Hello! It's Thursday, and of course that means another Fulham Post; and unsurprisingly with the window opening in under a month the Transfer Window- and are activity in said Transfer Window will be dominating for the time being. We're starting off it all with the "Outs" and given how bloated our squad is in some areas this'll be a long one. I'm going to divide this up into a few different sections, the "Definitely" section will be for players who have no future in a Fulham shirt and will have already left Motspur Park for the last time; then there'll be players who I personally would get rid of either on Loan or Permanently and then there'll be some players who I think will drum up interest in them but we should hang on for dear life.
With some of the Championship Clubs already announcing their releases this week I was dreading us announcing our one before I could write this and I'd have had to revise this Post completely and talk retrospectively for a lot of them. Anyway, it didn't happen so yay!.
Before I start, given this is the only Fulham Post I'm doing this week I thought I'd react to the news that came out yesterday with "Sky Sources" reporting Kit is going to stay on next season- which to me makes next season already a write off. I have high hopes that Rigg will be good for us in terms of getting good transfer deals and building a squad ready for a Championship Promotion Push; but as we've seen over the years with some teams you can have the best players available to you, but if the Manager doesn't find a tactic that works for the players it means nothing- and I have no faith in Kit as a tactician to do just that. I like Kit, and this is not a personal attack which some people might do- but as a Manager for me he's just too naive for the situation we're in- and if he is going to stay in charge as it seems likely I can't see him getting much leeway with the crowd, and I reckon he'll be gone by October even if he is to stay on through the Summer- but of course that'll only be after he's had the whole Summer window to build a squad in his image (in conjunction with Rigg) and that'll do us in for the season with whoever comes in having an uphill battle. At least Parachute Payments last for 3 seasons eh? 16/17 Promotion Party!
Anyway onto the business part of this blog- there isn't any ranking or anything to this; I'm just going to go by Position.
Gabor Kiraly- One of the few of "his" brainwave signings left- and unfortunately we won't be seeing his trackies next season. With his Contract up at the end of the June I can't see any scenario where we renew his deal and as I'll discuss next week there are a few Keeper I'd have my eye on when it come to competent back-up/rotation options to challenge Bettinelli with- which Kiraly simply doesn't.
Maarten Stekelenburg- The Man in Monaco, Stekelenburg is someone who with his wages isn't really a viable option for us- if you take wages out of the equation he'd be ideal to create the Courtois/Cech dynamic I was talking about a few times toward the end of the season- but I'm not sure if Stekelenburg would be happy to fulfil that role in the Championship, and his wages would be massive in comparison to the role we would want him to play. As such I can see Stekelenburg being sold for a minimal fee- I doubt we'll get anything above a Million for him, but it'll be worth it to get the wages off our books.
Tim Hoogland- This is an interesting one, but with his contract up at the end of the season I don't see any value in him as a Right-Back. That's not to be confused with me seeing no value in him at all- as I've made abundantly clear over the season, but seeing as Kit has an aversion to playing him as a DM it's not really worth keeping him on.
Fernando Amorebieta- Someone who became a Fulham hero with his actions last Friday, but also someone who's arguably been our most frustrating player of the season- he was one of the guys we had left from our disaster in the Premier League, so you would have expected him to do something in the Championship- so for him to be completely shown up never more so than against Bournemouth means he isn't at all worth the wages he'll most likely be on, an as I'll discuss next week in a lot more detail I'd just do a straight swap between Husband and Amorebieta this Summer to get Amorebieta's wages off our books and getting a competent Left-Back in return, for me that's a win-win.
Kay Voser- Another of "his" brainwave signings- despite reports to the contrary he didn't die on the Madejski Pitch in September, and he made a few bench appearances at the back end of the season. He does have another year on his deal- but I can see us just releasing him because he is pretty much the definition of dead-weight.
Thomas Eisfeld- Eisfeld is a strange one, speaking to a few of my Arsenal supporting friends they actually rated him- but he hasn't shown anything to indicate why he should be staying on, and as with Voser I think despite him having another year on his contract I can see us just releasing him.
Chris David- He's a weird one, unlike Eisfeld he has shown signs of being a quality player- but his Loan to FC Twente hasn't been ideal and he's ended up being a feature for their U21s as opposed to their First Team which is a massive step backwards in my book. If David could get fit and sort out his alleged attitude problems I think he could be a force for us without a shadow of a doubt, but it doesn't look like Kit rates him and unless I'm mistake Twente have an option to buy on him which they may well exercise seeing the potential of what he could be, which is why I don't think we'll be seeing Chris David in a Fulham shirt next season.
Adil Chihi- What can you really say about Chihi, the only thing to say is that "he" signed him- and when he came on against Cardiff he looked horrendously overweight for a Winger and proceeded to lose the ball at every opportunity. With his Contract up at the End of the Season I can't see any logical reason why we'd renew it and he'll be going back to Cologne in Shahid Khan's Lamborghini.
Bryan Ruiz- It looks like the Saga of Bryan may not be over yet. With reports coming out yesterday that we wanted 4.5mill for him it looks like we activated the extension option in his deal and as such with the way the last two windows have gone there's a chance Bryan may end up playing in a Fulham shirt again. However I think the extension was solely so we could command a fee for a player with undoubted ability and if he does line-up for us again I'll eat Paddy Ashdown's hat.
Hugo Rodallega- Unlike Bryan there isn't an Option for another Year in his deal- and with the supposed wages Hugo is on thank god there isn't. It's not that I don't see any value at all in Hugo, his goal run before Christmas was arguably as important as Ross' in the closing stages of the season with regard to picking up points that kept us up- but over the course of a season Hugo isn't really worth it and he'll be riding off into the Sunset.
Kostas Mitroglou- This is a really interesting one, I'm sure the very optimistic Fulham fans among those of you reading would have gotten excited over the rumoured Swap Deal for Mitroglou and Emenike, and while I highly doubt that'll happen I can't see a scenario where we keep Mitroglou- which is a shame because he is without a doubt a goalscorer and someone who we could use next season- however I highly doubt he'll want to stay at Fulham next season and whether it's Fenerbahce or another team I think Mitroglou is someone who'll be gone when it comes to September.
Of course there'll be the usual handful of Youth Releases, I remember seeing Jonathan Buatu saying he was gone a few days ago- but in terms of First Team guys these are the one's who I see as definitely gone players for the Summer. There are of course the various Loans we had in Turner, Guthrie, Fofana etc. but they aren't Fulham contracted players so I thought I'd leave them out of this. But for the record the only two Loan Players who I'd want back are Turner- who I wouldn't have any objection to signing although on purely personal preference I'd want someone younger and Fofana back on Loan for another season.
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This next crop of players are "maybes" in that I would personally be either selling or loaning them out.
Jesse Joronen- As I'll discuss Next Week there's a few Keepers I'd be looking at to properly challenge Bettinelli, unfortunately I don't see Joronen as being there just yet so I'd be looking to Loan him out as we did before he got injured at Accrington to further his development. Joronen is a decent Keeper, he wasn't exactly helped by his appearances coming under "him" when we had a really disjointed defence but there isn't any doubt Bettinelli is infinitely better than him at present and Joronen needs a proper Loan Spell like Bettinelli had at Accrington before he can come back into the first team fold in my opinion.
Tiago Casasola- I've said it a couple of times this season that I don't know a lot about him other than his development curve on Football Manager but either way I'd Loan him out to a League 1/2 team so he can adapt to the English game.
Patrick Roberts- This is probably the most contentious one of the whole post. I would sell Pat Roberts this Summer provided we can get north of 10million for him without a shadow of a doubt. Roberts is someone with undoubted ability- I don't think anyone can question he has a lot of potential. But he hasn't shown any end product to match that potential and getting north of 10mill for a largely unproven player, and the FFP implications of getting that much of a fee for one player would make this transfer a must for me.
Adam Taggart- He's someone who's first season with us was disrupted to say the least, and I think Kit hinted at it when he was brought onto the subject of Taggart saying he was going to Loan him out last season, that didn't happen- but I really hope we loan him out to a team in League 1 to further his development.
Moussa Dembele- Another of our Strikers- and as with Taggart I'd Loan him out. It's quite funny that under Jol a lot of people were calling for him to get the call-up for the First Team in the Premier League, while his opportunities ended up being limited as the season went on as the season started the opportunity was there for him to stake a claim for a First-Team place which he didn't really grasp and aside from his Double which was pretty much a gift against Derby he had a barren season. As such I'd Loan him out to a League 1 team and as we get into the last year of his deal I'd see how he performs over the course of a season in a First Team scenario at League 1 Level before we decide to renew it or not.
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This next lot of players are people who I think will attract interest over the Summer, and it's interest we need to beat away with a stick. I'll preface this by saying I haven't seen fresh links with any of these guys but because of their ability I highly doubt they won't attract interest over the Summer.
Marcus Bettinelli- Take out the Chelsea link- which I'm convinced I started and I still think it'll be a busy and angst filled Summer when it comes to Bettinelli. Just off the top of my head I think Bournemouth might go after him if they can't get Boruc and he'd fit with the Eddie Howe philosophy of signing Young English Players- and then as I discussed when it comes to Chelsea there may be a few Champions/Europa League Teams after him to fulfil the Homegrown Quota and be more than suitable back-up.
Lasse Vigen Christensen- I'm hoping the fact his season cooled off because of injury will in turn mean the interest in him will have cooled off. We allegedly had Villa after him in January and just because his season did cool him it doesn't mean you can ignore how good he was before Christmas, and even with taking my Fulham Hat off I would confidently say he was the best player in the Division at one point. As such I think he will almost definitely attract interest- or at the very least there'll be a few rumours but I think if we are to have any hope of a Top 6 push which without a doubt should be our ambition for next season- although with Kit in charge I think that's a Pipe Dream.
Ross McCormack- Ross is someone with so much ability and goalscoring potential I think it'd be more surprising if there wasn't interest in him. However I highly doubt any Championship teams would be able to pay the fee we would presumably want from him of what we paid for him and then a a couple million on top- and then I doubt many Premier League teams will want to pay said fee because he's unproven at Premier League level and he's in his late 20s. That said I still think there'll be rumours at the least and there might be some interest- however Ross as well as the two guys mentioned before are absolute musts if we want to have something vaguely resembling a successful campaign.
For me these are the three sections of "Outs" and the guys I haven't mentioned will 99% be at the Club next season. I don't know the contract situation of everyone at the Club but I think I covered everyone who is out of Contract this Summer. Anyway, if you have any differing opinions feel free to either comment or Tweet and I'll happily discuss why you're wrong.
Thanks for reading as always, next week is going to be the "Ins" section and of course it'll be really long so I hope you stay tuned for that one because I may bring up a few names you hadn't considered as viable signings for us as well as some of the obvious guys we should be chasing and then the guys I've been going on about on this blog for a while i.e. Aden Flint. Anyway, thanks again for reading- stay tuned for next weeks- and have a good weekend.
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