2023 Summer Transfer Window

This is a good start. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/willian-fulham-fc-nottingham-forest-transfer-b1094768.html

 

At least Willian is staying. Are we the stingiest club in the league? I'm not even saying that's wrong (it's wrong), I am wondering. If we insist on buying only diamonds in the rough, like Palhinha, we'll end up feeding lots of pigs. In the Championship.

 

I'm back after an extended vacation and it was very difficult to relax if I picked up on any Fulham transfer rumors - it all seemed to stink! I had to keep reminding myself that nothing that terrible had actually happened. And Fulham did secure Willian despite it looking like he might go to Forest, so crisis averted there. (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66227650)

We do need to get some players in, so the lack of any action besides Willian is a legitimate concern along with no new contract for Silva. I also can't help but take some of the Mitrovic rumors to heart. If he wants to leave and Fulham forces him to stay I think he'll be a shadow of the player we've seen over the past two seasons. If he leaves, even if they can get big money, there will likely be a step down in Fulham's scoring threat. There are no good options for Fulham if the rumors are true. Fingers crossed they are wrong or just negotiating bluster.

 

Boy these reports about Mitrovic are troubling. What a petulant child.

 

Break out the manager Rolodex

 

Marco offered 2 years for $40 mill by Saudi league. He’s never been one to stay at a place for long. If your salary was quadrupled would you go on a two year adventure?

It’s the world we live in now. It takes billions, and it doesn’t matter to them if they lose a boatload of cash, the Saudis have plenty more. LIV golf has literally lost billions, but they laughed at the PGA’s bankroll, to the point of the latter had to cave and form an agreement.

 

This might have something to do with a slow signing window thus far. Why would any player commit to a team when the manager isn’t even committed?

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...ee-raul-jimenez-transfer-sources?platform=amp

Looks like Silva is staying, Jimenez has never been the same after that horrific injury, but we all thought Willian was washed up too. Sometimes all it takes is for goal scorers to find the back of the net a couple of times. Wouldn’t surprise me if Silva can squeeze a good year out of him.

What we can’t do is think Jimenez is the only striker we need to replace Mitro with. Speaking of whom, we need to sell him now (he’ll be a pain in the arse if we force him to stay). He’s had a Helluva run w/us, but with his reputation it wasn’t going to end smoothly, and can’t blame the guy for wanting to get paid like what they’ve reportedly offered (2 years 21.5 mill per). We can take that $ from the sale and see if we can find a couple of guys that will help us.

 

Fulham have signed Raul Jimenez to a 2 year deal for a £5 million fee:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66308712

I agree with everything that @SoCalJoe said above. Jimenez is a bit of a gamble, but one that I'm fine taking as long as there are some other options as well. He is expected to make an appearance on Thursday against Aston Villa so he is getting straight to work.

 

Fulham have signed Calvin Bassey from Ajax.
https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/july/28/fulham-sign-bassey/

He's played most recently as a left-footed CB, but also played at left back earlier in his career. Given how old Tim Ream is and how generally thin Fulham's squad is, I think this is a great signing.

 

Good stuff. I hear it was an either/or with Salisu from Southampton and Bassey. Morato from Benfica is rumored to be another CB on his way.

 

Looks to me like Silva is content going into the season with Mbabu. We haven’t heard any RB rumors. I think Jimenez will do well for us if he stays healthy and doesn’t shy away from headers. From what I’ve seen from our youth in the past 2 games, I think we have the talent there to step up if needed. I was impressed with De Fougerolles and Harris. The others didn’t get as much time, but when they came in they played without fear. Stansfield not so much; didn’t seem to have made progress over the past year.

With that said, for me to be happy with this window, we still need an experienced LB, a CB, and at least one more experienced winger, preferably two.

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/fulham-fc-news-marco-silva-mitrovic-b1097547.html

“Completed central defenders.” To me this sounds like Tosin is staying. I hope he is and has his head screwed on.

Glad to see Marco thinks he can get the most out of Mitro despite the Saudi saga.

He says we have two wingers, which means he sees Bobby as a utility player, rather than a specialist. And that’s true. Two more wingers would be great.

He says we have two fullbacks. I’m scratching my head about this one. Is he not planning on Mbabu staying?

Glad to see he’s pushing for another midfielder. We need more there, with Cairney’s poor knees.

Despite the transfer window drama, if Silva stays, which seems to be confirmed, I feel optimistic about staying up next season. Finishing in the top half again will be hard.

 

I wouldn't expect Silva to say anything else, however I expect this to go badly for everyone involved. Mitrovic will not give anything close to 100%, Silva will have to make the decision to bench his best scoring option, and Mitrovic manages to pout himself into obscurity with no one caring to sign him for big money next summer. Now, I really hope I'm wrong about this and it is at this point that I remind myself of my own earlier comments that nothing actually terrible has happened yet and maybe this was all posturing.

I liked a comment on this from a reader of HammyEnd.com: "Kevin Mbabu just sat crying in the corner"
I imagine Mbabu is staying, he just isn't anything other than an emergency substitute.

Silva is spot on about the remaining needs and about the completed signings: "I needed these players 15 days or 20 days ago, not now." Just 13 days till the start of the season. Tick Tock.

 

Didn't even know if his ass was staying at Fulham, so while true, this riles me up a bit.
""I needed these players 15 days or 20 days ago, not now."

 

Have been seeing reports that we’ve put in a bid for Callum Hudson-Odoi. This would be a smash and grab steal for 4.5 million pounds. Still just 22 years old. The Scum Academy product had a disasterous loan at Bayern Leverkausen last year. Let’s not mess around and get this deal done, before anyone else wants to jump in.

 

From what I understand, they price him at closer to 10 million, so anything less than 8 mil isn't likely to get it done. If he stays healthy, even at 8, it could be a great deal, but it's a gamble. We're supposedly closer to Demarai Gray, but Everton wants to get a replacement first.

 

Good grief, the Athletic says Willian wants to go to a Saudi team and has agreed to terms but Fulham says he isn't for sale. And it wasn't even two weeks ago he signed a new contract. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

@MicahMan, saw that disturbing news about Willian and beginning to wonder why Marco decided to stay when apparently the plan is spend as little as possible? Instead of building on a great season it looks like we are back to going for 17th place.

 

I see Willian and Mitrovic got in the friendly today. Maybe they are staying???