Wednesday Fulham Stuff (22/07/15)...

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Summer arrival aiming to impress

Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg claims he has benefitted greatly from agreeing to join Southampton early on in the summer.



The Dutch shot stopper believes he struggled to get any game time while on loan at Monaco last season because he did not make the switch to the Ligue 1 side until August.

However, having sorted out his loan switch to the Saints in June, Stekelenburg has been able to get a full pre-season under his belt and believes he will reap the benefits of his early start come the new campaign.

"I was happy that everything was settled before we started so from the first day on I started working here," Stekelenburg told the club website.

"For me that's very important to get to know everybody, so I'm glad. "It's very important because my last transfers were much later on so you have to adjust during the season. It's difficult. With this I get to know everyone before our first serious game against Vitesse.

"Another reason it is important to start from the beginning is so you go to every training camp we have in pre-season.

"But it's nice to be with the players and to get to know them. This is the perfect circumstance. So far it's been good. We've had some good sessions, some good games and we're working well together."


- See more at: https://www.clubcall.com/southampton/summer-arrival-aiming-to-impress-1775497.html?#sthash.UCBIktxv.dpuf

Read more at: https://www.clubcall.com/southampton/summer-arrival-aiming-to-impress-1775497.html?

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FOOTBALL: Wales boss Coleman adds to backroom staff ahead of Euro 2016 run-in

WALES boss Chris Coleman has added to his backroom staff ahead of the crucial Euro 2016 qualifying campaign run-in.

The 45-year-old has appointed Paul Trollope as first team coach, who replaces former Wales and Fulham teammate Kit Symons, who left his post to concentrate
on his role as Manager of the Cottagers.

Coleman said: "On both a personal and professional level, we are very sad to lose Kit but I fully understand the reasons behind his decision and wish him the very best of luck at Fulham.

"I am however, delighted to welcome on board another former teammate of mine, Paul Trollope, who is a young and highly thought of coach.

"Paul will be a great team member and will fit in perfectly with the staff."

Trollope joins the national side, now ranked in the FIFA top ten, as coach but will also remain on the staff at Championship side Cardiff City.

Bluebirds CEO, Ken Choo, added: "As a Club we are proud and pleased to see Paul recognised by the FAW.

"Whilst his primary focus remains on the task at hand here at Cardiff City, we are happy for the national side to use Paul's talent to their benefit, at agreed junctures, as they pursue a place in the European Championships.

"It goes without saying that they have our full backing during this exciting time."



http://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/150558/football-wales-boss-coleman-adds-to-backroom-staff-ahead-of-euro-2016-run-in.aspx?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham Interested in United Defender
   
According to reports the young Manchester United defender Reece James is wanted by several clubs.

The 21-year-old defender is no stranger to going out on loan having featured at Rotherham and Huddersfield last season and the suggestion is that Nottingham Forest fancy taking the defender on loan this season, as are Wigan.

But if reports appearing on London24.com are correct then Fulham intend to go one better than loan the 21-year-old.

It`s suggested that Kit Symons is looking to tempt Manchester United into selling the youngster.

However, it would appear to be a bold move with James having only just signed a new contract at Old Trafford earlier this year.

We`ll do our best to keep abreast of the situation.


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=406264#ixzz3gbNJ3DTM

[WhiteJC]

 
The Last Word on Patrick Roberts' Transfer to Manchester City
by CHRIS GILBERTSON on JULY 21, 2015

When Southampton sold a 17 year old Gareth Bale to Tottenham back in 2007, they received a fee of £5m up front with a further £5m in potential add-ons. Tottenham ended up settling the add-ons at only £2m due to Southampton's cash crisis in 2008. At the time of his transfer, Bale had made 45 first team appearances scoring 5 goals, was a full international and was the reigning Football League Young Player of the Year.

On Sunday, Fulham sold 18 year old Patrick Roberts to Manchester City for a reported £5m up front with a further £6m in add-ons and a reported 20% sell on clause. Roberts' entire Fulham career amounted to 22 appearances, of which only 3 were starts, and no goals.

Of course it is flippant to simply compare Bale's transfer with Roberts', not least with 8 years between them meaning the transfer market is a different place. Yet, on the face of it, this was a pretty good piece of business from Fulham, given the entirety of Roberts' value is in his potential.

When you take into account that Roberts' had only one year remaining on his contract and had handed in a transfer request, the transfer begins to look like quite the bounty under the circumstances.

Ignoring the financial and logical aspects of the transfer for a moment, I am sad Roberts has gone. Like when Dimitar Berbatov or Mousa Dembele left, there is always going to be a disappointment when an entertainer leaves. The sadness of Roberts leaving is compounded as the player was genuinely home grown, having been at the club since he was 13.

Clubs like Fulham don't often produce players with Roberts' potential for excitement and if they do they are normally snapped up before they make the first team. For example, Roberts' new team mate Raheem Sterling left QPR before kicking a ball at first team level.

However, truth be told, Roberts was never likely to develop into the player many of us think he can become at Fulham. Look at the best creative and attacking players in the world, how many of them became great at a non-elite club? Or at least not at a top club in any particular country? Messi has been at Barcelona since he was a boy. Ronaldo learnt his trade at Sporting Lisbon before joining Manchester United. There are countless others.

Attacking football and footballers need talent around them and space to operate in. It is a lot easier to make mistakes and get away with them when your 10 teammates are still good enough to get results. Clubs like Fulham don't have that luxury, hence Roberts' lack of substantial minutes last season.

He may be some way from featuring regularly for Manchester City's first team, but in an environment where he is surrounded by world class attacking players on a daily basis, Patrick will be given every opportunity to learn and develop. At Fulham, he was already one of the most dangerous attacking players. Had he stayed this year, every appearance would have been met with increasing expectations to deliver.

There is, of course, a fear that the move to City is for the wrong reasons [money], and that he is only there to make up the homegrown quota as required for UEFA's competitions.

The transfer is a catch 22 situation. Whilst game time at Fulham would have brought its challenges, it would at least be game time. It is not inconceivable that in four years' time we will be reading headlines of a 22-year old Roberts moving to Sunderland, Stoke or Aston Villa having failed to make an impression on the star-ridden first team at Eastlands.

However, Roberts was not guaranteed game time even if he stayed. As alluded to earlier, Fulham do not have the luxury of being able to carry players simply to aid their development. In the marathon Championship season every point and every game count. Players need to perform or they won't play. This mantra, like it or not, was why Kit Symons chose to leave Patrick on the bench more often than not last season.

It is easy to get emotional over the transfer of a home grown player of Roberts' talent. He was so exciting when he did get the odd 5 minutes, that it was easy to want more. The few minutes when Roberts, Christensen, Woodrow and McCormack were on the field together were some of the most exciting we saw all season.

Indeed I was told about halfway through last season that Roberts himself was growing frustrated and wanted more game time. That this was followed by an allusion that he would look to leave if it wasn't forthcoming was no real surprise.

Whilst I do subscribe to the theory that he was under-used and thus his exit was somewhat expedited, I find it hard to really blame anyone. Had he played more, there is no guarantee he wouldn't have been sold, and the impact of more minutes on his price could have gone either way.

Our league position was so precarious last season that playing someone of Roberts' inexperience and stature would have constituted a risk that perhaps wasn't worth taking. On the rare occasion that he did start, his impact was marginal.

Given that we survived and have now received a transfer windfall regardless, the whole situation is hard to criticise. It is merely disappointing that we didn't get to see more of Patrick before he left, even if they could only have been cameo appearances.

In the academy system Fulham are attempting to develop, there will probably need to be a significant sale every summer. Funds can then be appropriated to the academy to enable the ongoing development of players and also be used to strengthen the first team with battle ready players from elsewhere.

What happens next will be crucial for the likes of Emerson Hyndman, Moussa Dembele and Lasse Vigen Christensen. If the money received enables greater resolve to be applied to the stance on these players should suitors come calling then Roberts' departure may have served the greater good. After all, no one prospect is greater than the club.

Should we return to the Premier League, then there is also a greater prospect we can retain our best young players.

For now, I wish Roberts well in his next chapter. We can all look on proudly as he develops, my hope being that Manchester City allow him to do so. It'd be nice to see that sell on clause grow too.

COYW

P.s Fulham today released a fascinating video interview with Mike Rigg explaining youth development and by inference the Roberts transfer. It's must watch stuff and can be viewed here



http://hammyend.com/index.php/2015/07/the-last-word-on-patrick-roberts-transfer-to-manchester-city/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Kostas Stafylidis: Greece's gifted full-back coming off a difficult spell at Fulham



Name: Kostas Stafylidis

Position: Left back

Age: 21

Country: Greece

Club: Bayer Leverkusen



Technically gifted and attack-minded, Kostas Stafylidis is the latest in a long line of exciting full backs produced by Greece (Giourkas Seitaridis, Takis Fyssas and Vasilis Torosidis are his predecessors).

A series of eye-catching performances at major tournaments for Greece's national youth teams, as well as the manner in which he quickly settled at Super League club PAOK as a teenager, meant his future in football would quickly see him depart the Mediterranean.

Indeed, Bayer Leverkusen came knocking in 2012, after his stellar performances as Greece reached the final of the U-19 European Championships. Stafylidis signed a 5-year contract and a transfer fee of €1.5 million was agreed.

The Bundesliga outfit represented a significant step up from the Greek domestic scene and after returning to PAOK on loan as part of the transfer deal (for the 2012/13 season) Stafylidis then attempted to break into the Leverkusen first team.

Unable to do so, the German club decided to loan Stafylidis to Fulham, where he amassed plenty of game time in the Championship without ever finding the form or consistency to secure himself a permanent move. Flashes of inspiration were too often followed by lapses in concentration as the Londoners failed to make their return to the English Premier League.

Stafylidis now returns to Leverkusen, who recently tweeted a message of support for their young Greek starlet, perhaps in response to what was becoming an increasingly difficult sojourn in England.

Indeed, the noises coming from the club suggest Stafylidis will be afforded the chance to establish himself in the first-team this season and it could be prove a key campaign in the blossoming career of the Greece international.

The 21 year-old has all of the attributes to develop into a first-class defender: anticipation, excellent delivery from open play and set-pieces and an ability to balance attacking and defensive duties.

Whether he can stay disciplined and determined enough at one of Germany's biggest clubs remains to be seen.



Written by Chris Paraskevas



http://o-posts.com/news/teams/uk/kostas-stafylidis-greeces-gifted-full-back-coming-difficult-spell-fulham/?