Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2024

[bill taylors apprentice]

Palhinha only became a statement signing and a key player for us once he started playing and performed beyoned what the vast majority expected.

Or is that wrong?

[General]

I think Marco must be happy, but I don't see Berge as a key player or a statement signing to replace a key player in Palhinha. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Berge can do a job, but it's definitely not a like for like replacement in terms of the quality level.

I wouldn't say our our other defensive-midfield target, Andre, could be classed as a statement signing either. Since our offer was rejected in July, I've not seen any other clubs interested in him. This doesn't mean he wouldn't be good for us, of course, but signing  a player no one else wants is hardly a statement to the rest of the P.L.

Fair enough, and I do see what you're saying and do tend to measure my enthusiasm for Andre with an acknowledgement at least personally that he's not a superstar... but I think where he goes up a notch for me, in a similar way to Palhinha in fairness..

Palhinha had struggled often to make the breakthrough in Portugal and then finally had a manager who believed in him and then went on to be a mainstay in the Sporting team that won the league before coming to us.

If you compare that to Andre, who's still only 23.. Andre is a Brazil international, won the Brazil league, is loved by Fluminense' fanbase and labelled by them as the best midfielder in Brazil and was integral to them winning the South American Champions League.

For me, those things combined, particularly when contrasted against someone of his age, give him a potentially much higher ceiling than most, and whilst he may not have the physical attributes of Palhinha, namely his height, he still has a fantastic technique, ability to play a great pass from deep, link up defence with midfield and shield them and also play the ball out of tight spaces to a high level.

Under Marco, who has a knack for developing players alongside his coaching staff, and knowing that players tend to start to reach their potential aged 27, Andre, with 4 years more experience under a coach that can develop him, would be an exciting signing.

Similar to signing Cherki, a young and very talented player who's shown and to a degree proven he's got the raw talent, but just needs focus and developing to turn it into a diamond..

What's your fixation with Andre. Nobody knows if he could adapt to English football and more to the point why aren't clubs like Utd who are desperate for a defensive midfielder queuing up for him. Think lack of interest says it all.

Noone was interested in Anguissa, Lookman, Andersen, Tete and Palhinha then...

Andre has had offers in for him from PL clubs in Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and us, and others have been rumoured to be interested.

Utd are trying for Ugarte. They may have considered Andre.

I've explained myself re Andre a few times now, so perhaps just read those to get the answers you want.

[Bobsffc]

Well, I think not only should any potential new signings want to come to Fulham, they should also be able to at least know who was on the team sheet away at Carlisle in 1997, and also give a reasonable rendition of Viva el Fulham....if not, I'm sorry, you're at the wrong club..

[Maidstone Lee]

https://twitter.com/fulhamtransfer/status/1826576338389471418

Looks like the offer still stands but we're looking elsewhere. Good to see we're not messing around in the market!

[keithh]

Good to see some young bloods coming in.

[bill taylors apprentice]

I suspect a surprise exit could be on the cards before the window shuts.

Surprise, as in there have been no current rumours.

Who might this be?

I reckon Lukic, Reed or........ Robinson?

[FFC1987]

I think we need to put Andre and anymore centre mids to bed now. It ain't happening based on Berge interview. There is no way both the interviewer asks him about being the Palinha replacement (in so many words) and Berge says directly he can play as an 8 but his played position is a 6......

Lets see what Marco can do.

[bencher]

I suspect a surprise exit could be on the cards before the window shuts.

Surprise, as in there have been no current rumours.

Who might this be?

I reckon Lukic, Reed or........ Robinson?

Arguably Robinson is the most irreplaceable player in our current setup (now JP has left), so I really hope we can keep hold.

I fancy either Reed or Wilson to leave

[Fulham Tup North]

Well, I think not only should any potential new signings want to come to Fulham, they should also be able to at least know who was on the team sheet away at Carlisle in 1997, and also give a reasonable rendition of Viva el Fulham....if not, I'm sorry, you're at the wrong club..

I sat next to Jimmy Hill that afternoon .... what a remarkable weekend that was .... if we knew then, where that promotion would lead us...
COYW   

[Arthur]

I wouldn't say our our other defensive-midfield target, Andre, could be classed as a statement signing either. Since our offer was rejected in July, I've not seen any other clubs interested in him. This doesn't mean he wouldn't be good for us, of course, but signing  a player no one else wants is hardly a statement to the rest of the P.L.

If you compare that to Andre, who's still only 23.. Andre is a Brazil international, won the Brazil league, is loved by Fluminense' fanbase and labelled by them as the best midfielder in Brazil and was integral to them winning the South American Champions League.

I agree that his achievements in his career so far go towards his being a statement signing. But I don't think he would be one if we signed him now.

[General]

I suspect a surprise exit could be on the cards before the window shuts.

Surprise, as in there have been no current rumours.

Who might this be?

I reckon Lukic, Reed or........ Robinson?

Arguably Robinson is the most irreplaceable player in our current setup (now JP has left), so I really hope we can keep hold.

I fancy either Reed or Wilson to leave

We've two CM positions on the pitch, meaning we need 4 - two who can do the DM and two as a more forward operating CM.. You've got four players for those two positions in Berge, Cairney, Reed and Lukic. So I'd be surprised if we sold Reed, unless we got in another CM/DM to replace him, which could make an additional case for Andre.

For me I see Cairney as being the one most under threat, though as a club captain and having been here so long I think he stays either way... but he's 33 and a sub most games and also plays as a ACM, so not a CM in the same way a Lukic, Reed, or Berge are.

[SerbianLad]

Mbabu and Vini are still at the club. I'm disappointed by that. It's in everyone's interest to move them on asap.

Looking at the squad, we have 23 senior players at the moment(24 if you count Andersen, who is seemingly a done deal). That means that if Mbabu and Vini leave, as expected, we'll have three more squad places. One will be the attacker Marco mentioned we needed(Cherki for example). And then we'd have 2 more squad places left.

Benda doesn't give me confidence at all. I know he only played one hald vs Sevilla and a few games for our youth team, but he looked really shaky every time. I'd like us to sign a better number two. With Rodak, I had no doubt he'd do a good job if Leno was suspended/injured. With Benda not so much.

And then the final player, I'd get someone on loan. A defensive midfielder, or a leftback, maybe a 5th centreback so we'd have more depth there. Or a versatile player that can cover multiple positions.

[General]

I wouldn't say our our other defensive-midfield target, Andre, could be classed as a statement signing either. Since our offer was rejected in July, I've not seen any other clubs interested in him. This doesn't mean he wouldn't be good for us, of course, but signing  a player no one else wants is hardly a statement to the rest of the P.L.

If you compare that to Andre, who's still only 23.. Andre is a Brazil international, won the Brazil league, is loved by Fluminense' fanbase and labelled by them as the best midfielder in Brazil and was integral to them winning the South American Champions League.

I agree that his achievements in his career so far go towards his being a statement signing. But I don't think he would be one if we signed him now.

Fair enough, can see how you'd think that and can get on board with that - I think the only area we differ really is that I think he's a 'hot prospect' given his accomplishment to date, similar to Cherki and that automatically shows ambition by the club in the same way, and with room to grow into a top DM then he has all the makings of being one..

But you're right, he's still 'untested' in the PL and there is an air of ambiguity as to whether he succeeds or not.

That being said, Muniz was taken as a kid from Flamengo and struggled to adapt from a worse starting point, but last season scored 9 goals and looked like he had turned a corner.. Muniz was a bit part squad player and youth team player for Flamengo when he signed for us, in fact he'd only been part of the first team set up at Flamengo for half a season before we signed him.

To put it into perspective, Muniz and Andre are both 23 and just two months different in terms of age.. Whilst I'm a fan of Muniz, what he's achieved pales into relative insignificance compared to Andre at a same age.

Not saying they don't both have a potentially high ceiling, but Muniz came to us, went out on loan a couple of time and never really got going, and then when we lost mitro and replaced him with noone we defaulted to using Muniz, who was rumoured at the time as looking for a permanent move away..

Even Muniz, up until this February was considered a player who wasn't quite cutting it for us, and then he went on his incredible run, which at 23 showed his undoubted potential coming to the fore.

Andre has been playing regular first team football for Fluminense since the 2020/2021 season.

[spikey norman]

This is an interesting listen from 6.20 onwards regarding Andre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rih0xinF3sE

[LC]

I would like to see Jack Clarke join us. Fits the profile, he's English, and plays on the left. Probably available for about £20m.

So funny @Woolly Mammoth I saw the word English and knew you would have liked it hahah, as soon as I saw English and one like I knew you would be the person to like

Clarke good player, rate him. Think Cherki defo better option but one to revisit if Cherki rejects. Asprilla and Gnonto also would be great options from Champ.

Well you need to have a certain amount of home grown players so the fact he's English is always a legitimate benefit. I also believe English Premier League clubs needs to give young talent a chance if our national team are ever going to win anything.

I always thought we had a great chance to buy Bowen but he went to West Ham.

[Thailand Mick]

Mbabu and Vini are still at the club. I'm disappointed by that. It's in everyone's interest to move them on asap.

Looking at the squad, we have 23 senior players at the moment(24 if you count Andersen, who is seemingly a done deal). That means that if Mbabu and Vini leave, as expected, we'll have three more squad places. One will be the attacker Marco mentioned we needed(Cherki for example). And then we'd have 2 more squad places left.

Benda doesn't give me confidence at all. I know he only played one hald vs Sevilla and a few games for our youth team, but he looked really shaky every time. I'd like us to sign a better number two. With Rodak, I had no doubt he'd do a good job if Leno was suspended/injured. With Benda not so much.

And then the final player, I'd get someone on loan. A defensive midfielder, or a left back, maybe a 5th centreback so we'd have more depth there. Or a versatile player that can cover multiple positions.

I can see us only buying one more player after Anderson and going with a 22-man squad, if you look at the players, we have signed recently so many can play in more than one position to a good enough standard and Marco has already stated that we are looking for a forward that can play across the line. This way it keeps our costs down and it also means that players can get more playing time. If I had a pick for one more player for us to sign, I would love Mitoma from Brighton.

[FFC1987]

Mbabu and Vini are still at the club. I'm disappointed by that. It's in everyone's interest to move them on asap.

Looking at the squad, we have 23 senior players at the moment(24 if you count Andersen, who is seemingly a done deal). That means that if Mbabu and Vini leave, as expected, we'll have three more squad places. One will be the attacker Marco mentioned we needed(Cherki for example). And then we'd have 2 more squad places left.

Benda doesn't give me confidence at all. I know he only played one hald vs Sevilla and a few games for our youth team, but he looked really shaky every time. I'd like us to sign a better number two. With Rodak, I had no doubt he'd do a good job if Leno was suspended/injured. With Benda not so much.

And then the final player, I'd get someone on loan. A defensive midfielder, or a left back, maybe a 5th centreback so we'd have more depth there. Or a versatile player that can cover multiple positions.

I can see us only buying one more player after Anderson and going with a 22-man squad, if you look at the players, we have signed recently so many can play in more than one position to a good enough standard and Marco has already stated that we are looking for a forward that can play across the line. This way it keeps our costs down and it also means that players can get more playing time. If I had a pick for one more player for us to sign, I would love Mitoma from Brighton.

Presumably Mitoma is the pipe dream, 0.000003% chance of happening and thats charitable though?

[Deeping_white]

I'm fairly sure we have some financial headroom for more signings after Andersen and a winger @ circa £20m. Berge being on a 5 year deal means the amortisation for his fee is further reduced this year (I'd done maths based on a 4+1 year deal from what I'd seen on the internet), and I would say both Andersen and a winger will be on 5 year deals so we should have enough money left for another signing or two if we wanted to. I think Andre could come down to a game of chicken if there are no takers because they'll need to accept our bid, and he's likely to cost somewhere in the region of ££7m P/A too so then you're looking at some loans or prospects if the opportunities arise if we wanted to go any further

[Bassey the warrior]

Palhinha only became a statement signing and a key player for us once he started playing and performed beyoned what the vast majority expected.

Or is that wrong?

That's wrong, he was a Champions League player. That's always a coup. I liked him from the first friendly game.

[FFC1987]

I'm fairly sure we have some financial headroom for more signings after Andersen and a winger @ circa £20m. Berge being on a 5 year deal means the amortisation for his fee is further reduced this year, and I would say both Andersen and a winger will be on 5 year deals so we should have enough money left for another signing or two if we wanted to. I think Andre could come down to a game of chicken if there are no takers because they'll need to accept our bid, and he's likely to cost somewhere in the region of ££7m P/A too so then you're looking at some loans or prospects if the opportunities arise if we wanted to go any further

I really, really want to be optimistic but why on earth would our PR team pose a question to a new signing about both where he plays (outrightly said mostly as no.6) and then ask him how he feels about replacing Palinha if he wasn't the replacement......I'd say at this point, there's as much chance of us signing Mitoma as there is Andre.

Happy to be wrong on this one but we perhaps just need to move on.