Friday Fulham Stuff (13/07/18)...

[WhiteJC]

Fulham lay down a marker with today's double deal
by Sarah on July 12, 2018

It took a while for Fulham's summer transfer business to begin, but when it did it started in style. The purchase of Jean-Michael Seri looked audacious from the outset, especially for a newly-promoted side, but it lays down a marker to the rest of the Premier League that Fulham aren't around to make up the numbers. Tony Khan and his recruitment team have had their share of flak over the past eighteen months, but pulling off a deal of this magnitude is a serious statement of intent.

Seri, a player capable of playing both in the number six role that Kevin McDonald has made his own during his brief time at Craven Cottage, and as a more advanced playmaker has been one of the most consistent performers in France during his time with Nice. Khan might be a fan of statistics – and the fact that the Ivorian's numbers looked far better than the much-vaunted Marco Verratti over the last nine months won't have gone unnoticed – but it is Seri's football intelligence that makes this deal such a boost to Slavisa Jokanovic. He led the French league for the number of passes completed and passes played, which means he will fit perfectly into Jokanovic's possession-based brand of football. Now, the Serbian head coach has two central midfield craftsman to share the load of unlocking England's best defences. Perhaps Stefan Johansen will have to settle for a spot on the bench.

Seri's arrival could just be the start of a serious summer of squad strengthening down at Motspur Park. Fulham will need it – because their squad currently looks more than a little threadbare for the challenge of going toe to toe with the Premier League. That purchase might also make it a little easier to entice some of Europe's more talented performers to Craven Cottage and the marquee nature of this signing has some echoes of the last time the Whites reached England football's top tier and promptly shocked the world by bringing in Edwin van der Sar for £7m from Juventus.

The Ivorian has been followed to west London by his old Nice team-mate Maxime Le Marchand, a strong and versatile defender, who also likes to play the ball out from the back. His natural position could see him fit in snugly alongside last season's player of the year, Tim Ream, at the heart of the Fulham defence. La Marchand, who counts significant European experience amongst his pedigree from years in French football, can also play at left back, where he filled for much of his last campaign with Nice as they struggled for quality cover in that position.

Perhaps more importantly, Khan and Fulham know their work isn't done. Press reports from England this afternoon suggested they might be about to join Wolves in the race to sign Oleksandar Zinchenko, who hasn't really had a fair crack of the whip at Manchester City as of yet. The Whites have also been linked with moves for two World Cup stars, Ilya Kutepov of Russia and Sweden's Ludwig Augustinsson, who would further strengthen their defence. All that goes alongside the ongoing pursuit of last season's striking sensation Aleksandar Mitrovic, who made such a difference in the second half of the season when he joined on loan from Newcastle.

There's certainly no indication that Fulham will doing this on the cheap. Buried deep in that Telegraph article was the assertion that contract talks between the club and Jokanovic, the man who has re-shaped both the club and his playing staff from the bottom up in his three years at the Cottage, are progressing well. It doesn't appear as if this transfer window will contain the Serbian's usual outburst about a lack of transfer activity. Good things come to those who wait.



http://hammyend.com/index.php/2018/07/fulham-lay-down-a-marker-with-todays-double-deal/

[WhiteJC]

Southgate looks to Sessegnon to shape England's future
by Dan on July 12, 2018

Ryan Sessegnon is likely to be one of the new, young faces incorporated into England's post-World Cup squad as Gareth Southgate looks to build on the Three Lions' success in Russia.

The Daily Mail has highlighted the Fulham winger as one of the young stars that Southgate and his England coaching staff will be keeping a close eye on in the first few weeks of the season. The teenager was a star performer as Slavisa Jokanovic's side won promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs, finishing the campaign as Fulham's leading goalscorer with sixteen goals. Sessegnon's versatility would give him the chance to cover at least two positions and make him a potential successor to Ashley Young, who filled the left wing-back role at the World Cup, but, aged 32, is unlikely to make it through to Euro 2020.

Sessegnon has starred at youth level for England, being a regular scorer at under-15 and under-16 level whilst he was making waves in Fulham's junior sides. He helped England's under 19 side win the European Championships in Georgia last summer and has caught the eye since his meteoric rise into Fulham's first team having been asked to train with the senior side by Slavisa Jokanovic last summer. Sessegnon, who won his solitary England under-21 cap earlier this year after sweeping the board by winning a succession of EFL and Championship awards for his mature performances in Fulham's midfield, has already been earmarked as an England star of the future, having been selected alongside Phil Foden and Mason Mount to be part of the FA's delegation in Russia as part of a plan to give the youngsters a taste of the international experience.

Sessegnon, who has been with Fulham since joining their under-nine side in 2008, is widely expected to sign a new, long-term contract with the Londoners in the coming weeks.



http://hammyend.com/index.php/2018/07/southgate-looks-to-sessegnon-to-shape-englands-future/

[WhiteJC]

 
Statistical Analysis: How will Jean-Michael Seri & Maxime Le Marchand Fit at Fulham?
The club finally have their first signings of the summer

Plenty of local Fulham supporters would have understandably woken up Thursday feeling dissapointed now that England's historic World Cup run came to an end. However, they were delivered great news with the club's first signings of the summer. Jean-Michael Seri and Maxime Le Marchand have arrived from Ligue 1 side Nice OGC on a £30 million combined transfer fee and are hoping to further build their footballing reputations in the Premier League.

But before we discuss these two players, it's best to talk about the club they came from to better understand why manager Slavisa Jokanovic wants to have these two players come to Fulham. While with "Les Algions" over the past three seasons, both Seri and Le Marchand were a part of the club's meteoric rise towards the top end of French club football. During that time, Nice finished fourth, third and eighth in the Ligue 1 table, respectively, while guiding them to their first ever Champions League appearance in 2017. This past season, Nice were one round away from the group stages of that competition, but were beaten handly 4-0 on aggregate by Napoli.

But during their three year trek under managers Claude Puel (now at Leicester City) and Lucien Favre (now at Borussia Dortmund), Nice never had a season in which they were below 56% possession. So their style of play is not to dissimilar to what Fulham will hope to bring to the Premier League and both players should be able to not change much of their game as a result.

With that out of the way, let's go ahead and analyze each player so that we can envision how they will do at Craven Cottage:

Jean-Michael Seri

This was the one signing that will be talked about for sometime. As a £27 million player according to transfermarket, Seri was getting calls from plenty of the leading clubs in England, with Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona and Dortmund being the biggest contenders. But once it was announced that Fulham were leading the way for his signature, it really took everyone following this transfer saga a back. It is a tad uncertain as to what his individual transfer fee is, but one definitive fact is that Seri's new contract will last him until 2022 with a one-year club option.

As for who Seri is as a player, he is a 18-cap Ivory Coast international who has spent his last six professional seasons in Portugal's Primera Liga and France's Ligue 1. During that time, he played for FC Porto's reserve team, followed by Pacos Ferreira before joining Nice for three seasons.

People will remember ex-Premier League big names Mario Balotelli or Hatem Ben Arfa as the men to create the chain reaction to Nice's success, but it was the attacking threat of Alessana Plea and the smooth passing of Seri that shouldn't be forgotten. And that is where the newcomer is hoping to bring to the table to Fulham. Now some people will wonder where Seri will fit if he shares a good chunk of the exact same skillsets as Tom Cairney and if the two can be able to play well together as a result.

That is because Seri can be seen as a better upgrade to Stefan Johansen for those that did not find his season to be as strong as it should have been. Seri did have a down season, but that could go down more towards the gradual exodus of players of players leaving Nice and their poor results in the league table as a result. On the whole, he is a more willing taker of long ball passes and, for a player of such small size and stature, has great balance to shed would be tackles and is not one to be dispossessed quite easily.

Either way, Fulham now have four capable midfielders under contract with two being committed beyond the end of this upcoming season. Both Johansen and Kevin McDonald (though not like-for-like with Seri since KMac plays such an crucial role in defense) might need to be replaced for either younger or more capable players for top flight European football and Seri certainly brings that. No matter what, supporters will be putting him under a microscope to see if this play matches the hype throughout his playing days in Southwest London.

Maxime Le Marchand

All data from whoscored.com

While Seri was a known commodity, Le Marchand has been more of an anomaly. That being said, it's not like he will not bring anything to the table at Fulham. This past season, the 28-year old was splitting duties playing center back and left back; a situation that was exactly given to Denis Odoi. That said, Le Marchand's 6'0" frame could be better suited playing at the center of the pitch in the Premier League.

After graduating from Rennes' academy, Le Marchand started his professional career with famed Ligue 2 side Le Havre. He would play for that club for six years while having 175 appearances in the process. This led to a step up at Nice, where he became widely known as a solid-though-unspectacular defender for a side striving to reach new heights in the club's history. In the end Le Marchand garnered 80 appearances in his three-year stay and garnered enough respect to a move towards one of the toughest leagues in world football. Whether he is good enough to partner Tim Ream for the full 38-game season is anyone's guess.

As for him as a fullback, let's not bother thinking about it. Despite looking better defensively in that position, take it from somebody that has seen Carlos Bocanegra be reduced to fullback duties that it is not ideal. During his entire playing career at Nice, Le Marchand has had a combined 8 completed crosses and 14 key passes, so any notion of him bombing up and down the touchline are just figments of the imagination right there.

Based off of his center back radar, he's not much of a high-volume defender the likes of which Tomas Kalas was for the exceptions to being strong on intercepting passes and challenging well in the air. Otherwise, he's a willing ball playing center back that will fit smoothly into the style that Jokanovic will want to play. That being said, his 6.85 average whoscored.com rating only had him 25th among Ligue 1 played over 15 games and mostly featured at center back. Fulham could do worse than signing Le Marchand, but I just felt like the club could have done better at filling that position. His transfer fee and contract length are unknown at this time, but it is quite clear that he is not valued as highly as his Nice-turned-Fulham teammate that will join with him.

Conclusions

On the whole, this is still a great day for Fulham Football Club. They officially have new players coming into the senior squad that still sits at just 18 registered players. That being said, Fulham are still in need of many more signings and they are in the running for plenty of other players in this transfer window. Swedish International fullback Ludwig Augustinsson and former loanee turned legend Aleksander Mitrovic are still the most notable names in the rumor mill so far. That being said, this could spell the end of hoping that Kalas or Matt Targett signing permanent deals for Fulham.

Whether they continue to use the loan system strongly like they did in their Championship days is unknown at this time. However, it will be interesting to see how they will be able to build a sizeable Premier League roster with depth across the board in the long run without running into violations of the Financial Fair Play laws. It has been seen that previously promoted clubs have spent £50-60 million on transfer fees their first season back in the top flight and Fulham have already spent half of it on two players. Here's to looking forward to seeing how the rest of the summer will turn out.



https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2018/7/13/17566172/statistical-analysis-how-will-jean-michael-seri-maxime-le-marchand-fit-at-fulham

[WhiteJC]

 
"He doesn't join the Cottagers with a smile" – French newspaper on why Seri moved to Fulham

Earlier this week when Jean-Michaël Seri was first said to have agreed to join Fulham, Sport Witness was informed by a source close to the potential transfer that those claims were incorrect.

Fulham and Nice had agreed on a transfer for the midfielder, but he wasn't especially keen on the move. We explained Fulham would have to be very convincing, and they clearly were.

But despite Seri signing for the London club, L'Equipe today go out of their to explain it's not what he wanted.

The French newspaper state 'He doesn't join the Cottagers with a smile, even if his €5m gross annual must help to console him a little', and say the destination is 'puzzling'.

Seri had been 'so close and so far' from Chelsea, and earlier this window he'd been strongly linked with Napoli. That's not to mention him almost moving to Barcelona last summer. It's also stated Borussia Dortmund were keen but 'asked for patience', and Seri's patience ran out.

Fulham have also signed Maxime Le Marchand from Nice, and the two deals are worth a combined €30-35m, according to L'Equipe.



http://sportwitness.co.uk/doesnt-join-cottagers-smile-french-newspaper-seri-moved-fulham/