Yep, the Fulham posts are officially back. I was close to doing a Deadline Day Live Blog that I've done a few times before, but between already having a Review out on Wednesday combined with the fact I knew we'd only get 1 or 2 players in at the most meant I decided against it. Instead, this is what you've got- a full Review of our summer dealings. We've absolutely smashed it. Review done. I said either on Twitter or in my last Fulham Review before I left for New York that it's getting harder to not get excited and Deadline Day and the signing of Chris Martin has pretty much made it impossible not to get excited from a Fulham perspective. Add on to the fact we're still unbeaten and currently 2nd, for the first time in a long time it's actually good to be a Fulham fan.
I realise I did something similar in my Season Preview, but I can talk about the vast majority of our signings having actually seen them in a Fulham shirt now- plus the ones that have come in over the last two weeks or so. I'll go in reverse order with the incoming signings, just because I think it's better to discuss the more recent signings first. Anyway, this will be a long one to bring the Fulham posts back with- so I'll just get started.
Ins
Chris Martin (Derby- Loan)
While we obviously have to see how we perform out on the pitch, on paper Chris Martin's the last piece of the puzzle- and the incomplete puzzle was still getting pretty good results in August. The obviously noteworthy thing is the fact the Martin deal's a loan and not a permanent transfer like I'm sure most people would've expected. If I had to guess, we'd worked out how much we could spend once the last of the McCormack money went on Johansen and decided to use said money on a big Loan Fee rather than sign a Striker who in this market wouldn't have been up to the same level. That's why a similar loan fee was quoted when we were linked with Asamoah Gyan. So in short, I think the primary motive of the loan is purely from a finances perspective and avoiding any sort of FFP breach.
The fact we have loaned Martin does leave us in pretty much a win-win situation. Martin will score goals, I don't have any doubt about that. The thing is, with the number of options we've got in-terms of a goal threat his hold-up play for the likes of Aluko, Kebano, Cairney and more who can benefit from good hold-up play is almost as important as his individual goal threat. So basically, Martin even off form is still going to be good enough to merit a starting place, and even if he's not getting the goals himself he'll be contributing in other ways.
The thing is, we don't need Chris Martin to have a 20+ Goal season. If Martin can get anywhere between 10 and 15 himself and carry on his form of creating I believe the second most chances in the Championship behind McCormack (over the last 4 seasons) we'll be getting goals from elsewhere as well. Middlesbrough went up with their Top Scorer in the League scoring 8 Goals. The reason they went up is because they got goals from everywhere and they always had someone popping up with a goal at the important time like Cairney did at Blackburn. With the number of options we've got, I think we'll be on a similar path in-terms of the source of our goals. Whether or not we go up, or even get Top 6 is another matter.
Hopefully Martin can keep us in or around the Top 6- and then depending on how he performs he'll either be deemed worth the Transfer Fee or we can send him back having basically spent 2.5 Million on Martin for a season- which would probably be better than the permanent options for that price given the way the market's gone this summer.
In short, I'm just absolutely over the moon with this signing. I just can't wait to see him in action against Birmingham now. Watch him get injured for Scotland.
Lucas Piazon (Chelsea- Loan)
While Martin had been speculated about for pretty much all of Deadline Day, and about a week or so before Deadline Day- this one came completely out of left-field. The best thing to say about this deal is that he's another option, with us seemingly going for as many options as we possibly could for the 3 Midfielders behind the Striker. For those of you who don't know, Piazon can pretty much play anywhere across that three- but in the very immediate term I'd expect Piazon to start on the Left against Birmingham (if he's going to) with Ayité injured.
Stefan Johansen (Celtic)
Johansen's a really interesting one, because he came in with shall we say "mixed" reviews from Celtic fans. The general consensus seemingly being that he had his bright spots in a Celtic shirt, but especially toward the end of his career at Celtic Park he wasn't all that. I don't really have a problem with the signing, I'm just interested to see how Slavisa fits everyone in to be blunt. You can't say we don't have options/depth can you? Especially in the Midfield areas.
Neeskens Kebano (Genk)
Another of those options, and by all accounts coming off a pretty good debut up at Ewood Park is Neeskens Kebano. You'll know if you read these posts regularly that I don't try and bullshit my way through supposedly knowing a player if I don't, and with that in mind I'll freely admit I had no idea who Kebano was before he signed. I wasn't at Ewood Park either, but apparently Kebano was quite impressive especially with his hectic week in mind- so it looks like we've got another good one on our hands. With the number of options we have, I'm not expecting Kebano to start against Birmingham given the fact he's had to travel to DR Congo for his International game- but I look forward to seeing him when I do.
Ragnar Sigurdsson (Krasnodar)
Given what I've just said about Kebano, and really the fact I've got no reason to lie- I hope you believe me when I say I knew about Sigurdsson even before he scored against England. The reason for that being right back in May when I was planning my Summer Window Preview we were linked with Bastos from Rostov, and as a result of said link I thought I'd look at some of the other Russian League Centre-Backs and Sigurdsson was one of the ones that stood out.
I'm really interested to see how Sigurdsson performs in the Championship, because at least on paper I don't have a doubt in my mind that Sigurdsson's of a high enough quality to start for us and potentially even be good enough to start for some Premier League clubs. But with that said, I'd be interested to see if Slavisa disrupts the pairing of Madl & Kalas that's worked a treat for the most part in August. It's really one to keep an eye on, but I'll say this right now- Sigurdsson is an absolutely top draw signing for us.
Jozabed (Rayo Vallecano)
This signing was an interesting one, just because it was seemingly dragged out for absolutely ages. I didn't get to see Jozabed in the Cup game against Boro, but from those who I asked on Twitter he apparently did quite well- which is again good because we've got another quality option in Midfield. I can actually see Jozabed eventually settling into a slightly deeper role than the one he played for the majority of his time at Rayo and partnering with Kevin McDonald when he's starting. I could be wrong, but I just think our #10 area is a bit too congested and he can play deeper which is why I think that's where he'll play.
Kevin McDonald (Wolves)
Speaking of Kevin McDonald, at this early stage of the season he's looking like being the best signing of the window from a Fulham perspective to me. He's just the type of player we've missed in Midfield for absolutely ages, and now that he's come in it became even more blatantly obvious than it already was that we missed it. With the number of Midfield options we've got, the fact McDonald and Cairney are the only two I can't see being rotated says a lot for how good McDonald's been. While it's still too early to say any signing has been a success, McDonald's definitely on course to be one of the best signings not just for Fulham but in the context of the whole Championship in my opinion.
David Button (Brentford)
Button's had some iffy moments I think it's safe to say. While I wasn't at Elland Road, it sounded like he wasn't doing much in the way of keeping who was calm and I do think he should've saved Chris Wood's bicycle kick. However, on the whole he's done pretty well in the games that I've seen him in- and it's an indisputable fact that he's already got more Clean Sheets than Bettinelli did last season and we've only just left August. While that's not necessarily a criticism of Bettinelli and more an indictment of our defence last season, to not give Button any credit for that would simply be wrong- and the save he made up at Blackburn to deny Graham (I think) was absolutely phenomenal.
Button's exactly the player we thought we were buying. He's a very solid, experienced Championship Keeper who we needed just to keep everything calm at the back and be good when called upon.
Scott Malone (Cardiff)
I didn't have high expectations with Malone, so I can safely say that so far my expectations have been exceeded. Although given how much Cardiff fans were slagging him off I think my expectations were set just above "has two legs". I was impressed for the most part in the games I saw live, and then from what I've read on Twitter he didn't do much wrong in any of the games I missed- and particularly against Boro he had quite a good game. So basically, for what the deal cost us- which was the service of Jazz Richards this deal's looking like amazing value for us.
Denis Odoi (Lokeren)
I said something to the effect of "if Odoi comes out of the Newcastle game looking good then we're onto a winner" and well, we all know what happened. From what I've seen of Odoi I still have some doubts over his actual defensive ability, but I think it's pretty safe to say he's been impressive nonetheless. Especially when you consider Odoi was most likely signed to play Left-Back and he's ended up at Right-Back for the first month of his time in a Fulham shirt. With Sigurdsson signing, I'm expecting him to go to Left-Back and Kalas to Right-Back where we should hopefully see him become even better in his "preferred" position.
Tomas Kalas (Chelsea- Loan)
Our other Chelsea loanee, and I've been really impressed with Kalas from what I've seen of him. As with Malone, the bar for a Fulham defender has been set so low over the last few years- the fact we've had two Centre-Backs that can be described as even "competent" makes Kalas & Madl even more impressive. The good thing with Kalas as the season progresses is that as I've already said he has the ability to play Right-Back as well, which given the make up of our squad and the way we've seemingly set up to emphasise rotation said ability will be crucial for us.
Sone Aluko (Free Agent)
I wasn't really expecting much from Aluko. I thought we were just getting someone with a bit of much needed pace and not much else. What we've ended up with is someone who at this early stage has become a pretty key part to how we set-up and play. So in that respect he's been another pleasant surprise of a signing. You could almost get used to them couldn't you? I've said a few times in my game reviews that we don't need Aluko to have a massive goal return given how key he is to how we play, especially now we've got Martin I'd like to emphasise that- but I still expect Aluko to get between 8 and 10 for easily this season.
Floyd Ayité (Bastia)
It's pretty much a common theme of all of these different player paragraphs to say I've been impressed with them since they've come in, but I'm not going to complain about that- and Ayité's not an exception. It's just a shame that he got injured against Cardiff, because he was without a doubt looking like one of our best players in August. In short, I can't wait for Ayité to get back fit and hopefully he does so ASAP as we try to keep our unbeaten run going for as long as possible.
Michael Madl (Sturm Graz)
There's not really much to say about Madl that's not already been said either last season or in posts I've done this season. I'll just say I hope he keeps his current form up, because he'll be a key player for us if we end up in a serious promotion race this season. I will also say, Michael, I know you've just joined Twitter, if you see this it's ok to fix that shirt contest you're running to let me win. Nobody will ever know.
That's that as far as incomings. It's pretty decent when you look at it all isn't it? If there was one thing I wish we would've done is to get another Striker in. However, just because we haven't already doesn't mean we won't get a Free Agent in. So basically, whether you wanted him or you didn't- Adebayor's not completely out of the picture just yet. I know some people were talking about Cyriac as well, but I didn't really "get" why some people were so hung up on him because I'll confidently say nobody who was tweeting about wanting him has actually seen him play.
Aside from that, I'd genuinely say this has been a perfect window from an incomings perspective. You can not like how we do our business and the role of Kline at the club, but frankly if we keep having windows like this one I don't care who's making the signings.
Outs
I'm not going to talk about all of the outgoings again because I covered most of them in my Season Preview and unlike the incomings I've not been in a position where I can see the outgoings and how they've done since they left. With that in mind, let's look at the outgoings we've had since my Season Preview- and I'll again work backwards from the most recent departure.
Jack Grimmer (Shrewsbury- Loan)
Of the ones we loaned out on Deadline Day, Grimmer was actually the one I was most disappointed about. Grimmer's loan basically confirms that he's leaving on a Free next summer. I mean, it basically already was considering I don't even think Grimmer had a squad number initially- but this has absolutely guaranteed it. I actually do rate Grimmer. Not necessarily to the level we want to be at (yet), but I do think he could have eventually got there. I suppose we'll just have to sit back and see what happens with Grimmer, and I hope we don't end up regretting his departure.
Larnell Cole (Inverness Cally Thistle- Loan)
HE'S ALIVE! Larnell Cole's probably one of the weirdest signings we've ever had. I'm pretty sure he hasn't actually made an appearance for us since he came on at Old Trafford in that 2-2 game. I believe he's another in the last year of his contract, and it's pretty safe to say he's not going to be renewed- so I'm just going to be interested to see if he can put the pieces of his career back together.
Richard Stearman (Wolves- Loan)
I said in my Season Preview that I couldn't see Stearman going, but crucially that was before we bought Sigurdsson. I'm not the biggest fan of Tim Ream, but he provides something Stearman doesn't- simply by virtue of his preferred foot. If we split the defence in half, on the right-hand side we've got Kalas, Madl, Sigurdsson as Right-Footed Centre-Backs and Kalas, Odoi and Fredericks for Right-Back. We don't actually have a Left-Footed Centre-Back that's not Ream, and Left-Back looks pretty bare in comparison to Right-Back. In short, I can see why Ream stayed and we shipped Stearman out.
I'd actually said last year that of the Centre-Backs we were linked with that I'd prefer Mancienne to Stearman. While I didn't think he'd end up doing as badly as he did, I wasn't the biggest fan of Stearman coming in. If you're being nice, you'd say he was a casualty of the wider issues we had in the defence last season. I don't think Stearman became a bad Centre-Back overnight, so I'm interested to see how he gets on back at Molineux. I suppose if he does end up playing well again, it'll put his transfer value up a bit and he can't even play against us.
Nikolay Bodurov (Released)
I don't think many people were surprised by this one. I don't think he's signed for a new club yet, but I will say I wish him the best. While he wasn't really good enough, to say he didn't have any good performances in a Fulham shirt would be a lie.
Sakari Mattila (SønderjyskE)
I'd like to point out I didn't copy & paste that club name. Mattila's someone who I was quite interested by last season, because until Rohan Ince came in he was the closest we had to a proper holding-mid which was a role we needed to fill. But it just wasn't meant to be, and I don't think anyone will be mourning the loss of him.
Ross McCormack (Aston Villa)
I think it's only fitting that I end this Transfer Window Review with the biggest transfer of the window, both in-terms of significance and value from a Fulham perspective. I'd also like to say right off the bat that I'm a big fan of Villa's transfer strategy this summer which hints at them going for the obscure 2-4-4 formation.
Especially with the way we've been playing, which we simply couldn't do with McCormack in the team- I'd say this deal has ended up being a win-win. Villa got their man, with their strategy seemingly being to try and win games 6-5- and McCormack will get them 15-20 goals easily and we got £12 Million potentially rising to £14 Million for a 30 Year Old Striker and reinvested that money into Sigurdsson, Jozabed, Kebano and Johansen. So basically, everyone's happy. I don't have any ill will toward Ross for wanting the move. I said as much in my Season Preview. I wish him all the best, as long as that best is below Fulham in the Table.
I despise any sort of review where a score for a player/event is given out of 10. To me, it's just lazy- because the way we are as humans means the vast majority will just look at the scores. That's why I never give marks out of 10 or 5 or whatever- because those of you reading this actually have to ready my positions and at least attempt to understand the point I'm making before you agree or disagree on said point. With that said, if I were to be giving a score to this transfer window it would have to be at least a 9 or 9.5/10. The only thing we didn't do is get another Striker in, and that may become a non-issue depending on if we go in for a Free Agent. On the whole though, this Transfer Window has genuinely been close to perfect.
Thanks for reading as always. With no games this weekend, the Reviews will be back next weekend for the Birmingham game where hopefully we can keep our unbeaten run going and with Chris Martin in we can become a lot more clinical with the number of chances we're creating. That's for next weekend though, so for now I'll just say I hope you have a good week. Thanks again for reading, this whole "being positive" thing isn't half bad is it?
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