Well here we are again. Another annual Summer Window Preview, and for the first time since 2017- this preview isn't going to be talking about what we need after a promotion or discussing who we'll have left post relegation. It's a weird feeling isn't it? In a way it's funny that our season ended at Old Trafford, because it did in more ways than one this season- but there's no point dwelling on what is really the only black mark on what has been a phenomenal first season back.
Things won't stay this good forever- because that's Football (just ask Leicester fans), but I think it's just worth sitting back and just acknowledging how good the last two seasons have been before diving in to what we need to do over the summer to avoid the much talked about "second season syndrome".
I think the question now is what do we need this summer to make sure we're more Brentford and Brighton than Leeds and Sheffield United. In terms of a signing "philosophy" I do think there's room to improve in certain areas for the first team- but in general this summer needs to be about consolidation and adding quality into the squad. The closest comparison I can really think of is Leeds, in the sense that they had an outstanding first season back- and then in the following one their squad fell apart injury wise and they didn't really have the quality behind their first eleven to be competitive in the same way in the Premier League.
That's what we need to avoid, so how do we go about doing it? As always with these blogs, I'm not expecting us to sign everyone on this list and this list is more of a shortlist of players I'd be looking to sign from- and I'm not necessarily expecting us to sign these exact names (although they would be welcome) and it's more looking at a profile of player I'd want to target this summer.
Goalkeeper
Bernd Leno is our #1 Goalkeeper, and barring injury he will continue to be next season. I don't think literally any Fulham fan would debate that. It's quite a high bar for player of the season, but even with that high bar I think the lowest you can have Leno in any debate is second- which is a testament to how good he's actually been. I'll talk about Marek Rodak more in the "Outs" section, but it's fair to say his departure this summer is quite likely- so as a result we need to be in the market for a new backup.
Jesse Joronen (Venezia)
This is the Ex-Fulham player everyone is expecting us to be linked with this summer, right? Joronen might be a "remember him?" type player for Fulham fans after the brief run he had in the first team while Magath was here- but he's trod quite a path since his departure from the Cottage to get to where he is currently. I actually have a lot of time for the way Joronen's gone about his career though, because he's constantly backed himself in a number of different environments. While Joronen's currently plying his trade in Serie B, he's shown he's no slouch in top flight football during his spell with Brescia in Serie A- and when talking about the "requirements" for a backup Goalkeeper adding someone who fits the homegrown quota is usually quite high on the list.
Sergio Herrera (Osasuna)
To follow on from that point of what you should look for in a backup Goalkeeper, ultimately barring injury a backup Keeper can also be labelled as a "Cup Goalkeeper". Especially with the Carabao Cup in mind, I think one aspect of a Goalkeeper's game you can look to prioritise is their ability to save penalties. Frankly, I don't think there's many better Goalkeepers in the world in-terms of pure penalty saving ability than Sergio Herrera. Osasuna made it all the way to the Copa Del Rey Final this season, and Herrera had a massive role in that cup run including a penalty shoot-out victory over Real Betis. Add those factors to the fact he isn't Osasuna's current first choice keeper, Herrera should be available for a relatively cheap fee which means the deal makes a lot of sense to me.
Kosei Tani (Gamba Osaka)
As I said right from the outset of this section, Bernd Leno isn't going to be displaced as our #1 goalkeeper any time soon. So with that in mind, one thing we could do is sign a relatively young goalkeeper, with the idea of bedding them in over the next year or two. A new sort of "development" we've seen in the market, spearheaded by Celtic, has been dipping into the asian market and it's proven to be a huge success. There's a lot to like about Kosei Tani, and while he's already been capped once- I'd expect to see him involved in the Japan setup a lot more going forward given we're now post World Cup and a lot of Japan's current crop of Keepers are getting on in age. I'm not expecting Tani to turn up on his first day of training and be a world beater- but he doesn't need to be and the potential is definitely there with him.
Defenders
When talking about Defenders and what we need- it's purely a numbers game. We're losing Shane Duffy, Cedric and Kurzawa as an absolute minimum- and given Tosin's contract situation that I'll talk about more later it wouldn't be a surprise to see him depart either. Those are bodies that need replacing, and they need to be replaced with quality so in the event of an injury we don't see a significant drop off- which is what we've done relatively well this season when Ream got injured recently for instance.
Federico Baschirotto (Lecce)
The last time I suggested a bit of a "late bloomer" in terms of career trajectory, it was Ethan Pinnock just after we'd beaten Brentford in the Play-Off Final. While I'm happy with our current options, I don't think many people could argue now that Pinnock would have been a top drawer signing for us.
Federico Baschirotto's had a similar "come from nowhere" trajectory, and he's coming off the back of a very successful first season of top flight football for Lecce as part of a very good defensive unit. To put it into context, despite Lecce finishing 16th they've only conceded 1 more goal than both Inter and Milan who both finished in the Top 4 of Serie A- and Baschirotto's played a huge part in that defensive effort. Add in the fact he's an attacking set piece threat, and in-terms of physicality I believe the technical term for Baschirotto is "an absolute unit".
I think there's also something to be said for a tactical development that's creeping into more and more clubs over the last year or so- probably most notably at Arsenal with Ben White and at Man City with Centre-Backs playing full-back to add more solidity and general defensive awareness. Usually when Pep's doing something, a large majority of Football follows suit in the following year or two- and that's something we could look at doing with Baschirotto who could double up as cover for Tete next season as well given he's very comfortable playing Right-Back as well as Centre-Back.
Stefan Savic (Atletico Madrid)
When talking about replacing Tosin, we can either go for someone who would be clearly coming in as a backup to Issa Diop such as Baschirotto- or we could aim "higher" and go for someone more experienced who'd come in with a reasonable assumption that he'd be in the first team if he can perform as he's definitely capable of.
You can definitely make an argument for the fact that adding Stefan Savic into the current dressing room we have might be taking the aggression levels a bit too far- but in the aftermath of the Man Utd FA Cup game I think it's worth saying that we need to stay as aggressive as we have been next season if we want to replicate the same success we've had. If anything we'll need to be more aggressive and match the hunger and desire levels- and that's where Stefan Savic comes in. He's very much a "been there and done it" type Centre-Back, and ultimately you don't play as many games as Savic has done- over such a long time period for a manager like Giovanni Simeone if you don't have something about you as a defender. Combine all that with the fact Savic is going into the last year of his contract with Atleti and his age- you would have to think Savic would be available for a relatively good price this summer.
Arouna Sangante (Le Havre)
We can of course go to the complete other end of the spectrum in-terms of experience- and that brings us to Northern France and Le Havre. I've kept half an eye on Le Havre this season, for the simple fact that Terence Kongolo's on loan there- and I know what you're currently thinking- yes, he has spent a majority of this season injured.
In Kongolo's absence however, Le Havre haven't suffered a bit- and barring a complete catastrophe in their last game they'll get promoted to Ligue 1 with an absolutely outstanding defensive record. Regardless of level, to concede 19 goals in an entire season (with one game left) is ridiculous- and Arouna Sangante's been massive for Le Havre in that sense. He's not a finished article by any stretch of the imagination- but he has a very, very high ceiling factoring in the fact he's only 21 years old.
Harry Maguire (Man Utd)
In addition to Tosin's replacement, we also need to replace Shane Duffy in the sense that we need to have 4 Centre-Backs. However, I think in this case it makes a lot of sense to target a "proper" left-sided Centre-Back. It's Tim Ream's place to lose for the start of next season, he's earned that by being outstanding this season. But when you factor in his age, and his injury that's likely to disrupt his pre-season it ultimately begs the question that are we willing to bet our Premier League status and from the Khan's perspective £150m+ on Tim Ream delivering a repeat performance next season.
I feel like suggesting Harry Maguire as a signing might be laughed at, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure why. Is Maguire a "Man Utd level" Centre-Back? No. Should Maguire have ever been bought for £80m? No. Is Maguire a very good Premier League Centre-Back provided you set the team up right around him? Absolutely.
Going into a season with a major tournament at the end of it, combined with the fact his race has clearly been run in a Man Utd shirt after how this season's developed- you would have to think Maguire is available this summer and he'll be very open to a move that promises more playing time and a better chance to get into form for next summer's Euros.
While Maguire's form for Man Utd has been patchy at best, I'd genuinely see this signing as an absolute banker- both from seeing what he's done previously at Leicester and also what he's still doing now in an England shirt. The added bonus to Maguire is of course the fact that while I'll always see Maguire as a left-sided Centre-Back he is capable of playing on the right-hand side as well which helps in-terms of team selection and gives us another option partnership wise.
Max Wober (Leeds)
As is always the case after a team gets relegated, the vultures will start circling with the aim of picking the bones. Despite Leeds' quite frankly shambolic defending, I've actually been quite impressed by Wober since he arrived in January- and based on what he's shown I think in a defensive structure that's actually somewhat competent I do genuinely believe he has a lot of ability and potential to demonstrate it at Premier League level. Combine that with what I've already brought up earlier in-terms of having someone capable of playing at Centre-Back or Full-Back I do genuinely believe signing Wober would be quite a shrewd move despite the general catastrophe that has been Leeds defensively as a whole this season.
Eiran Cashin (Derby)
I've sort of gone from the absolute "sure thing" in Maguire and then progressed it down to a proper "prospect" type signing. As I've already said, it's Tim Ream's place to lose- and depending on how much faith we have in Ream we could target someone like Cashin who definitely isn't ready to be a Premier League starter now- but undoubtedly has the potential to be in the future. Cashin was one of the absolute standout players in League 1, despite Derby finishing 7th and I as I've said I genuinely believe Cashin will be in the Premier League sooner rather than later if he keeps on his current trajectory.
Plus just on a basic level, a young, homegrown, left-footed Centre-Back who has ability with the ball at his feet is gold dust in today's market and given Derby's financial situation combined with Cashin's contract expiring in 2024 we should be able to sign him for a relatively cheap fee compared to what you might expect.
Yukinari Sugawara (AZ Alkmaar)
Moving on to Right-Back now, and first things first we need to sign Kenny Tete to a new contract. While we have an option on his contract, so it's not expiring at the end of next season- as a general rule for the key players we have with contracts expiring in the near future we need to get them sorted before it becomes a Leicester type situation where it seems like pretty much the whole team are out of contract either this summer or next. While we may never know the exact reasons for Leicester's spectacular collapse, I'd be surprised if the general contract situation pretty much across the board didn't play a factor.
As I said right from the outset of this preview, we need competition for places. I genuinely can't think of a better example than us signing Cedric in January and then a couple of days later Tete pocketing about £300m worth of winger at Stamford Bridge. That's what competition does at its best, and it's what we need to try and build on and replicate as often as possible going forward.
AZ Alkmaar's Europa Conference League run made headlines for all the wrong reasons off the pitch not long ago, but on the pitch- they've been outstanding this season. I've had my eye on Eredivisie Full-Backs since we were linked with Milan van Ewijk in January- and Sugawara stood out for a variety of reasons. Not least his goal threat and general attacking play which is outstanding.
I bring this up for one specific reason, West Ham at home. The hopeless crosses to nobody can never be repeated again- and a large chunk of those crosses came from Cedric that day so when looking for alternatives to Cedric I've decided to focus on that aspect for the most part. The attacking side of his game isn't his only "dimension" though, his work-rate is also very good and while he does still have to improve defensively- for the context of this recommendation he doesn't need to be the best defensively.
Hugo Siquet (Freiburg)
Another player of that same sort of profile is Hugo Siquet, who's spent the second half of this season on loan at Cercle Brugge. The added bonus in my mind with Siquet is he's genuinely exceptional when it comes to set-piece delivery. It's funny to say this after we've scored from a set-piece in our final two games of the season, but the drop off overall in-terms of our set piece delivery when Andreas Pereira's not playing is massive- and that needs to be rectified when you consider how important set-pieces have been and how many points they've been worth to us this season.
Marcus Pedersen (Feyenoord)
When looking at what I'd call "alternative profiles" to give us something different with our depth- another aspect we could look at is pace. Yes, that's right, it's the annual call to sign a Right-Back with pace that I've made every year since Fredericks left. Tete isn't slow by any means, but especially this season there's definitely been games where we've lacked threat going forward because we haven't had anyone apart from Robinson who is genuinely quick.
Pedersen is another of the Eredivisie full-backs I've kept an eye on since January- and while I'd prefer Sugawara for what I perceive us to need, an added bonus with Pedersen is that he can also play Left-Back which will of course give us more team selection options.
Guilherme Arana (Atletico Mineiro)
Moving on to actual Left-Backs now, and we're going to Brazil. As I've made a point to highlight with the left-backs, when looking for alternative options to what we currently have, in this case Robinson, I think his attacking play and final ball is the one area you can definitely say he's lacking. I think the club knows this as well, which is why we targeted someone like Kurzawa as his backup option- it just turned out that Kurzawa was basically permanently injured.
Speaking of injured, introducing Guilherme Arana. This signing probably isn't likely for the simple fact that the people at the top of the club will still have Alfie Mawson related trauma in regard to signing someone coming off the back of a major surgery. For those that don't know, Arana picked up a serious knee injury last September- which cost him a spot on the plane to Qatar because he otherwise would have gone.
Despite this, the reason I'm suggesting Arana is for the simple fact that the Brazilian League runs through the summer. Arana's due to return for Atletico Mineiro literally any game now- so in effect we can get Arana to have a pre-season before pre-season and get his fitness levels up before we even report back to Motspur Park.
Gijs Smal (FC Twente)
Back to the Eredivisie now. There isn't really much "depth" to this recommendation, as an alternative to Robinson we need someone who can cross and put a good ball into the box for Mitrovic to attack- and that's exactly what Gijs Smal can do. Smal's a good age, and going into the last year of his contract as well, so he should be relatively cheap to sign for us overall and it would make a lot of sense if he's someone we ended up targeting.
Javi Galan (Celta Vigo)
While I've focused on backup options to Antonee Robinson, there's definitely a world in which we say goodbye to Robinson this summer which I'll look at in more depth later. And in that scenario, we'll need to sign someone very good to replace him.
Javi Galan for my money was the best Left-Back in La Liga this season. Put simply, he's basically just good at everything. Whether it's defending, or going forward and being able to carry the ball up the pitch Galan's very good at it. It's almost becoming a trend that the best Left-Backs in La Liga who don't play for Barca or Real Madrid end up joining what I'd generally label as a Mid-Table Premier League club whether it's Pervis Estupinan going to Brighton last summer from Villarreal or Alex Moreno going from Betis to Villa in January- and I'd fully back Galan to go on and have the same success that the prior two names have had.
Midfielders
Our midfield has been the strongest aspect of our season without a shadow of a doubt. When everyone's fit and available I'd put our midfield of Reed, Palhinha, Pereira up against most midfields in the league. The job now is to consolidate what we have and add reinforcements- especially when thinking about Palhinha and his tendency to pick up yellow cards our main midfield priority has to be signing another "destroyer" who can come in and play Palhinha's role from a tactical standpoint.
Vinicius Souza (Lommel SK/Espanyol)
With what I've just said in mind, it's time to revisit someone I suggested we sign last summer. When I suggested Vinicius Souza last summer his tackling ability and general off the ball work had already been demonstrated- but you could make the argument that it was "only" the Belgian League. Now Vinicius Souza's gone to a Top 5 League in La Liga and done exactly the same thing, there really is no excuse for us to not be interested in him.
You might be wondering why I've put Vinicius Souza's parent club as well as his loan club, and it's for two reasons. Firstly, Espanyol have an option to buy on his loan that they could trigger- but now that Espanyol's relegation has been confirmed I highly doubt they activate it. However, in order to facilitate a transfer for us, we might need Espanyol to buy Vinicius Souza- as a result of what I think we can now call the Justin Kluivert effect.
If you don't remember, we couldn't sign Kluivert last summer as a result of the new, overly complicated work permit process Post-Brexit where Kluivert, despite being a Dutch international who had played over 150 games of senior football at a top level wasn't eligible for a work permit because he hadn't accumulated any "points" while at Roma his parent club because he'd spent the previous season on loan at Nice. With this in mind in order to sign Souza, we might need to in essence sign him through a middle man- that being Espanyol.
Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew)
Vinicius Souza is my first choice as Palhinha backup, without a shadow of a doubt in my mind. However, it's always worth looking at alternatives- not least because of the potential work permit issues that could arise with Souza. This suggestion is made with a similar thought process to that of Kosei Tani earlier, in the sense that Palhinha is without a shadow of a doubt going to be our first choice option next season- so with that in mind I think this is one of the areas where we can afford to target more of a prospect who we can aim to develop over the next couple of years.
Morris does need to develop the technical side of his game, but in a league like MLS where athleticism is pretty much everything- Morris has shown he has a very good foundation to build on.
Benjamin Andre (Lille)
I'll talk about Joao Palhinha more in the Outs section, but while I think it's unlikely we sell him this summer- we do need to plan for all eventualities. I don't think he will, but if Palhinha comes back from his summer holiday and tells us he's going to refuse to train because he wants to force a move to (insert big club here) there isn't much we can do other than try and get the best possible deal for the club.
In that scenario, we just need to replace Palhinha with a stop gap option to avoid a complete drop off in performance next season- introducing Benjamin Andre. While age is not on Andre's side- for what we'd need in this hypothetical scenario he'd be pretty much perfect. To me, Andre's been one of the most underrated defensive-midfielders in world football over the last 4-5 years. He's just Mr. Reliable, who's been at the heart of most good things Lille have achieved over that time frame- including a Ligue 1 title.
Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico Madrid)
As a general rule, I'm more than happy to have Harrison Reed and Lukic as our two options for the more advanced midfielder in the pivot. In fact, one of the key bits of business we can do this summer is to get Harrison Reed on a new contract because he's in a similar position to that of Kenny Tete.
The exception to that rule is if we can go out and sign a genuine top drawer, no debate upgrade on what we currently have. There are a few potential options such as Kalvin Phillips or Franck Kessie (don't even think about Sergej Milinkovic-Savic), but I've decided to focus on Rodrigo De Paul because tactics wise I think he's the most interesting option of the three.
When we defend, we in effect defend in a 4-4-2 with Pereira pressing up-front with Mitrovic and our wingers playing a bit deeper. The reason this is relevant to De Paul is because while he's predominantly a Centre-Mid, he can also play Right-Mid and playing that role is how he has a World Cup winners medal to look at every night. This would give us another option, especially against the top teams where we can look to be more defensive which we've done this season with Bobby Reid mostly- where we can have almost a defensive winger but De Paul would give us more ability on the ball and an ability to progress the ball up the pitch.
De Paul is also another player I'm highlighting to make the point of our need to stay as aggressive as possible next season- I swear I'm not just stereotyping the Atleti players.
Matheus Pereira (Al Hilal)
Tom Cairney's been fine since Andreas Pereira got injured, however tactically we just can't play the same way- and while it's worked out generally speaking in the last couple of games of the season against some pretty poor opponents like Southampton and Leicester- I do think we need to sign a more like for like alternative to Andreas Pereira for next season.
So, how do you sign an alternative to one Pereira? Sign another one. For me this potential signing all comes down to motivation. Of the three teams who got relegated in our last relegation, I can't name too many players who came out of that season better than Matheus Pereira. He showed his ability to compete at the highest level and pretty much anything good that came out of West Brom that season came through him.
After they got relegated however, Pereira took a money move to Saudi Arabia- and it would be fair to say the move hasn't worked out for him. In fact, Pereira's spent the second half of the season on loan in Qatar with his performance levels dropping significantly since his move to the point where Al Hilal deemed him surplus to requirements.
So it might be raising some eyebrows that I'm looking at Pereira as someone who I want us to sign while in the Premier League- but as I said it comes down to motivation. If Pereira wants to play and compete at the highest level- then I'd be more than happy to bring him in, most likely with a pay cut- or perhaps on loan and let Silva try and work his magic on him in the same way he has done with say Willian. If he's happy to stay in the middle east collecting his no doubt large pay packets and essentially waste his career given he still is only 27- then that's entirely his right.
Ilias Chair (QPR)
We're ending the midfield section of this preview with a trip to Shepherds Bush. I do see a lot of similarities between Chair and Andreas Pereira in-terms of their overall profile. They both have a good work-rate, they both have a good set-piece delivery and they're both a goal threat. Factor in QPR's almost constant need to bring in money through sales, this move makes sense on a number of levels to me.
Forwards
As it was with the Defenders, in-terms of Forwards it's purely a numbers game. While I'm expecting Willian to renew because he's clearly happy at the club, it doesn't change the fact that as of writing and publishing we have two contracted wingers for next season in Bobby Reid and Harry Wilson. Dan James is going back to Leeds, Neeskens Kebano's contract is expiring and it's fairly obvious that Manor Solomon's had his head turned, especially now he can sign for any club he wants on a completely free transfer- these are players that we need to replace this summer.
Ludovic Blas (Nantes)
An interesting quirk of this season that people may not be aware of is Ligue 1 adding an extra relegation place in order to shrink the league from 20 teams down to 18. As a result, what would otherwise be a relatively comfortable season for Nantes where they'd be 10 points clear of the relegation play-off and have a season highlight of a cup final and decent run in Europe has turned into a real nail biter- with them needing to win on Ligue 1's final day and hope Lens do them a favour against Auxerre to avoid relegation.
Moving on to Ludovic Blas now, and to put it simply, Blas' ability on the ball is ridiculous. His dribbling ability and ball retention is just so good, and for a team like ours having someone who can retain the ball and carry it up the pitch is crucial in my mind. Blas would have a number of potential options, especially when you factor in some of his best performances this season have come in high profile Europa League games- but when you factor in Blas' contract expiring in 2024 and a potential relegation he should be available for a relatively good price this summer and I'd be desperate to sign him.
Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo)
Berardi has probably been Serie A's most consistent winger over the last 4-5 years. He's not been the best, players have hit higher heights, most recently Khvicha Kvaratskhelia with Napoli- but in-terms of consistency Berardi's always delivered in Sassuolo teams of varying quality, scoring 10+ goals in each of his last four seasons and generally having the sort of feeling that he should end up playing somewhere "higher". They're different profiles of players, but when trying to think of a domestic comparison think of someone like Wilfried Zaha where it's always been felt that he should be moving to a "top" club.
When next season starts Berardi will be 29 years old, so you feel like if he is going to leave Sassuolo, it's pretty much now or never- and while Berardi won't be cheap to get out of a club that pretty much worships him if we put enough money on the table in-terms of a transfer fee and wage packet I'd like to think we could get the move done.
Ismaila Sarr (Watford)
While Berardi will be quite expensive, someone who won't be too expensive relative to their ability this summer is Ismaila Sarr. It would be fair to say Watford are a bit of a mess, and their season relative to the ability of some of the players they've had at their disposal has been shambolic. Joao Pedro's already signed for Brighton, and you would imagine Ismaila Sarr will be the next one up.
From a Fulham perspective, what we desperately need more of in forward areas is pace. I have literally no complaints about Willian, Bobby Reid etc. because they're very good at what they do- but in some games we definitely need a proper threat on the counter which is where someone like Ismaila Sarr would come into play. I think the club knows this though, because in theory it's what Dan James was meant to be- but that signing just didn't work out as we all know. Given Sarr's contract expires in 2024 combined with his obvious desire to leave, Sarr should be available for a relatively good price this summer- and I'd be all over him.
Richarlison (Spurs)
Firstly, yes, this is a stupid suggestion. I'll get into why I've put Richarlison into this section in a minute- but first let's just indulge in a hypothetical. Richarlison by his own admission has wasted a year of his career at Spurs where he's barely played and by all definable ways he's been a flop of signing. If Harry Kane stays, he's going to be resigned to another season as a backup option- and even if Harry Kane leaves- I don't see Spurs not signing another Forward option because they'll look at Richarlison's goal return of 1 and consider if they can trust him to be their main Striker option to score the goals to get them competing for the Champions League again.
From a Fulham perspective, we need to show to Marco Silva- and also players like Palhinha that they can progress and compete with us so they don't start looking elsewhere. I've put Richarlison's name in here because to put it simply, Silva loves him. Signing him at Watford and Everton, Silva got Richarlison bedded into the Premier League and playing some very good Football under him. While from a Richarlison perspective, Silva would be a manager he trusts given their history together- and he'd definitely back himself to perform to the level he definitely can under him.
Purely thinking from an on pitch perspective now, one thing we could consider doing is signing someone capable of playing up-front or out wide to cover off a potential Mitrovic injury or suspension without making it a thing of only playing one or the other- and that of course suits Richarlison and his undoubted versatility.
Along with making the point of keeping Silva happy, and potentially signing someone who can play out wide or through the middle- I think my main point I want to make is that if we're going to charge as much as £3,000 for a general admission season ticket- which is as far as I'm aware the most expensive in the entire Premier League, I think it's fair for us as fans to expect us to make what I'd label as "premium" signings to back up those ticket prices. So why shouldn't we expect us to spend the sort of money it would take to sign someone like Richarlison this summer?
Viktor Gyokeres (Coventry)
While Carlos Vinicius' recent form has been good (relatively speaking), and as I've just mentioned one option we could look at is signing someone who can play on the wing as well- in my mind I simply asked a question of if Mitrovic breaks his leg on September the 2nd so we can't sign a replacement and is out for the season, do I think Vinicius will be good enough to lead the line and keep us clear of relegation? And despite his recent performances in my mind that's a solid no. So as a result, we do need to look at other options, and the primary one not just for us- but I'd imagine a number of clubs this summer will be Viktor Gyokeres.
Gyokeres is just an absolutely outstanding striker, he has the size and the build to do a lot of hold-up play- but he's also deceptively quick and as we know first hand from the two batterings we experienced at the hands of Coventry in our title winning season he definitely has an eye for goal. I'm genuinely not sure what sort of price we'd be looking at with Gyokeres because while his contract expires next summer, he's performed to such a level where Coventry will definitely be able to get a bidding war going- but whatever the price is we need to pay it because Gyokeres is worth it.
Edin Dzeko (Inter)
It might seem ludicrous to suggest signing someone who will almost definitely play a part in a Champions League Final in just under two weeks time- but here we are. I won't lie, this spot in the preview was originally reserved for Olivier Giroud before he signed a new deal with Milan- but I've not strayed too far to look at an alternative. While we haven't always played with a target man this season, Everton away probably being the most notable example of it working with Dan James up-front- there isn't a doubt in my mind that we're better off with a presence up-front for how we want to play.
Yes, Dzeko is 37, but he's still playing to a very high level at Inter and I genuinely can't think of many players I'd rather have for the sort of role he'd play for us next season- especially on a free transfer which would be the case because his contract expires this summer.
Outs
Looking towards the exit door now, in a large majority of seasons gone by it's been about clearing out the deadwood to make room for a rebuild. That isn't the case this summer, and it's going be more about consolidation and moving on players who either aren't good enough, have "served their time" or players that simply want to leave.
Joao Palhinha
This is the potential outgoing that everyone will have an eye on this summer, not least Marco Silva. I think this situation will have a huge impact on what sort of season we have next time out. In last years version of this preview, I highlighted Idrissa Gueye as a potential signing I wanted- and made a point to say that Silva's second season at Everton fell apart largely because of Gueye's sale to PSG and Everton's failure to replace him adequately. Do you see where I'm going with this?
To put it simply, we need to keep Joao Palhinha this summer. We're not Brighton where we have a bunch of South American regens on the production line who are waiting to come in and show they're even better than the supposed key Brighton player who they've just sold for big money. Even if Palhinha's staying involves signing an improved deal (that he would more than deserve) and a release clause that's mutually agreed between both parties for next summer that can be activated by Champions League clubs.
I do think we will keep Palhinha this summer though. It's a point I've made in numerous other previews that the Khans aren't what I'd call "selling owners". When you consider the players we could've cashed in on at various times under their ownership and the Khans haven't played ball because it would leave the team in a worse position- while it's not impossible that Palhinha departs this summer, unless we got a genuinely obscene offer I'd be very surprised if Palhinha wasn't back at "our cottage" next season.
Antonee Robinson
I've sort of already made reference to this, but of our what I'd call "normal" starters- I think Antonee Robinson is our most likely sale this summer. Simply because of his contract status. There will definitely be options out there for Robinson, and provided we can get a decent price for him- and have a replacement lined up e.g. Javi Galan then we need to do what's best for the club. While the Khans aren't skint by any means, I don't think we can put ourselves in a position where we let someone of Robinson's transfer value leave on a free next summer rather than cashing in.
There is of course a world in which we give Robinson a new, improved long-term contract that he'll definitely deserve, and I suppose it'll depend on what options Robinson has available to him this summer- on this one time will tell.
Tosin Adarabioyo
Tosin's an interesting one this summer. I think he's more likely to leave than stay, and as is the case with Robinson it's going to be about replacing Tosin and getting the best possible deal we can for the club. I think the thing for Tosin is just going to be clarity of where he is in the pecking order, because he has played a lot of Football this season- but the Ream and Diop pairing without looking into the stats has felt like our most effective centre-back pairing this season. To put it simply, Tosin isn't going to want to sit on the bench next season- and he's shown enough ability to back himself in that sense. As is the case with Robinson, time will tell.
Marek Rodak
I've already covered this one to some extent, so I won't linger on it too much. To put it simply, Rodak's at an age where he has to play- and he's not going to get that chance at Fulham next season. Given what he's done for the club in-terms of the two promotions we should do our best as a club to facilitate a move for him this summer- while also getting the best deal we can of course.
Kevin Mbabu
I don't really know what happened with Mbabu, because on paper based on his performances at Young Boys and Wolfsburg he should've been at minimum a good squad player for us. Whether it was attitude or just Silva not rating him, Mbabu's Fulham career was over the second we played Bobby Reid at Right-Back ahead of him. We won't be able to get anything near to what we paid for Mbabu last summer, and you feel as though he might be destined to spend the rest of his Fulham contract going on loan to various clubs and taking the same career path someone like Anthony Knockaert has until his Fulham contract expires.
Carlos Vinicius
In the eventuality that we did sign someone like Viktor Gyokeres or Edin Dzeko, Vinicius would end up surplus to requirements and he'd be looking to move on. It would be fair to say Vinicius' Fulham career has been a mixed bag, but despite his perceived general just lack of ability he has come up with some very big moments- I think the closest comparison I can draw in my mind is Divock Origi's role at Liverpool where he's not very good, but just weirdly scores some big goals- and regardless of how good this season's been I don't think many people will debate that Vinicius' goal to beat Chelsea is our moment of the season. No matter what else Vinicius does in his Fulham career- if indeed he does anything, he'll always have his little space in Fulham history.
Next season is going to be an interesting one, you would like to think we've got our feet under the table and we have a platform to build on for next season- but the Premier League is rarely ever straight forward. The three teams that have been relegated this season should absolutely terrify the Khans in the sense that is shows no matter how secure you might think you are- you're only one bad summer away from being back in the Championship. In many cases in the Premier League you need to spend a very large amount of money just in order to stand still- and that's what we do need to do this summer.
For the first time under Khan ownership we're going to have two successive seasons in the Premier League, and now it's a thing of trying to keep us there for as long as possible- because make no mistake about it despite finishing 10th this season, if we finish 17th next season then it's been a good season. You would hope we won't finish that low, but as I've already said the Premier League is brutal- and for this summer it's a case of the people above Marco Silva to fully back him and the team we have in place with a significant amount of money to minimise the chances of us being in or around the relegation battle next season.
Thanks for reading these transfer blogs as always, I still really enjoy putting these annual blogs together- so hopefully you still like reading them. I said it at the start of this marathon blog, and I'll repeat it at the end- regardless of what we're treated to next season, this season and the one prior has been special and it should be remembered as such regardless. For now, it's time for everyone to take a breath, and for the hard work off the pitch to begin. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you've enjoyed the season as much as I have, and we can come back in August to try and follow up on an outstanding first season back in the big time.
