Ricardo Pepi in 2026

[C Block]

Does anyone on here want to make a case as to why Fulham Football Club should spend £35 million on this player?
I'm certain PSV will be back on the phone as soon as the season ends, but I think we should take a moment to take a deep breath and reflect,
Some clubs he's coming up against I doubt are strong enough for the Championship and yet his stats are underwhelming,
There must be a better striker out there for less,
But if you feel that Ricardo is the man for us, then go ahead and make your case, the floor is yours 🙂👊🏻

[ffcthereligion]

If Pepi wasn't American I'm not convinced we would be signing him personally

[JimmyConway]

Have not seen enough of him to give a strong opinion but when you look at some of the prices paid for the "Blue Chip" position is the amount being banded around for him excessive? Don't get me wrong the market is out of control but looking at the likes of Woltemade Sesko Zirkzee Strand Larsen to name just a few were all considerably more and at a risk? Take Beto or Igor Jesus they were similar price to the reported Pepi or slightly cheaper and not sure I would say either have been a success? Was Delap around £30m to Chelsea and personally think he is an Championship forward.
It's always going to be a difficult market for the smaller clubs in the premier league and you will now & again get a nugget like Brentford have in Thiago but weren't he around £30m? Just goes to show what a good bit of business Jiminez was at around £5m but these gems don't come around that often?
If we are paying upwards of £30m for wingers then a centre forward is likely going to cost more?

[garyclashcityrocker]

Goalscorers with dutch reputations are not always a great option, we got stung with Ruiz and look at Kezman who went to Chelsea years ago and scored a single goal in the three years he was there. For 35 plus i would test the resolve of Benfica for Pavledis or Santiago Gimenez. The mexican is struggling at AC Milan who play him all wrong. Think they'll ship him in the summer. Or Romulu Cardosa who also looks the part. To be fair, like Pepi they are all a gamble. You look at a showreel of there best bits and they all look good - just look at old Hugo Rodellaga clips - looks brilliant and how pony was he for us.
Not seen many PSV games so hard to judge the whole of his game. But have watched a lot of Pav and Gimenez and they fit the profile. Good movement, good hold up and link the play. Good in the air and around the box, good with their backs to goal - strong and hardworking. And obviously an eye for goal and can finish. Gimenez is not particularly pacy but makes up for it positionally. Pepi could come good if  he's the incoming - we'll see.

[Surlyc]

£30-35m seems like the going rate for a mid-level unproven PL striker/forward nowadays (Beto, Thiago, Rutter, Castellanos, Arokodare, Evanilson etc. were all in the £25-35m bucket).

I'm not convinced by Pepi, but I've not seen anywhere near enough to make a firm judgement. The fee however is (sadly) in line with the current market.

[Chi_FFC]

Goalscorers with dutch reputations are not always a great option, we got stung with Ruiz and look at Kezman who went to Chelsea years ago and scored a single goal in the three years he was there. For 35 plus i would test the resolve of Benfica for Pavledis or Santiago Gimenez.

While I share your concern with strikers coming from the Eredivisie, I find it a bit amusing that you would then mention Pavlidis and Gimenez who are both strikers with, as you put it, "dutch reputations".

[bahay18]

It's huge risk signing from the Dutch league . Antony, van de beek of recent vintage . I'm not sure where Bournemouth and Brentford pick up their players but they seem to find better value . £30mio +? , I would pass on this guy .

[Jim©]

There's a lot of dutch league bashing on here. Just for balance here's a list of just a very few of the players out of the dutch league in the last 3 seasons that have come here:
Kerkez
Senesi
Roefs
Wieffer
Minteh
Kudus
Timber
Bassey (!)
Sangare
Van Ewijk(cov rb who I think is excellent)

[FFC007]

There's a lot of dutch league bashing on here. Just for balance here's a list of just a very few of the players out of the dutch league in the last 3 seasons that have come here:
Kerkez
Senesi
Roefs
Wieffer
Minteh
Kudus
Timber
Bassey (!)
Sangare
Van Ewijk(cov rb who I think is excellent)

Henderson...

[garyclashcityrocker]

Goalscorers with dutch reputations are not always a great option, we got stung with Ruiz and look at Kezman who went to Chelsea years ago and scored a single goal in the three years he was there. For 35 plus i would test the resolve of Benfica for Pavledis or Santiago Gimenez.

While I share your concern with strikers coming from the Eredivisie, I find it a bit amusing that you would then mention Pavlidis and Gimenez who are both strikers with, as you put it, "dutch reputations".

Valid point but my view on Pavledis is more based on watching him at Benfica and playing for Greece.
Gimenez though is trading on his time at Feyenoord but my assesment is based on watching a few Feyenoord games last season, particularly in the Champions League and for Mexico... Not just on goal stats or best bit videos from the Eredivse.
The caveat is any buy is a gamble.

[WindyCity]

Not sure how I feel about this player.  After reading some of the forum commentary, does seem rather pricey.  After watching the clip presented in the forum of some of his goals, does look like a player that has a nose for scoring goals.  That said, the critique is his background in the Dutch league.  To balance that, he has had some success in Champions League competition.  I guess we leave it to the so-called experts at FFC and their evaluations and desire to acquire this player.  Again, only based on forum comments, I think I might take a pass, and spend those available monies elsewhere.....

[hovewhite]

Don't no any striker is a risk,is muniz good enough?
Raul has matched in premier league Mitrovic,Raul proven.

[gang]

Don't no any striker is a risk,is muniz good enough?
Raul has matched in premier league Mitrovic,Raul proven.

I read Raul wants to go back to Mexico.

[Drewry66]

Does anyone on here want to make a case as to why Fulham Football Club should spend £35 million on this player?
I'm certain PSV will be back on the phone as soon as the season ends, but I think we should take a moment to take a deep breath and reflect,
Some clubs he's coming up against I doubt are strong enough for the Championship and yet his stats are underwhelming,
There must be a better striker out there for less,
But if you feel that Ricardo is the man for us, then go ahead and make your case, the floor is yours 🙂👊🏻

Just to pick out the one bit about his stats being underwhelming not sure how they can really be interpreted as that. He has a goal every 100 mins this season and every 63 mins last season. It has got worse recently as don't think he's scored much since coming back from injury but that could be us turning his head. Every 50 odd mins and 80 odd last two seasons champions league. Haaland overall is 106 mins this season so essentially stats wise pretty elite for goals scored so not sure how they can be underwhelming from that point of view.

However it obviously doesn't mean a huge amount coming from the Dutch league or any other league to be fair as the prem just seems to be the hardest league in the world to score in. As others have said a tonne of examples of other strikers around the £25m to £35m mark who have done nothing. A load way more expensive who have done nothing in the prem.

I mean what is the actual hit rate in the prem? Honestly I would have thought maybe 10% to 20% max could actually be deemed as a real success? He's a punt and around £25m to £30m is the very low end of what you pay for a striker with a very good record in Europe yet most of them flop in the prem. I haven't watched much of him but what he does seem to have is the ability to make strikers runs to get on the end of stuff with a poachers instinct. Muniz does that when on form but useless at it when off form. Raul tends to drop too deep. Something we lack then so just got to pray he is one of the 10% success stories. The odds are against it then I'm afraid but would be whoever we signed at our level.