January ‘23 Transfer Window

It opens on January 1st, closes on January 31st. Not the usual chatter about it due to the unique nature of this year’s World Cup choices, but the topic of where Cristiano Ronaldo ends up will be foremost in most people’s minds. That may be resolved before the new world champion of football lifts the World Cup eight days from now.
What do Fulham need? Who are they “strongly tracking?”
We’re supposedly one of a number of teams interested in Everton center back Michael Keane, West Ham being the most notable. Don’t know much about him or how we would be better if we got him. Meh.
We’re also allegedly in for Torino CB Koffi Djidji. If true, it’s consistent with the appearance of thoughts focusing on our defensive shortcomings.
Therefore, reports that we may be interested in another Arsenal reject, RB Cedric Soares, would also jive with that thought line.
On the flip side, we’ve supposedly warded off interest in Jedi from Newcastle United and Inter.
The madness will probably get heated about 5 minutes after the WC ends.
What do y’all think we need?

 

We need a decent back up for Mitro. Other than that my feeling is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

 

That’s a legit thought Brad. Carlos (the other) Vinicius has no goals, no assists in 329 minutes over 9 appearances. His picture is starting to appear on milk cartons. Manor Solomon went to Portugal with the rest of the club to train during the World Cup, but I’m not sure how close he is to being fit enough to be a sub. But, yeah, we seem to be less potent without Mitro available.

 

I think we really need another RB because Tete won't make it the full season uninjured and Mbabu hasn't cut it and DeCordova-Reid is only a patch.

 

Agreed on needing a backup for Mitro. Been thinking that for some time. He’s going to get banged up and we’re just not the same side without him. My biggest worry is that he gets hurt long term and then we start slipping down the table…

 

I'm surprised I'm not hearing the pundits talk about our needing a LB. After Jedi, we have Kurzawa, who is in on loan and injury prone. And we don't have a BDR-type plug-the-hole option on that side. I have to admit that Mbabu's failure to live up to expectations surprised me. I wonder what's going on there and if there are off-field factors involved.

I agree with the others that a Mitro option is our biggest need. Marco has a weakness for Brazilians--makes sense given the common language--but the two we brought in haven't worked out. There is a Haaland2 or a Lewandowski-in-the-rough there somewhere--in the cheap markets of Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia--and wouldn't it be awesome if we found him.

 

I'd be happy with Erik Nevland2!!! COYW!

 

It was the matter of when, not if, the vultures would start sniffing around Joao Palhinha. He seems like a level-headed guy, and has a great relationship with Silva, so I'm hoping we can keep him for at least a couple of years. He will be easier to keep if we qualify for Europe...just sayin.'
https://tbrfootball.com/report-tottenham-monitoring-fulham-summer-signing-joao-palhinha/

 

3pm Eastern, Tuesday, Jan. 10, Steven Sessegnon is playing in the League Cup against ManU on loan at Charlton. He's going up against Antony ($79 million TransferMarkt valuation) and Diogo Dalot ($31 million). I hope he does well enough to get into Silva's plans at Fulham. Kurzawa is not a long-term solution.

 

Charlton did pretty well defensively until late in the match when they started throwing everything at ManU in an effort to get a tying goal - unfortunately that also coincided with ManU bringing in better talent to get game-sealing additional goals, which is what happened. I don't thing Sessegnon stood out (he had some intercepted passes, but that could have been due to teammates not going to the ball) but he was an important cog in a pretty well organized defensive line. The early goal from Antony was not Sessegnon's fault since he should have been closed down by a mid-fielder and he had been substituted out by the time the last two goals were scored.

 

I caught snippets of the game and agree with @MicahMan. Also, it seemed that most of the attacking work by ManU was going down Charlton's right side, which might have contributed to Sessegnon looking pretty uninvolved for stretches.

 

We've been linked with Cedric Soares for a while. I have mixed feelings about this one. Is Silva thinking about a shorter-term solution, for a season, maybe two? Good player, but is already 31 in a position where, with the way we play, speed is a key requirement. Not so sure about the idea. https://hammyend.com/index.php/2023/01/fulham-discussing-personal-terms-with-cedric/

 

I doubt the legitimacy of this and other such reports about Tim Weah joining our heroes, but it’s nice to think about the possibility.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/01/...rget-says-hes-been-watching-the-whites-a-lot/

 

Thoughts on Soares? Marco and TKhan have had more unexpected hits (Palhinha, Pereira, Willian, Diop) than surprising misses (Chalobah, Mbabu) from the new arrivals this season, so there is hope, but I can't see this, if it comes to pass, as more than a short-term fix. We'll probably be looking for an RB with more upside in the summer, when the market isn't as frantic. Is it too early to be getting excited about the next season?

 

Sasa Lukic to Fulham all but confirmed. The Serbian international is coming in from Torino. I've seen €‎8m and €‎10m, and about €‎40k/week plus bonuses. I'm sure Peter Rutzler will confirm details once it's all buttoned up.

Interesting tidbit about Lukic. Mitro left Partizan on August 12th, 2013 for a move to Anderlecht. Lukic signed his first professional contract for Partizan on August 13th, 2013 (at age 17). They both joined the youth system at Partizan and came through the ranks. I'm sure Mitro is excited to now play alongside Sasa!

 

I would be very excited about Lukic if he joined. A very good player, just entering his prime, and a bonus of giving Mitro something to keep him happy. This is not to say that he'd be guaranteed to start since Reed and Palhinha have built a pretty impressive machine in the middle of the park. He's more likely to be competition for Reed since he's more of a two-way 8 than a 6. The competition will make us stronger.

And for the record, I want to acknowledge that whatever Tony Khan is doing or not doing, the club's recruiting batting average has been much improved since the beginning of Silva's reign. Kudos to TK for either doing the right thing or delegating to the right people. And if we sign someone like Lukic for 10M or less, we'll have done an excellent bit of business, even if he is suffering from a recent hamstring niggle (or he's already better, and it's Torino's PR explaining away his not having played for over a week). Anyway, bravo TK and the team.

 

The club have come a LONG way in a short amount of time. In 18/19 through 19/20, Fulham bought Alfie Mawson (£16.85m), Fabri (£6m), Maxime Le Marchand (£4m), Ivan Cavaleiro (£11.8m), Michael Hector (£5.9m). Antony Knockaert (£11.7m) was technically in 20/21, but he was on a loan with an obligation to buy and that was triggered during the 19/20 season. I honestly don't think we would have wanted to bring him in on a permanent, but that deal forced Fulham's hand. One bonus from 20/21 is Terence Kongolo (£4.7m) - who finished out a loan spell for us after the 19/20 season after having barely played, then failed a medical at Sheffield United before we signed him on a permanent deal.

Looking at Transfermarkt, it's clear the top-notch recruitment really kicked up in 20/21. Harrsion Reed (£6.5m) was a loan-to-buy deal from Southampton that's really worked out. Then we picked up Kenny Tete (£3.2m) and Jedi (£2.1m). And we all know how well things have gone this year (22/23) - Joao Palhinha (£20m), Issa Diop (£17.8m), Andreas Pereira (£9.5m), and Bernd Leno (£3.6m). The only one that seems like a miss at this point is Kevin Mbabu (£5.5m), but Diop seemed like a HUGE bust after that Crawley match in the Carabao Cup and we see how far he's come so I'm not ready to fully write off Mbabu just yet.

When I started this reply I didn't intend to dive in this much but the more I dug into Transfermarkt, the more clear it became that you're absolutely right about the club's recruitment improving.

 

Sasa Lukic confirmed to Fulham per Fabrizio Romano. €‎10m fee.

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Lukic is completing a physical in Torino tonight and then should join the team soon. I've been reading that the deal was being complicated a bit because Fulham are trying to bring Arsenal RB Cedric Soares in on loan, and to do that they would need to convert a current loan player (likely Shane Duffy) to a permanent deal. So the Lukic deal might mean that they've figured out that hurdle and will announce Cedric soon, or they abandoned that route and are bringing in a different RB.

I've also heard Fulham are in on Sander Berge from Sheffield United though I haven't seen a ton of info on this rumor and Newcastle are also apparently very interested.

https://theathletic.com/4135072/2023/01/29/sander-berge-fulham-sheffield-united/?redirected=1

 

Not directly related to Fulham, but Weston McKennie headed to Leeds. That can only be good for him and the USMNT for 2026 in MURRYCA!

https://www.espn.com/soccer/leeds-u...s-joining-usa-players-at-leeds-cherry-on-cake

 

Josh Onomah is told "you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." His contract is simply terminated.
https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/january/31/onomah-departs/

It is unfortunate Fulham couldn't get anything for him, but I'm looking forward to what happens next following this move to make space on the roster.