in keeping him. Yes, he would be a useful squad player for us as I've said- but as I've also said I want to see us put a long-term plan in place next season even if it comes at the cost of an immediate return to the Premier League so if/when we do get back there we'll have a better chance of actually staying there. Odoi similar to Tim Ream in many ways doesn't really fit into that given his age and proven lack of ability to take the step up to the Premier League. 

As such, if we could sell Odoi this summer, or come to some sort of mutual consent agreement and part ways with Odoi on good terms this summer I'd be very much in favour of it. 

Alfie Mawson
I genuinely think of all of the mistakes we made in the 18/19 Summer Transfer window if I could go back and stop one from happening it would be Alfie Mawson signing for the amount of money he did. It's just been an absolute disaster, and while he did show some of his ability at Bristol City on loan- he also showed what's held him back and will most likely continue to hold him back. His legs are held together with Tape and Prayer. 

Like a few names in this Outs section, with the amount of money Mawson will be on- we might be better served to just find some sort of mutual termination agreement with him so both sides can move on. Because I doubt anyone with half a brain would be willing to take the risk of signing Mawson permanently if there was a transfer fee involved given his recent injury history. 

Maxime Le Marchand
As with Odoi and Mawson, I just don't see the point in keeping Le Marchand this summer. Le Marchand's going to be 32 in October, and hasn't shown at any stage in his Fulham career that he has the ability to consistently start for us as harsh as that may sound. With only a year left on his contract, if we can't find a buyer whether it be Antwerp where he spent the second half of the season on loan or somewhere else he'd be another where I'd back just releasing them and freeing up the wages. 

Joe Bryan/Antonee Robinson
I've grouped these two names together, simply for the fact that while it's obviously possible we do, I don't see us keeping both this summer. It's one thing to have Joe Bryan as a back-up Left-Back in the Premier League, it's a completely different proposition to have him playing second fiddle in the Championship. And while Robinson is a bit lacking in-terms of crossing, if I had to choose between the two as a long-term proposition I would keep Robinson. 

But with that said, we know as an actual fact Joe Bryan would be good enough for us in the Championship next season- and he does pose more of a goal threat both directly and indirectly. And with Robinson as I've already talked about being the better long-term proposition- of the two Robinson would be the player we can get more money from should we sell one. 

It would ultimately come down to what offers came in for the pair, and as I've said there is still the hypothetical possibility that we keep both and can work out a way of playing both whether it be Robinson as a LCB and Bryan as a LWB or Bryan playing further up- but personally I just don't see it and it will be a shame to see either depart this summer. 

Jean-Michael Seri
This is my "throwing one out there" for this blog, and there is about a 95% chance I'm proven wrong. I'll predict right now that Jean-Michael Seri will be a Fulham player next season. I don't even have a particularly solid reason as to why I think that, more of a gut instinct combined with the circumstances we're currently in. 

As I've already talked about, our Midfield options will be very thin on the ground after other departures, combine that with the fact Seri is almost running out of options as far as potential Loans go and the wages he's on with us in a COVID impacted market makes me think Seri could end up in the Andre Ayew sort of position at Swansea where he's just going to have to accept where he is and get his head down because there won't be another team out there willing to take his wages on. 

Stefan Johansen
Our other "maybe" Midfielder is of course Stefan Johansen returning from his Loan at QPR. I do believe we've seen the last of Johansen in a Fulham shirt though, Parker clearly doesn't rate Johansen given that for the majority of the promotion season he was comfortably 5th choice Centre-Mid- and with Johansen going into the last year of his contract with us and QPR presumably being keen to have him back I'd rather we just cash in. I did consider suggesting using Johansen as part of a deal for Rob Dickie who is a Centre-Back I rate very highly- and if that was on the table I wouldn't say no. But one way or another as I've said I think Johansen will be moved on this summer. 

Aboubakar Kamara
Another player I've suggested using as a make-weight for a Centre-Back already in this blog is of course AK47 as part of a deal for Jonathan Panzo. AK47 found a way back into the mix last time we got relegated in part because of the fact the manager changed after his Yoga escapades and gave everyone a fresh start. 

If the reports around the time of his departure on loan to Dijon are true, and you do have to say "if"- then I just don't see any way back for AK47 this time around, unless of course we say goodbye to Scott Parker one way or another this summer. But even then, I just don't see the value in keeping Kamara. He's just not very good, he has pace, but no Footballing brain and he's just a bit too much of a loose cannon. Basically Mario Balotelli with a fraction of the natural talent. 

Anthony Knockaert
From one AK to another. If we can get any sort of significant transfer fee for Knockaert this summer I'd be surprised. And Knockaert is almost the prime example of why I've (bar Valon Berisha) targeted players in the age bracket below. For want of a better way to put it, Knockaert is and was just a waste of money.

I do think the Knockaert stick is used to beat Tony Khan a bit too much, because to my knowledge the Option to Buy on Knockaert became an Obligation if Knockaert still had both legs attached- and at the time of signing I would estimate 95% (if not more) of people thought Knockaert was a quality one. But as we all know, it's turned out to be anything but and we're left with a near 30 year old on massive wages and very little re-sell value. 

I feel like the most likely outcomes with Knockaert will be a loan to another Championship team or just being a rotation player for us- neither of which are ideal but it's what we've been left with. If we get lucky and someone does offer us a decent amount of money for Knockaert- whether it be Forest because of Hughton etc. then even better. 

Scott Parker
Finally, a conversation does need to be had about Scott Parker going into the summer. I'll say right off the bat that unless Parker does somehow get offered the Spurs job I do think Parker's staying. With that said, we do need to talk about Parker's overall approach and style of play going into next season. As I've made abundantly clear, I want us to approach next season with real attacking intent- which doesn't seem to be in Parker's DNA. 

And I think that could hold us back next season, in the same way that Watford recognised Vladimir Ivic was doing with his rigid back-five and they appointed Xisco Muñoz who changed Watford into a front-foot 4-3-3 team and they along with Norwich walked away with the automatic promotion places. For want of a better way to put it, it's about having the balls to play with the handbrake off and knowing when to do it will be the difference between Top 6 and Top 2 next season. And based on the last two seasons with the Newcastle performance fresh on the brain I'm not sure if Parker does, simply put. 

The conversation would then turn to who we replace him with, and my five potential Managers I looked at were (in no particular order) Gerhard Struber, Russell Martin, Marco Silva, Barak Bakhar and Chris Wilder. I did have a fleeting thought of "what's the worst that can happen" if we gave Quique Setien's agent a call, but I think that one would be too ludicrous. Overall my opinion on if I want Parker to stay can be summed up by saying I wouldn't sack Parker, but I wouldn't cry any tears if he did get another job. 

As I've already said though, I think the club and Parker are in this together for the long haul one way or another- and we just have to hope that Parker will have learned that he can take the handbrake off sometimes. I won't be holding my breath though. 

Next season is going to be an interesting one in the Championship. I think this current Championship season has shown the strength of Parachute Payments in a COVID impacted league financially speaking and as a result I would expect all Parachute Payment assisted teams to be there or thereabouts next season. Then when you throw in the likes of Forest under Hughton and Boro under Warnock along with the Play-Off teams who haven't gone up it should be very competitive at the top end of the table. But as I've said many times, I would genuinely take not being right in the mix next season if the reason we weren't is because we were putting a proper, long-term plan and rebuild in place which would mean we were stronger down the line.

Thanks for reading as always, I do still really enjoy doing these transfer blogs. If anything I enjoy the Championship ones more because I have more room to really flex my knowledge of obscure players from the Romanian League. I am genuinely looking forward to next season, I have a lot of time for the Championship in general and (hopefully) with fans back in the ground consistently and most of all no VAR there's a lot to look forward to come August. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you've all stayed safe and will enjoy your summer before we go again in August- ideally with as many fans in the ground as possible.

Fulham: 20/21 Season Preview

Well this has come around quickly hasn't it? Last season feels so recent (because it was), and we're already gearing up to go again- but this time we're in the Premier League. The Season Preview is where I look at all things Fulham that have taken place in the months, or in this case month between the end of last season and the season we're on the eve of as well as looking at what I'm expecting to happen over the coming 9 Months. 

A lot of the relevant discussion points are of course Transfer Window related, so in the words of Fabrizio Romano- "here we go". 

The Transfer Window
Ins
Antonee Robinson (Wigan)
I'm not really sure I have to say too much in regard to Antonee Robinson, for the simple fact that he was one of the players I had pinpointed in my Summer Window Preview just over a month ago. 

As I said in the Preview, Left-Back depth would've been a "must" for us this summer regardless of what division we were in- but the added appeal of the Premier League and the finance that comes with being a Premier League team makes a world of difference in regard to who we can attract for said position. It's a well known fact that Robinson was a bargain transfer fee wise, and for me it's just very smart and very good business from Tony Khan to get the deal done when it's pretty well publicised that we weren't the only Premier League team in for Robinson. 

Mario Lemina (Southampton, Loan)
This isn't an absolute slam dunk of signing. We could very well get to December/January time and hate Lemina's guts with all of the criticisms that were being levelled at Zambo and Seri last time around in the Premier League being aimed at Lemina. I'll preface the discussion over Lemina with that. 

With all of that said, I'm a fan of this deal. At his best, Lemina would offer us something we haven't really had since we sold Mousa Dembele to Spurs in-terms of his ball retention and dribbling ability. The way we've structured the deal makes it relatively low risk for us as well, with the number of games and the "staying up" clauses both having to be met for the deal to automatically trigger a permanent move. Overall this is the sort of "taking a chance" transfer I can get behind, because we aren't relying on Lemina to come in and play 38 games- and if we do get "good Lemina" he'll make a difference for us without a doubt. 

Harrison Reed (Southampton)
After Tony Khan's last outing in a Premier League summer window, the biggest compliment I can give this deal is that it was the most common sense transfer we could have made this summer. There isn't anything else to say, we obviously know all about Harrison Reed from his loan spell and what he brings to the table. 

Alphonse Areola (PSG, Loan)
I'm quite torn on this one. On the one hand, yes Areola is a very good Keeper. However, I can't help but feel like this signing is a Tony Khan special straight out of the Andre Schurrle drawer. World Cup winner, fringe player at a Champions League club, massive wage packet, and his most comfortable position steps on the toes of one of the players key to our promotion. But at least with Sessegnon and Schurrle we could have both on the pitch at the same time. 

I'm such a big fan of Rodak, and can't help but feel like the supposed wages we're paying Areola could've been better spent elsewhere. But if we get to next May and Areola's been the difference between staying up and going down I'm happy to eat my words. And it should also be said that in Areola's interview after signing he said Parker called him and said he wanted him, so you have to take that at face value. 

I think when talking about potential signings over the next month, Areola's signing is also a reminder (if we needed one) of how big a factor moving to London combined with playing in the Premier League is for us and the level of player we can attract to the club as a result. 

Kenny Tete (Lyon)
This one is interesting to me, for the simple fact that he was the profile of Right-Back I was looking at when I was preparing this Season Preview. A lot of the Right-Backs I saw on peoples "wish lists" were quite attack-minded, including the ones I looked at in my Summer Window Preview. The thing with that is it ignores what Parker did in the Play-Off Final where he had Odoi tucking in almost as a third Centre-Back and let Joe Bryan attack down the left as our attacking outlet. So as a result, signing a more defensive Right-Back could suit us and suit what Parker wants out of a Right-Back in the coming season. 

Introducing Kenny Tete. He won't offer us much going forward, but he's a very good 1v1 defender- and he's almost definitely better suited to a team who'll be on the back foot in the majority games like ourselves because of that. Especially for the rumoured transfer fee, this is a very, very smart deal for Tony Khan to do and crucially compared to some of the signings in our last Premier League Summer Window tactically I can see exactly where he fits in.

Outs
I must say I expected a few more names to be in this section this close to the start of the season. However, there is still a month left in the window- and so much happens late on, so perhaps it isn't a surprise that this is where we currently are. 

Alfie Mawson (Bristol City, Loan)
I think this is a deal where it's fair to say that it benefits all parties. As I talked about in my Summer Window Preview, Mawson was even behind Le Marchand in the pecking order at the back end of the season. So with the belief that we will be signing at least one Centre-Back this window, it's fair to say Mawson wouldn't have had much of a look in during the coming season had he stayed.

The one thing I will say is if Mawson turns around and plays 46 games for Bristol City next season then it's definitive proof that his move to us was just cursed. The thing to say about that scenario though is that if he returns from his Loan with a full season injury free under his belt then he could still turn into a useful player for us. Because I do genuinely believe behind the dodgy knee(s) that there is a good defender still in there.

Steven Sessegnon (Bristol City, Loan)
I'm genuinely curious about this one, because from what I can tell Bristol City will be playing a three-at-the-back next season. The reason I'm curious about it, is because going into last season I genuinely wanted us to play a three with Mawson as the middle Centre-Back and the debate in my mind was whether Steven Sessegnon would be better off as the Wing-Back or the Right Centre-Back rotating with Odoi in the system. So I'm just interested to see how that plays out under someone perhaps more qualified to pick a team and tactics than I am. 

On a more basic level, it'll be good for Sessegnon to just get out playing. He did show promise in the early stages of the season- but the mistakes he was making, that are totally understandable given it was his first season of senior football just became too costly in the end- and the only way he can iron out those mistakes is by gaining more experience. 

Marcus Bettinelli (Boro, Loan)
I'm really interested to see how this move to Middlesbrough plays out. My personal view on Bettinelli is the knee problem he was dealing with and needed surgery on has finished him as a good level Keeper. His Premier League performances were embarrassing, and you could probably make a case for saying the soft goals he conceded at the start of last season purely in-terms of points dropped (I'm specifically thinking about West Brom at Home) cost us Automatics. 

With that all said, if Bettinelli can get his 17/18 form and mobility back, he's quite a smart signing for Boro- and especially at Championship level there aren't many Managers I'd back more in-terms of getting the best out of someone than Neil Warnock so I'll be watching with interest. 

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Potential Transfers
Ins
Ola Aina (Torino)
I'm a fan of this deal. While Aina's not "Fredericks fast", he'd still be the first Right-Back we've had since Fredericks with genuine pace and the ability to overlap down the right which I highlighted as a key attribute I wanted in a Right-Back signing this summer. 

There's a lot of "upside" with the Aina signing. As with the Lemina deal, the Loan + Option covers us if he under performs next season- and if he does perform then it's happy days and he'll be worth the transfer fee. Add that on to the fact that Aina can play both sides comfortably, and he could probably play further up the pitch as well if Parker wanted to set up very defensively against the "big" teams (like I saw speculation of when Robinson signed in regard to Joe Bryan) given a lot of his experience in Italy has been as a proper Wing-Back. 

To give an idea of how close Ola Aina is, this Preview is getting published at 6pm- and it genuinely wouldn't surprise me if we announce him at the same time. But we're now moving on to my shopping list for the rest of the window where I look at areas of the squad that I think we still need to strengthen in the rest of the window, and it will come as no surprise to any Fulham fan with a brain that there's only one place to start. 

Jose Fonte (Lille)
With the exception of perhaps Areola, it's fair to say I've been quite positive about our Transfer Window so far. However, I would go as far as to say none of the signings we've made so far actually matter until we've signed a Centre-Back who can come in and partner Hector. It really is a "need" in regard to signing a Centre-Back as well. If we have Tim Ream as a starting Centre-Back in the Premier League we will go down. 

Before getting on to why I want to sign a 36 Year Old Jose Fonte, I do think something has to be said. Wanting a left-sided Centre-Back isn't the same as wanting a left-footed Centre-Back. Right-Footed isn't an excluding factor in any potential Centre-Back signing to partner Hector, as long as they're comfortable playing as the left-sided Centre-Back and it wouldn't be a square peg in a round hole. 

With where we are in regard to the start of the season, we need an immediate fix at Centre-Back in my opinion. For me that means we need someone who has Premier League experience in abundance, has experience of relegation battles in the Premier League and someone who'd be a genuine leader at the back. It's a very narrow field when you use that search criteria, and Jose Fonte fits the bill. 

Would Fonte be absolutely ideal? No. He will undoubtedly get done for pace in some games, he won't have any resale value and we'd more than likely be his last club. But on the other hand he wouldn't command an extortionate transfer fee thanks to his age, he probably has more Premier League experience than the rest of our squad combined, he's been a Captain at clubs he's been at and he's played as a left Centre-Back quite a lot in his career. Probably most notably next to Pepe for Portugal as they won Euro 2016. In-terms of wanting someone to come in and hit the ground running, especially with our two league games after Arsenal in mind I'm not sure we can do much better. Hopefully Rui can put in a good word for us.    

Victor Nelsson (Copenhagen)
This is a signing that can go two ways. We're starting the season against Arsenal with Tim Ream and Michael Hector as our Centre-Back pairing. I had mentally accepted that about 10 Days ago, and I'm braced for what's coming. With that in mind, any potential Centre-Back recruitment can go two ways. My preference as I've already said is signing an "immediate fix" Centre-Back like Jose Fonte who'll come in and instantly make an impact on the first team. 

However, now we are starting the season with Ream, we could just accept that Ream and Hector is going to be our pairing early doors and sign more of a "prospect" who can grow into the role over time because Victor Nelsson would undoubtedly be an upgrade on Tim Ream- but he'd need to acclimate to the league first. Nelsson's only 21, he's Denmark U21s captain and he's actually been playing as a left Centre-Back partnering Ragnar Sigurdsson of all people at Copenhagen for a decent amount of the previous season. 

Or we could just sign both. Especially with Mawson going, I think we'll be in the market for two Centre-Backs this window- so signing one "immediate fix" and one "prospect" neither of whom would be ridiculously priced would be my ideal window and Nelsson would be the long-term successor to Jose Fonte in the left Centre-Back role.

Emi Buendia (Norwich)
I feel like there's (rightly) been a lot of discussion in regard to our defence, and concern over how our defence will cope with the step up. However, I would argue that our attack is just as much of a concern- just because giving the ball to Mitrovic and hoping like it seemed our tactics were for a decent amount of last season won't be enough to keep us up. 

The only reason I didn't highlight Buendia in my Summer Window Preview is for the simple fact that I thought he'd be a bit beyond us and go "higher". But here we are, with the Championship season starting tomorrow, and Buendia's still a Norwich player. 

Most people will be fully aware of Buendia, specifically because of the number of chances he created for a very poor Norwich team in the Premier League last season- and it's for that reason that I'm keen on him because he'd add some genuine creativity that none of our current players really offer in my opinion. The rumoured transfer fee for Buendia isn't extortionate either, especially compared to some of the fees we're seeing for players like Ollie Watkins. 

Victor Moses (Chelsea)
You could be forgiven for forgetting that Moses is in fact naturally a Right-Winger given he's spent a decent amount of the last 4 or 5 years playing as a Right Wing-Back under Antonio Conte, and we supposedly even tried to sign Moses for that role under Ranieri in our January window in the Premier League.

It's that experience that makes Moses quite an appealing option to me though, because we'll be on the back foot in quite a few games next season and need our Wingers to chip in defensively. Moses still has something to offer going forward as well though, and for me he'd be a definite upgrade on the Wingers we currently have.

Add that on to the fact that he obviously knows the league and with Chelsea spending more this summer on players than the GDP of most countries surely making him surplus to requirements, combined with the fact that he's going into the last year of his contract Moses is probably available for a very affordable transfer fee. So overall Moses would be quite an appealing option in my opinion. 

Florinel Coman (FCSB)
My personal preference when talking about potential Forwards is we sign one "proper" Winger like Emi Buendia or Victor Moses, and then we also sign someone who can play up-front or on the Wing to cover us for any Aleksandar Mitrovic related absences whether it be because of injury, yellow card accumulation or Mitrovic's new best friend VAR. Bonus points if they're a prospect who we can sign, increase in value and then sell on for a profit. 

Enter Florinel Coman. Romanian football at least on paper is in for a bit of resurgence over the next 4 or 5 years, largely thanks to three quite familiar names to the world of Football in Puscas, Hagi and Coman. I really liked the look of Coman at the U21 Euros last summer where he scored twice against England perhaps most notably- and after having a strong season with FCSB (don't call them Steaua Bucharest) he's seemingly ready for a move to a Top 5 European League. Maybe not as a starter right off the bat, but he definitely has the ability and potential to cement himself if given time to develop. 

Andre Ayew (Swansea)
In perhaps a theme of this section of the Preview, Coman would be the "prospect" and Andre Ayew on the other hand would be the "immediate fix". It's seemingly a policy of ours this summer to really minimise outlay in-terms of transfer fees and directing more of our finances to the wage bill. Ayew would definitely be a signing in that mould, given Swansea surely can't afford to keep paying his wages for another season. 

I personally see a lot of value in Ayew, despite his age. Primarily, he's a really good player, he had more goal contributions in the season just gone than any player we currently have bar Mitrovic by quite a distance. Add on to the fact that he's played as a Striker a reasonable number of times, including for part of last season with Swansea, he's got Premier League experience that we definitely seem to value when looking at players to sign, and he's also shown in the season just gone that he's happy to get his head down and fight for promotion in the Championship if we do get relegated in the coming season. 

Two Centre-Backs, a Winger and potentially a Winger who can play up-front as a bonus signing. That's what I want out of the rest of the window, and when you consider there's pretty much a month left of the window (even longer for domestic signings)- that isn't really that much to do for Tony Khan and the recruitment team.  If we prioritise a Centre-Back, and then get to work on the rest I'm more than fine with that- because as I've already said it doesn't matter who we sign if we still have Tim Ream starting at Centre-Back. 

Outs
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa
I said in my Summer Window Preview that my personal feeling was that unless Villarreal could afford to trigger the option to buy they had, Zambo would end up staying in the coming season. Obviously with a month left in the window you can't say with 100% conviction that he's staying unless he signs a new contract that I don't think would be on the table, but all of the signs are definitely pointing to Zambo being a Fulham player for the coming season.

That's quite exciting for me and I do really rate Zambo. Although I do think we have to temper our expectations slightly, because the way he's being built up by some people on social media as this sort of Prime Yaya Toure box-to-box Midfielder who'll come in and own the league is a massive exaggeration. It's one thing for Zambo to perform well for Villarreal who came 5th in La Liga and had players playing well around him, it's another thing entirely to consistently perform well in a team that's playing badly and is aiming for 17th come May. As I said in relation to Zambo potentially moving a month ago, time will tell. 

Jean-Michael Seri
Seri still being a Fulham player at this stage of the window is annoying to me, but it isn't surprising. I didn't really "get" the Galatasaray move when it happened on Seri's end, and on our end fair enough we probably got a decent loan fee for him, but we would have surely known going in that Galatasaray wouldn't have been able to afford the option to buy on him when they along with the two other "traditional" Turkish clubs Fenerbahce and Besiktas are for want of a better way to put it, bankrupt. It would be one thing if it was a last minute Deadline Day thing, but Seri joined Galatasaray in Mid-July from memory, and there was definitely a market there for us to sell him outright based on some reports. 

As a result we still have Seri, and his wages, on the books going into the new season. And it wouldn't surprise me if we needed Seri to go before we could move for someone who Parker will actually want. I thought things were lined up for us to sign Babel and Seri to go the other way, but that ship has seemingly sailed and we're left trying to find a move for him that suits us as well as him. 

Stefan Johansen
Before yesterday, it seemed like Galatasaray had potentially moved from one out of favour box-to-box Midfielder to another with them also being linked with Johansen. However I think that talk will die down now, as Galatasaray have signed Peter Etebo on Loan who coincidentally I highlighted in my Summer Window Preview as someone I wanted to sign as a squad option.

I do still think Johansen's going this summer though, as I said in my Summer Window Preview he had fallen out of favour in the Championship, and now we're in the Premier League with Zambo and Lemina both ahead of him in his most "natural" position I don't see that changing. And especially with Norway potentially going to the Euros next summer if they get through their Play-Off, as Norway captain Johansen isn't going to want to spend next season on the Bench, or more likely now we're back to 7 subs in the stand. 

Cyrus Christie
I wonder if things are possibly lining up for Cyrus Christie at the moment. We bring in one new Right-Back, with another imminent, just as his former club Derby sell Jayden Bogle. It's probably fair to say that Christie sees himself as more than being a 3rd or 4th choice Right-Back depending on if you see Denis Odoi ahead of him or not. 

In a way I'm happy Christie's leaving this summer, if he does, after giving a better account of himself in the eyes of the fans than the car crash of a Premier League season. There's surely a market for Christie as well, he's going into the last year of his contract making him pretty affordable and he is a solid Top 6-Top 10 Championship level Right-Back. 

Fabri
If reports are to be believed Fabri's on the verge of moving, but he was definitely training with the club as of Wednesday, so it would seem like things aren't as close as had been reported. My opinion on Fabri hasn't changed over the last year or so, in the sense that I do think Fabri got a pretty raw deal with us. I suppose one thing with Football currently being Behind Closed Doors is at least with Areola there won't be fans chanting for Rodak (Bettinelli) if he lets in a soft goal on his debut. 

Saying Fabri was set up to fail is probably going too far, but he was signed on the recommendation of a Goalkeeping Coach who almost instantly left the club after his arrival, he was replacing a fan favourite, and perhaps most importantly he was without exaggeration behind one of the worst defences in Premier League history. 

Fabri's definitely better than being a 3rd choice Keeper for us, and I do genuinely hope he finds a club where he'll play every week and he can get his career back on track. 

Kevin McDonald
After signing Reed and Lemina, a report came out saying that we were listening to offers for McDonald and Johansen. I'm not sure if there was something substantial to that, or it was just the media putting two and two together. I'll repeat what I said in my Summer Window Preview, if McDonald wants to play Football next season his only outing before 2021 could well be at Portman Road in just under a week- so a loan would be his best chance of playing Football. 

However, he's without a doubt the biggest leader in the dressing room, and when talking about keeping the dressing room atmosphere up McDonald would be key to that in my opinion. So if he was happy to stay knowing that would be his role at the club while he does his Coaching Badges I'd be perfectly fine with that. 

It's also worth saying that McDonald potentially going is another reason why I highlighted Jose Fonte as a potential signing, because we need genuine leaders in the dressing room when things get tough during the season and Fonte would fill those boots. Quite literally if you look at what Fonte's preferred Kit Number has been over his career.  

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Scott Parker's new contract
It's definitely worth talking about Scott Parker's new contract, because I think it's an indicator that unless we're on course to break Derby's points record we're sticking with Parker regardless next season. It could be me reading too much into things, but Parker's original deal covering our two years of Parachute Payments and his new one covering a season in the Premier League and then potentially two Parachute Payment years isn't a coincidence for me.

Especially now Parker's proven definitively he can get us promoted, I think we'll want some long-term continuity this time around in contrast to the Khans last two Premier League outings where we've had three Managers both times. Even if it means taking the hit and going down like Burnley have done previously with Sean Dyche, and Norwich's plan seemingly is with Daniel Farke. That logic would also tie in with our seeming reluctance to spend big so far this summer, at least in-terms of transfer fees. 

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New Kit Reaction
I'm a massive fan of our Home Kit. Conditioned on the fact that it is an Adidas Template, of the options we had available to us, when I was looking at other Adidas Kits for the new season the one I wanted was Wolves' kit with the black sleeves to coincide with it being 10 Years since we got to the Europa League Final in a similar kit- and here we are. The Yellow Away Kit isn't going to be top of my shopping list it's fair to say, but as I always say in regard to betting sponsors in this section, as long as the team wearing it are winning Football matches I couldn't care less. 

I've already mentioned betting sponsors, so I'll talk about us getting a new one here. Pretty much half the league has a betting sponsor, and bar the Top 6 who have genuine "appeal" to big brands, betting sponsors are the most lucrative option to Premier League clubs until the government or the FA ban them. As I've said already, if the team wearing the shirt is winning Football matches I don't care what's on it. Let Tony Khan put an AEW logo on the Sleeve for all I care. 

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The Season Ahead
We know this season is going to be a slog. We're in a Mini-League with in my opinion Villa, Brighton, Burnley, Leeds, Newcastle, West Brom, West Ham and potentially Sheffield Utd where three of us go down at the end of it. My personal opinion at the moment is we won't be better than three of those teams over the course of a season, especially with such a glaring hole in the team as of now at Centre-Back that needs to be filled before we can even start talking about staying up with a straight face. 

I do think tactically we're better suited to being in the Premier League this time around, but frankly I just don't think we'll have enough quality over 38 games. As I've already said though, I think Parker's secure in his job almost completely regardless of what happens this coming season- and if he does keep us up then fair play to him. 

I said in my Season Preview last year that with the quality we had in the squad, Parker might not get that much credit for actually getting us up- the shoe is definitely on the other foot going into this season, because Parker is going to have to play an absolute blinder and use every ounce of his managerial ability if he is going to keep us up. 

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Predictions
I posted my Premier League prediction on Twitter, and seeing as we feature it's worth repeating.
I've predicted;
18th. West Ham
19th. Fulham
20th. West Brom

It should be said that making a Table prediction with a month left of the Transfer Window makes the prediction pretty redundant, but this prediction is based on how things look at the moment. 

There's so much unknown going into this season, both on and off the pitch in the current climate that I'm approaching it with quite a lot of interest. As I've already said, I do believe we're better placed tactically and with the team we have to give a better account of ourselves this time around in the Premier League- and really that's my main/only hope for the coming season. Thanks for reading as always, I still really enjoy doing these- specifically the Transfers and "Scouting" aspect of it- so hopefully you still enjoy reading them. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you're staying safe, hopefully we can get back to the Cottage sooner rather than later and hopefully we can make this season a good one. 

Fulham: 20/21 Summer Window Preview

When you go over scenarios in your head of how a season can play out, I don't think anyone would have predicted "Play-Off Final win in August" as an outcome. It's fair to say it's been an interesting season, in so many ways. But the end result of this year long season is the one we were all hoping for of promotion back to the Premier League. 

Looking back over the season, I suppose the thing you have to say is the ends justified the means. Because we all know it's been a slog at times, and we've had some very bad games along the way. But the aim at the start of the season was promotion and we've got the job done. It makes the 3-0 defeats to Hull and Barnsley a bit more palatable simply put. I do also have to say fair play to Scott Parker, because for those who follow me on Twitter you'll know I've been very vocal about Parker at times this season. But the brief at the start of the season was "Promotion" and he's got the job done in his first full season as Manager. He's definitely made mistakes over the season, but I'd like to think he's learned from those mistakes over the season and tactically he's probably had his best two games as Manager in the Play-Off 1st Leg and Final- so his season's peaked at the right time.  

The interesting thing for us now is what we do now we've "got to the dance". When we were promoted against Villa that felt like everything at the time. Whereas because we've only been out of the Premier League for one season this time around the promotion only feels like Part One and staying up is the true aim this time around. 

A big part of how we do when we line up in the Premier League is of course the transfers we make, and the general transfer policy we have this window. I would like to think Tony Khan's learned his lesson from our last "Premier League summer" with the signings he'll make, but I suppose time will tell. "Ends justifying the means" is also relevant to our Transfer Policy, because it was a definite policy last summer to sign "proven" Championship players- and we have been promoted so it'd be interesting to see if we have a similar policy this summer with exclusively signing "proven" Premier League players. 

While Premier League experience should definitely be a factor, I'm not sure the "going for proven players" policy was actually a roaring success. Our two "marquee" signings in Knockaert and Cavaleiro were benched for Kebano and Kamara in the Final and Harry Arter wasn't in the squad. But you also have to balance that out with Harrison Reed, Onomah and Hector being three of our best players over recent times and Bobby Reid definitely contributing even if he has been frustrating in front of goal. My personal view is that no Premier League experience shouldn't be a breaking point if the right player was available, but especially with such a tight turnaround experience, at least in English Football, is preferable. 

I've also made a point to aim for "younger" players with one notable exception, because while this team has got us up- I want to aim for some sort of continuity going forward and having a team where the majority are either late 20s or early 30s isn't ideal. The average age of the signings I'm suggesting today is 24.5, and that's weighted slightly up by one 33 Year Old who's a bit of an obvious one. That's the sort of market we need to be shopping in, because for me we need players with genuine resell value for if we get relegated again, and we should also be looking at players we can buy, improve and sell on at a profit. That's the reality of the level of club we are. 

It's also worth saying as always that these aren't the exact players I'm expecting Tony Khan to sign, but they're definitely the profile of players I'd be looking to target. And as always, I'm not expecting to sign all of the names on this list- in most cases it's just one from each position. 

Ins

Goalkeeper

I said exactly the same last year, but we don't need to sign a Goalkeeper this summer. Especially with such a tight turnaround continuity within the defence where possible is an absolute must and nobody can say Marek Rodak hasn't earned his chance to start for us in the Premier League next season. The #2 Keeper isn't even particularly relevant because Parker was playing Rodak in the FA Cup as well, but maybe Tony Khan can set up some sort of Royal Rumble with Bettinelli, Jordan Archer, Fabri and the youth Keepers for who gets the honour of sitting on the bench next season and who gets moved on. 

Defenders

We basically have to build the defence around Michael Hector this summer. I do think Joe Bryan is starting next season at Left-Back, but we need to move on from Tim Ream at Left Centre-Back, we probably had to even this season just gone and I would think it's a priority given we literally signed Terence Kongolo to presumably replace Ream as Left Centre-Back in January. And the other priority for me is a Right-Back who'll come in and really own that position, because we haven't had a fixed one this season between Christie, Odoi and Steven Sessegnon- and I'm not convinced any of the three would be good enough to actually start for us in the Premier League next season. Any other defensive signings would be a bonus, but Left Centre-Back and Right-Back have to be the priority. 

Ethan Pinnock (Brentford)

Would this be rubbing salt in the wound? I'm not really sure. I feel like there's always a lot of talk about Pontus Jansson because he's a "beat your chest" "passion merchant" type Centre-Back, but next door to him in my opinion is just a much better Centre-Back. For me Pinnock is absolutely top drawer, and while all the Brentford auction talk in the coming days and weeks will be about Benrahma, Watkins etc. I think Pinnock would be a bit of an "under the radar" top drawer signing if we were to make it. 

Pinnock for me is a very "Fulham" signing as well, he definitely fits the profile of Centre-Back we'd usually target and him being left footed means he provides the natural balance in the pairing that Tim Ream has provided for us next to Odoi, Kalas, Hector etc. over the last few years- because it's definitely time for Tim Ream to be moved on from being a consistent starter in this Fulham team. 

Chris Mepham (Bournemouth)

From talking about a current Brentford player to a former one who we're passing on the way up. Mepham is someone who I've rated for a few years now, and obviously with Bournemouth going down the auctions for their players are (in theory) starting. Bournemouth have been a car crash defensively for pretty much their whole time in the Premier League, but I do genuinely think the potential is there with Mepham and as long as Bournemouth weren't demanding an extortionate price for him I definitely wouldn't say no were we to sign him. 

Matt Clarke (Brighton)

Clarke is probably the more natural alternative to Mepham, simply by virtue of the fact he's left-footed. This isn't based on our transfer policy a few years ago where we seemingly just went out and signed every middling Championship teams Player of the Year, but Clarke did win Derby's Player of the Year on loan from Brighton and he's definitely on an upward trajectory career wise. This is a big statement, but everything I've seen from Clarke bar one really dodgy Own Goal suggests he can actually make it in the Premier League. He's got the technical and physical attributes in spades, and while Pinnock would be my first choice, it would by no means be "settling" if we did sign Clarke instead.

The obvious problem we'd have in trying to sign Clarke, and I'd assume it's similar for Leeds in their efforts to try and sign Ben White. Brighton aren't going to let them go cheap, especially to a team that they'll be competing with to stay up next season. Which is totally fair enough for them, he is their player after all. But if the price was reasonable, I'd definitely be keen on trying to sign him. 

Gernot Trauner (LASK)

This suggestion is partially based on my belief that we suit a 3/5 at the back more than a 4. Especially in the Premier League, Joe Bryan in particular can do some damage going forward- but he's not good enough defensively and leaves too much space behind him to be a regular starter in a 4. It's also based on the fact that Parker has favoured switching to a back 5 to protect leads, so the logic would follow that at least in some games next season when we're playing teams like City, Liverpool etc. and we most likely setup for a 0-0 we start in a back 5. 

It's with that in mind that I suggest Gernot Trauner who's coming off the back of an absolutely exceptional season with LASK as a middle Centre-Back in a three. Whether it's as a starter with Hector on the right and let's just say hypothetically Pinnock on the left, or off the bench coming on and splitting the two Centre-Backs either side of him I think Trauner would be a very good addition for us. You'd also have to think Trauner would be relatively cheap coming from the Austrian Bundesliga and being 28 years old so he could be signed in addition to one of the names mentioned above without breaking the bank. 

Joakim Maehle (Genk)

I was quite tempted to have Ryan Fredericks in this section. Because simply put he's the Right-Back we need in my opinion. Someone who'll provide genuine pace and overlapping runs down the right-hand side. That in my opinion is also what we need to get the best out of Anthony Knockaert, because while I'm by no means saying he's blameless he's been very easy to defend against in my opinion because it's been easy to double up on him knowing Christie or Odoi (or Sessegnon) aren't really providing the option of the overlap down the right. And whatever else you can say about Knockaert, he does have the defensive work-rate to cover the Right-Back if they're caught out of position when they do overlap. So if we do look at trying to get the best out of Knockaert, that's one way we can look to do so next season. 

But my first suggestion is Joakim Maehle, who's probably very ambitious- but at the same time it's the sort of ambition we should be looking at this summer in that Maehle would be a young, hungry talent looking to prove himself in the Premier League and if he does succeed secure a move to a bigger club down the line. As opposed to the "ambitious" signings of over the hill players like Schurrle who were just there to secure the wage packet. Maehle simply put is everything I've just described above, quick, has good stamina to run up and down the line and he's just a very decent Right-Back. He wouldn't be cheap, and I doubt we'd be the only Premier League team interested in him- but Tony Khan has shown ambition with his signings in the past, it's now perhaps the time to channel that ambition into players like Joakim Maehle. 

Aurelio Buta (Royal Antwerp)

As with Pinnock and the Centre-Backs, Maehle is my main target for Right-Back- but it's definitely worth looking at alternatives as well. There's not much to say about Buta that isn't also relevant to Maehle, in my opinion Maehle is just a better player and that's why I'd favour him. It does have to be said that Buta would probably be a lot cheaper than Maehle, and in these COVID times we do have to be smart with how we spend our money this summer and budget accordingly compared to our last big summer window in the Premier League. 

Jorge (Monaco)

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you'll know at various points of the season I was an advocate for Parker's sacking and for him to be replaced with Jorge Sampaoli who at the time had rehabilitated his reputation after Argentina's disaster World Cup and just left Santos after a successful spell there. A big part of his success at Santos was thanks to the loan signing of Jorge from Monaco, and if I couldn't get Sampaoli- I'd at least like to get Jorge. 

I've had half an eye on the majority of these names over the last month and I actually had two separate transfer lists depending on what division we were in after the season had concluded- and it's with that half an eye I know that Jorge's Agent has said he wants to leave Monaco- and given he's also coming into the last year of his contract to me that suggests he's available for a very reasonable fee. 

I should say I'm not suggesting Jorge comes in and immediately replaces Joe Bryan, but Left-Back was basically the one area this season where we had zero competition for places and I would've liked to see that addressed this summer regardless of what division we were in. Being in the Premier League just means we can aim a bit higher and attract better candidates to fulfil that need for competition for places. 

Antonee Robinson (Wigan)

As with Pinnock and Brentford, this is perhaps rubbing salt in the wound given we played a part in Wigan's relegation on the final day of the normal season. I feel like the majority of fans are keenly aware of Robinson now after his high profile move to Milan collapsed in January- but if reports are to be believed and thanks to Wigan's sketchy relegation Robinson has a very cheap release clause that can be activated it's an absolute no brainer for us to try for him this summer. 

There's not much more that needs to be said, he'd provide genuine competition for Bryan and he's a very good prospect- the problem we have is a cheap release clause and being a very good prospect means we wouldn't be the only team in for him. In fact if the release clause is what I've seen reported I would imagine Robinson's Agent will be very busy in the days and weeks to come now that Wigan's relegation has been officially confirmed.  

Midfielders

There are two things that need to be sorted out before we get a true picture of what our Midfield will look like next season. The first is Harrison Reed, we do supposedly have an option to buy on him- and I don't see a scenario that's played out that would mean it wouldn't be triggered considering he's played a lot of Football for us, and we've been promoted. But we just have to wait and see with that one. The other is the future of a certain Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa which I'll look at in more detail later on. 

In my ideal world we'd be lining up at the start of next season with a Midfield three of Reed, Anguissa, Onomah which in my opinion is the most balanced Midfield we could look to use- but the signing suggestions I've made are made with all possible scenarios of those two particular players in mind. 

Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford)

I've always liked Chalobah, the long-term injury he had a while ago has definitely stalled his development but he's still only 25 and I 100% believe there's a player in there who is capable of playing in the Premier League. The advantage we'd have in a potential pursuit of Chalobah is of course Watford's relegation, although that could easily be reversed to say with Doucoure and Capoue most likely off Watford would be more keen to actually keep him for next season because if he stays fit he'd be top drawer in the Championship for them next season. 

As I've already talked about, with the tight turnaround for next season Premier League experience could be a big factor going head first into next season and obviously Chalobah has a lot of it. I'd personally look to sign Chalobah regardless of where Zambo and Harrison Reed end up because he'd be a good option to have- but he'd become more of a priority if Zambo did leave. 

Isaac Hayden (Newcastle)

From my main priority if Zambo leaves, to my main priority if we can't sign Harrison Reed. Isaac Hayden's had an up and down career with Newcastle it's probably fair to say. But I think over the last 18 months or so he has shown he's Premier League quality. The big factor in a potential signing of Isaac Hayden for us is he's been very vocal about his desire to move down south/back to London for family reasons over the last couple of years- so if we put in a good enough offer to appeal to Newcastle I would think/hope he'd jump at the opportunity to stay in the Premier League and move back to London. 

The problem we'd have, as I talked about with Matt Clarke is thanks to Newcastle's failed takeover they'll be one of the teams we're competing with to stay up next season and Newcastle won't want to strengthen a rival without us paying over the odds. 

Peter Etebo (Stoke)

In the event of us signing Harrison Reed and keeping Zambo, I still think we need to add one more Centre-Mid to the ranks to be completely secure. Especially if the reports I've seen since the Play-Off Final are true and Harry Arter hasn't played enough games to trigger his buy option, on top of the fact that Stefan Johansen and Kevin McDonald could barely get a game in the Championship let alone the Premier League. Which leaves us with Cairney, Onomah, Reed and Zambo as the four current options. As such, I do think we'd need to add one more, basically to replace Arter's "squad player" role in the team who'll start 8-12 games depending on fitness and injuries and be an option off the bench. 

This was nearly another Stoke player in Badou Ndiaye, but as I've said right from the outset- I want to aim younger this summer so we can put some proper building blocks in place. I'd see this move as similar to the one we had with Kongolo where we take a chance on someone who clearly doesn't want to be at (Huddersfield) Stoke- but there is the potential of a good player in there waiting to be unlocked. I've liked the look of Etebo when I've seen him, he presumably wouldn't be an extortionate price to sign permanently- or we could even be cheeky and try and sign him on loan.

Petr Sevcik (Slavia Prague)

I've had half an eye on Slavia Prague over the last 18 months or so since we were linked with Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui in the January window of our Premier League season which spawned the famous "wall of meat" description. In fact, had we stayed up, last years version of this blog would've featured one of West Ham's relegation heroes as a result in Tomas Soucek. 

Sevcik is more box-to-box than Soucek is, but to me he'd basically be an upgrade in the Arter/Johansen role we've had this season. Sevcik is exactly the sort of player we should be targeting this summer in that he wouldn't be very expensive, he wouldn't necessarily come in and expect to start straight away/start every game, and he wouldn't be someone who is "too big for us" like a Seri- but he definitely has the ability to make an impact for us next season.

Enock Mwepu (RB Salzburg)

What would one of these Blogs be without talking about a Salzburg player? I feel like Erling Haaland's emergence over the last year has sort of sped up the general consciousness into thinking what I've thought for a while that Salzburg is an absolute factory when it comes to talent and talent development. Haaland isn't even a very good example of it considering he was only there for 6 months, but I've been keen on players like Stefan Lainer and Valon Berisha over the last few years who were definitely "Salzburg products". 

For want of a better way to describe Mwepu, he's Zambo from two years ago. He'd need time to bed in over the course of the season- but signing him to supplement the Midfield rather than coming in and expecting him to carry it should hopefully mean we can bed him in properly and get some good performances out of him over the course of the season like we had with Zambo at the back end of the Premier League season. 

Eberechi Eze (QPR)

I was debating which section to actually put Eze in for this, because to me given we're going up to the Premier League he'd fulfil the sort of role Matheus Pereira's played with West Brom this season where he'd be played out wide some games and centrally in others. 

I settled on Midfielders because that's where he's played predominantly for QPR, and a general point has to be made about the lack of goals that's come from our Midfield this season. That definitely needs to be addressed going into the Premier League, because Mitrovic won't be scoring 26 goals next season and we need just more creativity and invention in the Midfield. I remember a stat brought up in the build up of one of the Play-Off games of Cairney having 3 Assists and them all coming last August- which just isn't good enough. 

I do think Onomah could fill those boots based on how he's played over the last month, but it's unfair to come up and put all of that weight on him- so signing someone like Eze who's versatile and can play off the left so he wouldn't be stepping on Onomah's toes but can hopefully step into those "creative" shoes in the Midfield and produce the moments of magic to win a game that would otherwise finish 0-0 would be a big priority for me this summer. 

Forwards

In my "Championship list" I had two scenarios really, one where we keep Mitrovic and one where we don't. That has obviously become a non-issue as a result of promotion- so for me it's just about adding depth and adding goals so the burden isn't completely on Mitrovic to score the goals to keep us up next season. The ideal scenario for me would be adding one Winger and a genuine back-up Striker if Mitrovic did get injured again, because while the False Nine worked in the 1st Leg against Cardiff and the Final- we'll be under pressure and getting battered in a lot of games next season and need an out-ball that Bobby Reid doesn't give us and that definitely showed in the Cardiff 2nd Leg. 

Ryan Babel (Galatasaray)

I feel like Babel is the very, very obvious one. He's been begging it on Instagram enough over the last few months- and now we are in the Premier League there's no concern over the visibility of the league impeding on Babel's Euro 2021 hopes like there would have been had we stayed in the Championship. Especially with such a tight turnaround, I feel like Babel would be ideal because he has the Premier League experience in spades, but more crucially he's played under Parker and he knows probably 95% of the players in the dressing room from his time with us in the Premier League. 

I've seen some talk about Babel being a Free Agent, but I'm not sure where that's come from given to my knowledge he is still a contracted Galatasaray player. But with that said, given they loaned him out he's clearly surplus to requirements at Galatasaray and I wonder if we could work out a deal where we get Babel and some cash for Seri given I doubt they could fully afford to buy Seri outright unless it was in a million instalments given they won't have Champions League money to work with next season. 

Karlan Grant (Huddersfield)

I think Karlan Grant would be close to my ideal signing this summer. He's got room to develop given he's still only 22, but he's coming off the back of a very good goalscoring season with Huddersfield. The added bonus on top of the obvious with Grant is that he's actually been playing off the left a lot for Huddersfield in the season just gone, so it wouldn't be a case of having to start Mitrovic or Grant, and we could easily start both with Knockaert, Cavaleiro, Kamara etc. on the right. 

Given he is young and English, Grant wouldn't be cheap. But in general I don't think I've proposed any proper "break the bank" signings over the course of this blog and I'd "only" be looking to make one or two proper "big fee" signings of which Grant would be one. 

Jean-Pierre Nsame (Young Boys)

I feel like given the tight turnaround for next season, form from the season just gone should be very relevant in any potential signings. It's with that in mind that I suggest Jean-Pierre Nsame who is literally averaging a goal a game for Young Boys in the Swiss League. 32 Goals in 32 Games isn't a record to ignore, even if it is "just" the Swiss League and he has the physical characteristics to fill Mitrovic's shoes as the "hold-up" Striker to give us the out ball I was talking about earlier. 

Ivan Toney (Peterborough)

If the reports are to be believed and Brentford have ear-marked Toney as Ollie Watkins replacement if/when he gets sold this summer, I think we should just cut out the middle man and go straight in for Toney before he becomes the latest in the line of Strikers Brentford have signed and quadrupled in value after Maupay, Watkins, Andre Gray etc. 

Signings from League 1 and 2 are on the table now Opta are tracking the stats in the divisions as per Tony Khan's interview last year, and Toney was the absolute "top of my list" player from League 1 regardless of what division we were in after the Play-Off Final. Toney has everything really, and while it might be a case of him needing to "conquer" the Championship before he gets a move to the Premier League, I genuinely believe he could make the jump straight away and provide goals to supplement Mitrovic as our main Striker. 

Outs

This section, and the tone of it would be very different had we lost to Brentford. But thankfully that's not the case, and as such we don't have to get angsty over the futures of players like Mitrovic this summer. I've already made reference to it earlier, there's one big "out" in this section that needs to be sorted out- but beyond that the "Outs" for us this summer should be mainly "trimming the fat" type player sales. 

In-terms of contracts, I think we will offer Neeskens Kebano and Denis Odoi new contracts, especially in Kebano's case you can definitely say he's earned it. How much they actually play next season is another thing entirely. 

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa

This is the "out" that needs to be sorted sooner rather than later, because as I've already talked about Zambo could be a key player for us next season and provide a real balance in the Midfield along with Reed and Onomah. 

But him staying is far from a guarantee, especially with some of the teams he's been linked with like Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. It ultimately comes down to whether Villarreal have the financial means to trigger their option to buy on him in these COVID times and whether Zambo would want to play for us, and I'd like to think he would. He's spoken quite highly of Parker for putting his faith into him at the back end of the season and I'd be very surprised if Parker wouldn't have him back. Ultimately it's a "wait and see" scenario, but we don't have much time to actually "wait and see" given the players probably only have two weeks off before they report back to start preparing for next season. 

Jean-Michael Seri

I've already spoken about my "ideal" scenario with Seri in the Ryan Babel section, so I won't repeat it here. Seri never really got the "Parker stamp of approval" like Zambo did game-time wise at the back end of the Premier League season, so I'd be surprised if Seri was in favour if he were to stay at the Cottage next season. It's most likely just a case of trying to get the best deal possible to move Seri on permanently, because we'd now be in a better financial position with the Premier League money to eat a bit of a loss on his transfer fee.

Marcus Bettinelli

I think Bettinelli's at a bit of a cross-roads with his Fulham career, and just career in general this summer. As I've already mentioned, there's a very real chance our #2 Keeper wouldn't even be playing Cup games next season- so if Bettinelli did stay at Fulham barring injury it would just be to warm the bench. 

The conversation then moves to moving Bettinelli on, and if he wants to play Football he'll have to move back to the Championship. But if he is happy sitting on the bench/in the stand he could also take the move a lot of "home grown" Keepers have in the latter stages of their career and become a 3rd Choice Keeper at a club like Chelsea or Man City. Ultimately it's down to Bettinelli, and while I was critical of him before he was dropped for Rodak he's definitely earned the right over his full tenure at Fulham to choose what he wants to do next and for us to support that. 

Fabri

As I've already mentioned, there's a spot on the bench for someone next season. And that could very well be Fabri. He's barely played a game of Football for two seasons now, but in-terms of a pecking order if Bettinelli was moved on I'd definitely be more confident with Fabri on the bench than Jordan Archer. 

If/when Fabri is moved on I would imagine it'd be similar to the deal we struck for Rui Fonte where we just let him go for free to get his wages off the books and be thankful for it. But there is a chance he stays as our #2, it just hinges on Bettinelli's future. 

Alfie Mawson

How much are train tickets to Norwich these days? If the rumours are to be believed and Norwich are keen on Mawson, I would have bitten their hand off regardless of what division we were in come the conclusion of the Play-Off Final. It probably isn't all Mawson's fault that he's been an objective failure with us, because he's had some terrible luck with injuries. But it's with those injuries in mind that mean if we can get any sort of transfer fee for him we have to take it and run. 

Maxime Le Marchand

Le Marchand's definitely higher on the pecking order than Mawson is, by virtue of the fact that he's actually played Football since the restart. So it probably isn't impossible that he does stay with us next season. But as I've talked about in the "Ins" section, Tim Ream for me would essentially be dropping down into the Le Marchand squad role for next season and that would leave Le Marchand as the odd man out. As a result, we could probably get a nominal transfer fee for him to move back to France, and we take it and move on. 

Kevin McDonald

I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand, if McDonald actually wants to play Football next season he doesn't have a chance with us bar the odd Cup game. So in that sense he should be looking elsewhere. However, I think a big thing that we'll target this time around, especially with such a tight turnaround is to keep the dressing room as positive as possible for as long as possible- and we all know that McDonald is arguably the biggest character, and definitely the biggest leader in the whole dressing room. 

As I've already talked about with Bettinelli, McDonald has earned the right to decide what he wants to do next, and if he's happy in essence being a Player/Coach and "Dressing Room General" for Parker next season I definitely wouldn't say no. 

Stefan Johansen

I know Johansen signed a new contract not that long ago, but he's fallen out of favour with Parker as the season has gone on, and if the reports are to be believed and we don't want to use the buy clause on Harry Arter who was definitely more in favour than Johansen, logic would dictate that Johansen would also be surplus to requirements for us this summer. 

We should be able to get a decent enough fee for Johansen from either a Championship club or say a Turkish club as an example. The one thing I wouldn't want to do is loan Johansen out, unless it was with an Obligation to Buy next year to cover the club signing him because of COVID. Either keep or sell essentially. 

I'm not sure we all quite appreciated how hard the Premier League would actually be when we got promoted two years ago, but we're definitely going into next season under no illusion of the challenge that's being put in front of us. We'll be definite underdogs going into next season, and having such a tight turnaround and a small window to sign and bed in players before next season starts will exacerbate that. 

However, despite my criticisms of Parker, we're definitely going up as a more streetwise, cynical team that should be better equipped to give a good account of ourselves in the Premier League. I think the way we adapted to blunt Brentford in the Final is the perfect example of that. So provided we don't go overboard with the signings like we did last time and keep that mentality about us when we do go on a bad run next season- we should at the very least be able to give a better account of ourselves than we did last time around. Relegation is of course a real possibility for us, but if we get relegated with a team that look like they're playing for each other and playing for the badge I'll accept that any day of the week because that's all you can really ask for as a Fulham fan. And if we do stay up, even better. 

Thanks for reading as always, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting to be doing my Summer Window Preview in August when my last Blog went out. But hopefully you still enjoy reading them, because I still enjoy "scouting" and writing them. As I've already mentioned, we know next season will be a slog at times- but such are the times we're living in at the moment we have to enjoy moments and nights like Tuesday when we can and take a breath before we go again next season in the Premier League. Thanks again for reading and predominantly I hope you're all staying safe in these uncertain times, and that you can all bask in Tuesday's win for a little bit before we go again in September. 

Fulham: 19/20 Season Preview

As we all get ready for the new season to kick off tomorrow, it's time for another Fulham Season Preview. I didn't do one of these last year, for the very simple reason that the day I would have posted it on was Deadline Day. Generally speaking I like to think of these Previews as an extension of my Summer Window Previews I do at the end of the previous season. So I didn't see much point in posting one with what would have been hours left of the Transfer Window.

With these previews I try and cover all things Fulham related that have happened over the summer, as well as what I'm expecting to see over the next 10 months. With that said, there's only one place to start.

The Transfer Window
Ins
Ivan Cavaleiro (Wolves, Loan)
Cavaleiro was on my "long-list" for my Summer Window Preview, but I didn't include him for the simple fact that I thought he'd be too expensive for us this summer. So I suppose I was right in the sense that we've gone for an initial loan with an option to buy, presumably so the big transfer fee is further away from our "100m summer" in the three year FFP cycle.

This signing doesn't really need much discussion. We know how good Cavaleiro can be in the Championship, and with the players we've lost (and could still lose) we needed to add genuine quality either side of Aleksandar Mitrovic- and we've definitely added quality with Cavaleiro. It sounds like Tony Khan really went for this one as well and worked on it for a long time, so full credit to him for getting it done.

Martell Taylor-Crossdale (Chelsea)
It's worth mentioning Taylor-Crossdale, just because I'd be surprised if he didn't get a look in for the first team next season- even if it's just in the Cups. That's just an assumption, but it's based on the fact that he turned Hoffenheim down to join us- combined with the fact that he openly spoke about a pathway into the first team when he signed.

In fact, I'd actually argue Taylor-Crossdale has a case for being our second choice Striker. Because I personally see Kamara as a Right-Winger and Rui Fonte as a #10. While that doesn't mean I'm expecting to see Taylor-Crossdale in the matchday squad for Barnsley- I do think he'll be making some appearances as long as he impresses in the 21s.

Anthony Knockaert (Brighton, Loan)
This signing confirmed one thing to me. I have no idea what an "ambitious" signing is for Fulham these days (more later). Last summer, even for how badly it turned out, players like Seri weren't even on my radar as potential signings. Similarly, I didn't even see Knockaert as a potentially ambitious option when I was planning my Summer Window Preview. I was looking at relatively cheap options like Darwin Machis (who to be fair had a decent Copa America) and we turn around and sign someone who played thirty games in the Premier League last season.

While no signing is a guarantee of success, with Knockaert and Cavaleiro playing either side of Mitrovic we should have an absolutely lethal front three once they get used to playing together and everything "clicks". Of course having lethal forwards isn't a guarantee of success as we perfectly showed the season we had McCormack and Dembele up-front and finished 20th in the Championship.

Outs
I must say I expected a few more names in this section. As usual I'll only talk about the players who had first team minutes for us last season.

Jean-Michael Seri (Galatasaray, Loan)
I was surprised by this, just because with the greatest of respect I thought Seri could do better than Galatasaray. Although with that said he didn't exactly rip any trees up for us, and then had a very underwhelming AFCON- so maybe he couldn't.

I said it in my Summer Window Preview, Seri is by no means a bad player- he just didn't "fit" at Fulham. Especially when things started to fall apart basically from September onwards and it became clear we weren't a Premier League standard team. I'm interested to see how he gets on with Galatasaray, it's by no means a bad move for him given they're going straight into the Group Stages of the Champions League- it's just up to Seri to get his Nice form back and prove himself all over again.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Villarreal, Loan)
This is the one that annoyed me. All of the noises coming out of the club over the summer indicated we were planning for next season with Zambo as part of the squad. From Tony Khan's podcast interview to the fact he was included in the kit release pictures (and as of writing this he's still in the header photo for the Fulham Twitter page). So to see Zambo suddenly depart pretty much on the eve of when he was due back in after AFCON was very frustrating.

I can only assume his agent and/or him started to make some noise in regard to wanting a move, because I don't see why we would've let him go- especially on loan otherwise. My hope is the option to buy is a big one, if not on par with what we spent on him at least close to. Because the potential is 100% there with him, and if he has a big season for Villarreal he'd suddenly look like he's worth what we spent on him.

The one thing that does have to be said about the loans of Zambo and Seri is to the best of my knowledge it's actually better for us in an FFP sense for us to have loaned them out rather than sell them at a loss this summer. The fact we still own them means we're still paying however much a year in amortisation on the FFP balance sheet, whereas if we sold them at a loss (which we would have done) we'd have taken a massive loss all at once and that in turn could have impacted how much we can spend this summer.

Harvey Elliott (Liverpool)
As I said, I'll talk about the players who appeared in the first team last season- as a result the most recent departure to talk about is Harvey Elliott going to Liverpool. We don't know how much we've got for Elliott yet, but I'd personally be content with anything above 4 million for him.

It's hard to "miss" Elliott, given he played a total of 18 minutes in the Premier League last season- and those minutes were most likely given to him to boost a potential tribunal fee. I didn't expect him to play a big role (if any) for us next season if he did stay anyway- so I'm happy to take the money for him and hope it funds a player or two that can play a part for us next season. Which brings me on nicely to the next section of this blog.

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Potential Transfers
Ins
Josh Onomah (Spurs)
The most concrete link we seemingly have at the moment is Josh Onomah, for the simple fact that he was spotted at the West Ham game. This goes back to what I briefly talked about in the Summer Window Preview about Matt O'Riley and his agent, because he'd pretty much be coming in as a back-up to Tom Cairney. I don't see him as capable of playing the Johansen role in the 4-3-3 simply put, and frankly I think this would be a bit of a pointless signing if it were to happen because I'd rather use Rui Fonte as the back-up in that #10 role if O'Riley isn't an option for off the pitch reasons.

Although with that said, you'd expect Scott Parker and Matt Wells to know (or know a lot about) Onomah from their time at Spurs- so if they see a role for him next season you can only trust them however underwhelming the signing might appear.

Harry Arter (Bournemouth)
The other concrete(ish) link we have at the moment is Harry Arter, which is a rumour that has been bubbling all summer. Presumably at least in part because of the family link between Arter and Scott Parker.

To me it's quite simple with Arter. Do I think he could do a job for us next season? Yes. Do I think there's better, younger options out there? Yes (more later). With that said, if Parker wants Arter then as already said you have to back him given he's the one picking the team.

I do find it a bit funny that there's a bit of a cross-section of people who don't want Arter who were also having digs at Tony Khan for not letting Jokanovic make his own signings. Because Arter is 100% a Parker driven move, not just because of the family link, but because it would also go against one of Tony Khan's main transfer policies of not signing anyone over the age of 28 unless they were a big upgrade which I'm not sure Arter would be.

As far as actual links go to the best of my knowledge that's it. There's been a few names mentioned, but I can't see anything coming from them. So we're now moving into "my" shopping list for the rest of the transfer window. Quite simply these are names that I believe would strengthen the areas of the squad that need strengthening before the transfer window slams shut next week.

Daniel Ayala (Boro)
We need to sign a Centre-Back. It really is a "need" as well, because as Mawson limping off against West Ham showed we're dangerously short at Centre-Back. This squad isn't a million miles away from being able to challenge for the automatics despite some of the negativity I've seen over the last week since Zambo left. However, signing a quality Centre-Back is an absolute must if we want to achieve our stated goal.

The profile of Centre-Back we're looking at is pretty clear for all to see based on the names we've been linked with (Michael Hector, Pontus Jansson, Ezri Konsa). Championship experience and right-sided seem to be the order of the day- so as a result I thought I'd bring up an alternative option in Daniel Ayala.

I'd assume most people know all about Ayala, so it's not worth going into great detail about him. The interesting thing about Ayala to me is that he's going into the last year of his contract with Boro- and given Boro's two years of parachute payments are up, if we put in a decent bid I'd like to think Boro would accept. Ayala would be more of a stop-gap than a long-term solution, but I do think he'd do a good job for us were he to sign.

Dylan Bronn (Gent)
I made one big mistake in my Summer Window Preview in May. I didn't talk about any players from the Belgian League. I did have one in my "long-list" in Mbwana Samatta, but I thought he'd be too expensive. But still, that was my mistake. I was actually looking at three Belgian League Centre-Backs- Brandon Mechele (Club Brugge), Sebastien Dewaest (Genk) and of course Dylan Bronn. The reason I opted for Bronn is mainly down to age.

Dylan Bronn would be more of a long-term option than Ayala given his age and potential. Especially if we do sign Harry Arter we'd have a lot of players who are either 28+ or turning 28 next season. Which isn't a major concern, but it is something to keep an eye on. For the size of club we are, we need to look at signing players in the 21-24 age range to develop, increase in value and then sell on. It's the reality of the size of club we are, and at the moment the only players we have in that age bracket are Mitrovic and Kamara.

Bronn is a different Centre-Back to Ayala in pretty much every conceivable way, but I genuinely believe he'd be exceptional for us and partner Alfie Mawson (when fit) perfectly given he's very mobile but also defensively sound. Bronn would be quite expensive, but if we are going to spend big in one position in the next week, it absolutely needs to be Centre-Back.

Iyenoma Udogie (Hellas Verona)
This potential signing isn't a pressing one, I'd see it as more of a "bonus signing". I'd personally like to see us sign an actual Left-Back to cover Joe Bryan. We've got players who "can" play Left-Back like Odoi, Ream and Le Marchand, but we don't have an actual Left-Back.

Enter Iyenoma Udogie, who fits the bill perfectly for me. Udogie reminds me quite a lot of Ryan Sessegnon in that he's excelling at youth level, to the point where he played above his age bracket for Italy at the U19 Euros this summer- and he's scoring quite a few goals from Left-Back at youth level as well. Udogie is only 16 but then again so was Sessegnon when he broke through.

I remember us being linked with a Left-Back from Shamrock Rovers earlier in the summer, so it's clear we're in the market for a Left-Back for the 21s. I'd see Udogie as similar to the Taylor-Crossdale signing in that he'd start with the 21s, but then if he impresses he'd train with the First Team occasionally and get his chance to impress in Cup games and if Joe Bryan gets injured we could potentially look at playing him in the league next season.

That would be my selling point to Udogie when convincing him to sign, which was also seemingly our selling point to Taylor-Crossdale in that one of Scott Parker's "things" seemingly is a proper pathway to the first team for youth players.

Lennart Czyborra (Heracles)
I suggested signing Adrian Dalmau from Heracles in my Summer Window Preview, and we're taking another trip to Almelo in this blog. This time for a Left-Back.

Czyborra's further along in his development than Udogie, but you'd expect that given he's practically ancient at 20 years old. In fact, Czyborra had his breakthrough season for Heracles after signing from Schalke last summer. Czyborra's very quick, and given how it seems Parker wants us to play with "inside forwards" a lot of our width needs to come from the Full-Backs- which increases the need for pace in those areas. Whether Czyborra would be happy to join as cover after having his breakthrough season with Heracles is the only concern I'd have over whether we could sign him or not.

Uros Racic (Valencia)
We're approaching the end of a cycle with our current midfield with Cairney and Johansen turning 29 and McDonald turning 31 throughout the course of next season. McDonald especially is someone we need to look at replacing given how important the "anchor" is to the 4-3-3 system.

I see Racic as a natural successor to McDonald in the "anchor" position. He possesses the same physical and technical attributes that McDonald does, but he's also pretty much 10 years younger. Racic is seemingly surplus to requirements at Valencia as well, so I doubt it would take an extortionate fee in order to sign him- we could probably even try for a Loan + Option to Buy which would be better for FFP purposes.

We'll be starting the season up at Barnsley with Kevin McDonald, but when we start getting into "game every 3 or 4 days" territory I'd start bringing Racic in, and provided he performs I'd be wanting Racic to fully succeed McDonald as our starting defensive-mid by the end of the season. That's not saying anything against McDonald, but we need to phase out players like McDonald, Ream and Odoi sooner rather than later given their advancing age and it being clear after last season that they're nowhere near Premier League standard which of course is where we want to be.

Oriol Romeu (Southampton)
This was my "more later" I talked about in the Anthony Knockaert section. I genuinely don't know if this recommendation could be classed as "too ambitious". Romeu isn't an absolutely guaranteed starter for Southampton, and Southampton's wage bill is quite inflated- so if we went in for him with a similar deal to Knockaert of a Loan + Option to Buy and possibly a wage increase for Romeu- we might be able to convince him to join and Southampton to let him go.

Romeu would be more of the Knockaert variety in that he's turning 28 in September, but that is seemingly the market we're shopping in this summer in that we're not really looking beyond this upcoming season/our two years of parachute payments with the players we're bringing in. I'd still be very keen to sign Romeu of course. He'd be an absolutely top drawer signing for us and would help us get back to running midfields like we did in our two full seasons under Jokanovic.

James Lea Siliki (Rennes)
Moving on to the Stefan Johansen role in the 4-3-3, and introducing James Lea Siliki. Siliki's been on my "radar" for a while now, specifically after putting in one of the best crosses I saw across any League/Cup last season for Ismaila Sarr for the third Rennes goal as they beat Arsenal 3-1 in the Europa League.

Siliki would be an interesting option to have, because he's primarily a Centre-Mid, but he's also played Left-Wing and even Left-Back. As I've already talked about, Parker seems to want to play with "inside forwards" having Cavaleiro and Knockaert cutting in from the wing on their strong foot. With that in mind, signing a Centre-Mid like Siliki who can overlap down the left-hand side and put a cross in would be a very good option to have and would add another dimension to how we want to play as it's different to what Johansen can offer us.

Siliki is close to my ideal signing this summer. He's only just turned 23 so provides long-term value for us- and he's already a very good player. To give an idea of his "level" I've seen reports linking him with Porto and Celtic. He wouldn't be cheap by any means I've seen fees of 7-8m being talked about, but if we want a quality long-term replacement for Johansen we'll need to spend.

Adama Traore (Monaco)
No, not that one. There was cause for some amusement during AFCON when Mali kicked off their campaign with Adama Traore starting and Adama Traore on the bench. Even more so when both Adama Traore's scored as they beat Mauritania 4-1. Neither Adama Traore that featured for Mali that day is the Wolves Adama Traore, even though the Wolves Adama Traore is eligible for Mali. The Adama Traore I want started, scored and assisted in that game, whereas the other Adama Traore who funnily enough was subbed on for the Adama Traore I want only scored. Is that clear enough?

Traore would be more of a budget option than Siliki, but a good option to have nonetheless. Traore's clearly surplus to requirements at Monaco considering they sent him out on loan in January, and given he's going into the last year of his contract you would imagine he'd be available for a pretty cheap price. There's a player in Traore as well, he was tipped to have a very bright future when he was at Lille- so if we could help unlock some of that potential (which we very feasibly could seeing as he's only just turned 24) we'd have a good player on our hands.

Those are the four areas I'd like to see us make a signing in before the transfer window is closed. A right-sided Centre-Back, cover Left-Back and two Centre-Mids. One a replacement for McDonald and one as competition/a replacement for Johansen. For the record, if we were to be in the market for a Right-Back my choices haven't changed from my Summer Window Preview of Nazim Sangare or Falaye Sacko. However, as long as we keep Steven Sessegnon- I genuinely don't see the need to sign a Right-Back. We can't complain about wanting to see our kids get more chances like I saw a lot of when players like Kait and Thorsteinsson left in May- but then demand a new signing when we have I'd argue three good options for Right-Back in our academy in Cody Drameh, Marlon Fossey and Steven Sessegnon.

Outs
Ryan Sessegnon
It actually isn't that much of a surprise to me that Sessegnon's still a Fulham player at the time of writing. I'm still expecting Sessegnon to go, but it's just the way Daniel Levy does things really. The one thing I will say about Levy in that sense is the last time he tried to mess us around and get a deal out of us on "his" terms, neither side ended up really "winning" as Spurs missed out on signing Dembele and we ended up losing Dembele for a 500k development fee.

As I've already said, I'm still expecting Sessegnon to go- and frankly I don't even necessarily think he'd be a regular starter for us were he to stay given we've pretty much built a team with his departure in mind. If he got his Championship Player of the Year form back of course he would be, but based on last season and the fact he's starting this season with an injury he'd have an uphill battle.

My hope is we can get Sessegnon sold with time to spare in case we're relying on the Sessegnon money for incoming business. But with that said if Daniel Levy messes us around and then comes in with a low offer on Deadline Day out of principle I'd genuinely rather run the risk of losing Sessegnon on a free next summer to somewhere abroad than accept the offer. Because if Sessegnon's preference truly is Spurs we'd get a tribunal fee that wouldn't be significantly less than what Spurs are offering anyway. Worst comes to worst we can always sell The Cottage to ourselves to cover us for FFP after all.

Steven Sessegnon
It's not really clear if Steven Sessegnon is going to be part of any potential deal taking Ryan Sessegnon to Spurs. The rumours have varied throughout the summer. There was a bit of concern when the team for West Ham came out and he wasn't anywhere to be seen given he started against Brighton the week before and was seemingly going to be our first choice Right-Back going into the season. However, from what I've read he apparently had a knock so there isn't much to read into in that sense.

I'd be very disappointed if we did let Steven go, he could genuinely have a breakthrough season with us next season because the Right-Back position is definitely up for grabs. Add on the fact that he's contracted to us until 2022 it means we don't have any immediate "need" to let Steven follow his brother to Spurs. Unless we've attached a ridiculous value to Steven to cover Ryan's diminished value so the package for both ends up as 35-40m.

Cyrus Christie
Speaking of the Right-Back position being up for grabs, I still think there's a chance we move Cyrus Christie on this summer. Christie was in the Starting XI for what I'd call the "Cup team" for the friendly against Oxford rather than the two games against Premier League teams either side of it, which to me suggests he won't be first choice next season. With that in mind, given Christie's at an age where he'll be looking to play every week- if someone came in with a decent enough offer I'd be willing to accept.

I said most of what I had to say about Christie in my Summer Window Preview, so I'll just repeat that it's probably best for all parties that Christie moves on and gets a fresh start without the baggage of last season. But if we do decide to keep Christie and have him and S. Sessegnon as our two options for Right-Back I'd be largely fine with that.

Fabri
It's not a surprise to me that Fabri's still here. Simply for the fact that the Turkish and Spanish transfer windows still have another month to go. This is one thing I hate about the English window closing early, because Fabri's wages off the books and a potential transfer/loan fee could mean another signing comes in, or a higher calibre of signing comes in- but if he signs for someone on the 31st of August what good does that do us in the immediate term?

I'll add that I genuinely want to see Fabri as our #1 next season, but given he's played about 25 minutes throughout the whole of Pre-Season that doesn't seem particularly likely. It's mental to me though. Imagine if we went down with statistically the worst Keeper in the league last season (Bettinelli) and someone said we'd sign a Keeper who's played in the Champions League and Europa League, won the Turkish League, is recommended by a former Goalkeeper coach and Leeds (our nearest rivals for the title according to the bookies) supposedly wanted to sign in January before opting for Kiko Casilla.

And we're writing that player off based on two games (one being Spurs away) behind an absolutely shambolic defence at the start of last season. I've seen some people bring up his height as a negative, but he's the exact same height as Jordan Pickford who while slightly erratic at times is doing alright for himself. I haven't seen Fabri take a penalty though.

Ibrahima Cisse
I said this in my Summer Window Preview, Ranieri saw something in Cisse- because he got him properly involved in the first team squad and even started him above Seri and McDonald at the Emirates. So if Parker also sees something in him and wants to use him, then fair enough. The negative of AFCON being in the summer in that sense is we genuinely don't know how involved Cisse will be, as he's pretty much missed the whole of Pre-Season being away with Guinea. Without any informed knowledge, I'm assuming Cisse's off whether that be a loan or permanent.

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Aleksandar Mitrovic's new contract
When talking about summer business, it's only right to talk about the best bit of business we could have done all summer. The three players I was resigned to losing this summer were Seri, Sessegnon and Mitrovic, and if someone offered that we could keep Mitrovic at the expensive of losing Zambo I would have taken that deal any day of the week. As long as he stays fit, Mitrovic should be in the mix for top scorer in the league next season without a shadow of a doubt. Especially with the options we have either side of him and behind him with Tom Cairney.

My one slight reservation is that I'm not entirely convinced he suits how Scott Parker would ideally want to set his team up. Especially at Championship level Mitrovic is good to the point where you adapt to accommodate him, but I think in an ideal world Parker would prefer a more mobile, pressing Striker. That could perhaps be why he's only scored 1 goal under Parker to date including Pre-Season (and that was a penalty). He'll still score a bagful of goals next season because of how good he is, but I'm not entirely convinced Parker will get the absolute best out of him- and that could very well be his undoing during his time in charge.
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New Kit Reaction
The new kits have grown on me over the course of the month or so they've been public knowledge. I like the home kit for how simple it is, and I like the away kit just for how it looks. My one annoyance is the Adidas logo on the away kit is central rather than on the side.

I feel like I always end up talking about betting sponsors in this section, so I'll repeat what I always say. Betting companies as sponsors are quite literally where the money is. Bar the Top 6 in the Premier League who can attract other brands, almost every club has a betting sponsor for their shirt. Until betting companies on shirts are banned, it's stupid to not go with the sponsor we can get the most money out of. As long as the team wearing the kit are winning football matches I couldn't care less what's on it.

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The Season Ahead
It's definitely going to be an interesting season, I think that's a safe assumption. The signings we've made and the players we've kept have made our Top 2 ambition pretty clear, but the signings we are yet to make mean that Top 2 is just an ambition rather than an expectation at this stage in my opinion.

It might be a reflection of my opinion of Scott Parker as a manager, but I'm very wary of the fact that we could become the flat-track bullies of the league next season- similar to West Brom last season. In that we could turn around one day when everything clicks and beat someone 8-1, but we could also end up having some pretty heavy defeats and the season could ultimately end in disappointment. With the quality of players we have, Top 6 is the absolute minimum for us this season- but whether or not we can push for Top 2 is dependant on our transfer business over this next week as well as how well Scott Parker can get us playing. The only thing to say on both of those points is "time will tell".

It's interesting for Scott Parker, because he's in a bit of a no-win situation in my opinion. If we do manage to go back up then it's "well obviously Fulham went up, they signed Knockaert and Cavaleiro and kept Mitrovic". And then if we don't it'll be "how has Scott Parker managed to not get promoted with Knockaert, Cavaleiro and Mitrovic up-front".

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Predictions
You may have seen my Championship prediction I posted on Twitter if you follow me, and as Fulham are involved in it I think it's worth repeating here.
I've predicted;
1st. Cardiff
2nd. West Brom
3rd. Leeds
4th. Fulham
5th. Stoke
6th. Brentford

I should say this is based on the players the clubs have as of writing this, because if Brentford lose Benrahma and/or Maupay then things would change. But as of writing this, that's my Top 6 prediction for the season with Leeds beating Brentford and us beating Stoke before Leeds beat us at Wembley.

Regardless of what happens, I'm looking forward to a new season of ups and hopefully significantly less downs. Depending on how much business we do between now and the deadline I might be back for a Transfer Window Review, but in the meantime thanks for reading as always. I always enjoy doing these blogs, so hopefully you enjoy reading them. Thanks again for reading, and let's make this season a good one.