Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

It’s too early to start a summer transfer window thread, at least for me with a fresh, albeit light, coat of snow on the ground. Not too early, methinks, to begin discussing what our squad will look like next season in the (insert sad face emoji here) Championship. I don’t remember which players’ contracts expires at the end of this season, so let’s start with the low hanging fruit. Which, if any, of the loanees do we try to keep, assuming they want to stay? The most obvious one is Calum Chambers, but the general consensus from what I’ve read seems to be that he’s headed back to Arsenal. He’s only 24, and we’re the second club they’ve loaned him to. He was with Middlesbrough during their relegation season in the Premier League in 2016-17. Gooners should be at the point where they decide if he figures in their long term plans or not, but who knows whether they feel that way or not? If they are and don’t want him, should we go after him? And what would a fair price be? Unlike Mitro last year, I don’t think he’s a sign him no matter what it costs player. But if the stars align and it costs us a little more than he’s worth, I’d like to see him stay. He’s got some skin in the game as it pertains to our immediate future, and I think such motivation is worth investing in. The jury’s still out on Nordtvelt, simply because we haven’t seen enough of him to decide yea or nay. He’s 28, been around a bit, and since they sent him our way, it would seem Hoffenheim don’t want him. TBD, but he could be s serviceable Championship defender for a reasonable price. As for Schurrle, Rico, Fosu-Mensah, Vietto and whomever else I missed among the loanees, send ‘em back. Everyone else appears to be under contract, although I see no reason to keep Markovic, Fabri, LeMarchand, Christie, Seri, Kebano, Anguissa, Cisse, Rui Fonte and Kamara. And, after relegation, who will want to leave? Whom will they allow to leave?

 

Wouldn’t mind us ‘overpaying’ for Chambers, but I can see him being in high demand by mid-table to newly promoted sides.

Hard to say on the squad overall with the manager situation. This is a 10 match interview for Scotty and if he ends up getting the gig I hope he gets to have some serious input.

 

I had been working on this list, so thanks for pushing the issue Jump so I can get it posted!

Players On Loan:
André Schürrle (2 year loan)
Calum Chambers
Havard Nordtveit
Luciano Vietto
Sergio Rico
Tim Fosu-Mensah

Players with Contract Expiring This Year
Denis Odoi
Floyd Ayité
Lazar Markovic
Neeskens Kebano
Ryan Babel
Stefan Johansen (currently out on loan)

Players with Contract Expiring in 2020
Ibrahima Cissé
Kevin McDonald
Luca de la Torre
Marcelo Djaló
Rui Fonte (currently out on loan)
Ryan Sessegnon
Tim Ream

Players with Contract Expiring in 2021
Cyrus Christie
Fabri
Marcus Bettinelli

Players with Contract Expiring in 2022
Aboubakar Kamara (currently out on loan)
Alfie Mawson
Jean Michaël Seri
Joe Bryan
Maxime Le Marchand
Steven Sessegnon

Players with Contract Expiring in 2023
Aleksandar Mitrovic
André Zambo Anguissa
Tom Cairney

I'll have more to say about the stayings and goings, but I at least wanted to get this up as reference.

 

@MicahMan - you can add Steven Sessegnon to the 2022 list

I just prefer that the team not get gutted again and that there is less reliance from on loan players.

Also, the board better hire a coach quickly so they have a full summer to get organized.

 

In the likely event of relegation, I would expect Mitrovic, Sessegnon, and Seri to be playing for new clubs next season. I think Cairney is 50/50 at this point. I would expect Odoi, Ayite and Johansen to get new contracts. I doubt there would be any effort to bring our current loan players back. I assume we will try re-sign Babel, but I doubt he would be interested.

 

Totally agree with @stlouisbrad on Mitrovic and Sessegnon. With Sessegnon being on the final year of his contract I can't see him staying. It was a coup getting him to stay back in 2017, but I don't think Fulham will be able to get any more from him. Mitrovic has clearly shown his value even playing for a poor team.

I'm not sure if Odoi will be re-signed. I really like him as an individual, but as a player he's been inconsistent. With the exception of Johansen (more on him below), I don't expect to keep any of the others with their contracts running out - despite Ayite's spectacular centering pass against Chelsea.

There is some dead-weight that should be cast off. I couldn't believe we had four more years on Anguissa's contract, but he seems entirely useless. I imagine the club will lose money but I think they need to find him a new home. Fabri has been a mystery to me since the day he was signed. He needs to go back to the continent. I'm not a fan of Seri either and won't mind at all if he's under contract with someone else.

There is an opportunity to return to the Championship with some of the key players from Fulham's successful period there. Cairney, Johansen, and McDonald could brink back the midfield of old - which is a good reason to try and bring Johansen back on. Throw in Ream and Bettinelli and you've got a core from a team that had success in the Championship. Add on Mawson (if we can keep him, his poor right now health helps with that), Bryan, and Christie and you have a start-worthy midfield and defense.

That just leaves the attacking end of the pitch rather thin. Kamara is not an option since he is poison for the club right now. Rui Fonte hasn't done much on loan with Lille. He has zero goals and zero assists in 10 appearances (5 starts), with only 19 minutes played so far in 2019. Fonte isn't going to be the answer. Fulham will have to bring in a number of new players to give the squad an attacking edge, but I don't think it will have to be a wholesale restart like what we had in 2014.

 

While I agree that Mitro and Sess are gone if/when we get relegated, and I actually think Cairney will be gone as well...I think he'll show off his obvious quality over the remaining 9 matches and get a mid-table or newly promoted team to pick him up, as much as it pains me to say that.

I also think the "getting the band back together" plan in the Championship is flawed in some ways. Yes, those players had success in the Championship two years ago, but some haven't played much (and definitely not as a unit) since that time and they've gotten older, while the Championship has moved on. We definitely need depth in the Championship with all of those matches on the slate, but if we are really serious about our Caretaker's comments of getting back to what made this club so special, then we need to mix in our academy/homegrown players with the grizzled Championship vets.

That being said, I do like signing those players that actually care for the badge, and Odoi and Johansen fit that bill. However, I would expect Odoi (and MLM for that matter) to be a rotational player with Mawson and Ream (we'll need them based on Mawson's injury history). Same with Johansen, although I do like me some of his "shithousing" antics.

If he wants to stay (I don't think he wants to), I'm okay with Seri playing in the Cairney role, upping his confidence that was shot by Ranieri, and value (from a business perspective). I don't believe he's been as bad as the pitchfork wielding mob has made everyone believe, but believe he was miscast as a #8 along side Cairney to begin with...having a sub par defense with 2 midfielders that don't track back as often as they should, spells disaster, and Seri took the mob's blame in that situation.

Now with Zambo being so young, running him out there along side KMac instead of an either/or situation, would be similar to how he was being positioned in France where he was successful. And having two defensive mids would allow Bryan and Steven Sess or Fossey (Christie being a rotation piece) to bomb up the flanks with four defensive minded players still behind the ball.

Matt O'Riley, Luca de la Torre, Tayo Edun and Mattias Kait need to figure prominently in the above midfield rotation, especially if Seri is gone. Give the keys to the kids!

Our attack will be thin, but I agree that Kamara and Fonte shouldn't sniff the Cottage pitch again. This is an area we'll need to bolster in the off season for sure, but if we can get Elijah Adebayo some looks up top, that would be fantastic as well.

 

All the loaners are gone, mostly because of wages.

Not sure I see any of the players with expiring contracts coming back next season. When last in the Championship, no one really saw much minutes outside of Odoi and Stef Jo.

Mitro is a goner, as is Seri. Seri, and Anguissa to a lesser extent, is the type where the reputation is higher than the reality (TF were these Barcelona links?). So, he'll/they'll probably get a payday elsewhere.

I have absolutely no clue if Sess and Cairney will stay or get bought by someone else.

If they do go, I imagine it'll be a Patrick Roberts situation where a big club just needs an English player for book keeping (question: is that still a thing? Am I misremembering? And speaking of Roberts, TIL he never scored a single goal for Fulham. Wha?)

Anyway, I don't know if either will go because neither has really been all that good this season. I realize this is heresy to some, and it may change the final 2 months of the season. Sess is clearly not physically built for this level yet. Meanwhile Cairney has no off-foot, he's 28 (in prime but no longer 'a project' a la Roberts or Dembele the Younger were) and can only play in one position (also hasn't scored this season).

 

Okay, yes I am part of the angry mob, but as the Kaiser Chiefs say, I think you both might have swayed me a little. It is true Seri has been played out of position this season so he doesn't deserve the all the negativity that has been heaped on him. However, I still don't think someone with his reputation will be playing in the Championship, so like him or not he'll probably get a chance to redeem himself someplace else.