The Summer roster overhaul: Lots to do

[Denver Fulham]

We have a lot of roster work to do this summer. Here's how I see things as they stand:

Reportedly in place
1. Manor Solomon to start at LW over Kebano

Mandatory adds
1. Starting CB to replace Ream
2. Starting CAM to replace Carvalho
3. Starting CM to start over what whoever we keep from the current roster, assuming Anguissa is sold

Additional strong needs
1. Starting DM better/healthier/younger than Reed
2. Starting GK significantly better than Rodak (otherwise, pass)
3. Secondary striker to complement/push Mitrovic (and send Muniz on loan?)

Secondary needs, but still important
1. Quality utility FB to challenge/back up Robinson and Tete unless Larkeche is ready
2. Another CB beyond Tosin and the new starter, replacing all the guys we have who are leaving/hurt/not good enough

Depending on how much of this we accomplish, we would end up something like this:

                                          Mitrovic
                                      [New striker]

   Solomon                        [New CAM]                  Wilson
   (Kebano?)                    (BDR/Stansfield?)         (BDR/TBD)

                         [New Box-to-Box]   [New DM]
                             (Cairney)             (Reed)

    Robinson            [New CB]              Tosin              Tete
(Utility FB/Larkeche?)  (New third CB + Kongolo?)  (New Utility FB?)

                                         [New GK]
                                  (Rodak/Someone else)

Not sure we'll bring Seri back. Chalobah seems like a miss. Onomah isn't good enough. Joe Bryan or Ream back as a clubhouse guy?

Feel free to add/fix things that I missed.

[Forever Fulham]

Does anyone have a sense of the available budget?  Seems like a tall order, expensive, to replace that many starters.  No doubt we need an upgrade, but...

[filham]

I don't disagree with anything you say except that perhaps you are making the mistake we made  three years ago by bringing too many new players in and in so doing are losing some team spirit. Also half a dozen new players would mean spreading the transfer kitty thinly and we would again have to settle for players not quite up to the required standard and purchased late on transfer deadline day.
I would rathe limit the number of new signings and spend big to ensure we are improving the team.

Unfortunately to start we have to spend big money on replacements for Ream and Carvalho just to keep the team at the level it is at now. After that we may find there is only available money for a couple more top players and I would be looking for Areola and a wide left player.

I would think we need to raise funds in the transfer kitty by moving on players whom are unlikely to make appearances next season including Kongolo, Mawson, Onomah, Chalobah, Gazzaniga and Cavaleiro

[Twig]

I don't disagree with anything you say except that perhaps you are making the mistake we made  three years ago by bringing too many new players in and in so doing are losing some team spirit. Also half a dozen new players would mean spreading the transfer kitty thinly and we would again have to settle for players not quite up to the required standard and purchased late on transfer deadline day.
I would rathe limit the number of new signings and spend big to ensure we are improving the team.

Unfortunately to start we have to spend big money on replacements for Ream and Carvalho just to keep the team at the level it is at now. After that we may find there is only available money for a couple more top players and I would be looking for Areola and a wide left player.

I would think we need to raise funds in the transfer kitty by moving on players whom are unlikely to make appearances next season including Kongolo, Mawson, Onomah, Chalobah, Gazzaniga and Cavaleiro

I don't know how often I have to say this but moving on players like those you list does not necessarily raise funds for the transfer kitty.  You need to know how by much each players' original purchase fee has so far been depreciated and offset it against what we can sell that player for.  If the difference is positive then that adds to the kitty, but if it's negative then it detracts from the kitty. 

If we buy a player for £10m then decide they aren't cutting it a couple of years later and flog them for a huge loss then the distress sale price does not go into a kitty, it goes towards offsetting that part of the purchase price which still remains to be depreciated on the books.

[Andy S]

It really isn't as simple as it looks. A lot of clubs will have players who can do a job and they will not cost too much as their contract may have expired. We will be an option as we are premier. Teams in the lower league may not have the money to renew their contracts. They may come in our direction at a reasonable price. We have to be sensible

[Pluto]

We need at minimum a striker, left winger, central midfielder and centre back. Hopefully we can bring Areola back in goal and Salomon should fill that LW spot if the rumours are true.

[Southcoastffc]

On those out of contract, said [Marco] he wouldn't give update: "I have all the decisions already made, but the players will be the first ones to know from myself. What will be the decision some of them they already know and the others they will know in the next few days."

[JackHamlet90]

We can't make the same mistakes as before we need to keep the spirit of this season in the squad & clearly make a couple of additions to help with the new level

Silva needs to decide on GK & weather Rodak is the man for next year
Tete & Robinson I think are decent Prem full backs our defensive record wasn't bad when they played with us last season.
Bryan is able back up
Neco back on another season Loan would be smart
CB is our problem area we don't know on weather we take up the options on Hector & Ream
Kongolo & Tosin our only CB as it stands
A partner for Tosin & a decent replacement for Mawson & Hector needed in that area.
2 needed for sure.
Midfield we should take option up on Seri I think Reed Cairney Seri Chalobah a decent midfield but we need an investment in there on someone with some size & a bit of energy to give us that bite.
Wings we have Kebano Wilson who both been great
Cavaleiro & Knockeart not played much so I would expect 1 of them to be moved on so Manor Solomon looks like the arrival in that area
Fabio will be a loss & that's an area we need a replacement.
Mitro & Muniz upfront would love to see Stansfield given a chance aswell will be interesting if Silva happy with them strikers.

Players under contract who are likely to be around

Rodak Gazzaniga Tete Tosin Kongolo Bryan Robinson Seri Cairney Reed Chalobah Kebano Wilson BDR Cavaleiro Mitro Muniz

We need 6/7 additions in squad overall for me

CB - X2
RB
CDM
CAM
LM

[The Rational Fan]

It would be an understatement to say "what most fans think we need to spend, and what we can afford to spend according to FFP, don't match".

Tony Khan won't spend less than he is allowed by FFP and he cannot spend more than he is allowed. Hence, what we need to spend is irrelevant.

The limited budget will be spent until it runs out, but we have to accept that players such as Rodak, Robinson, and Reed might not be upgraded.

[Whitestone]

It's not a matter of how much we 'need' to spend but more about signing the right players within a budget. Just take Riyad Mahrez as an example. Leicester paid £450,000 for his signature. N'Golo Kante cost £5.6 million. Okazaki, £7 million, Vardy, £1 million. I could go on but you get the point. There are some very good players around who won't cost the earth. I'm not convinced that our recruitment team always look in the right areas. Just take the lazy signings of Knockhart, Cavaleiro and Fabri as examples. Of course, for every Knockhart and Cavaleiro there's a Tosin and a Tete. We just need to be a bit smarter in our recruitment. I think the club have learnt from past mistakes, but are unfortunately still paying the price for those mistakes, which will massively impact our recruitment this summer it seems.
The club have some difficult decisions these next few days because a few of the squad are out of contract. I hope they are sensible and don't take up any options or extend the contracts of Hector, Mawson, Ream and Kebano. Getting Cavaleiro and Knockhart off the books won't be easy with Cavaleiro contracted until 2024 and Knockhart until 2023. Somehow these two need to be moved on without impacting FFP. And then there's Seri who has a 1 year option which is probably worth taking up. Just my opinion of course, others may view things differently.

[WolverineFFC]

Does anyone have a sense of the available budget?  Seems like a tall order, expensive, to replace that many starters.  No doubt we need an upgrade, but...

A guess on my part:

Salaries are the unknown, but previous seasons show Fulham seem to carry roughly 35 million in amortized players when they are in the Championship and around 45 million when they are in the Premier League.

So that means 40 million in transfer fees if this is consistent. Add in Fabio's 5 million and potentially FZA's 15 million sale, that is around 4-5 million in amortization, so another 20 million.

The real question is how the expiring contracts will impact the club's transfer budget. I think Harry Wilson's purchase was structured with Mawson's expiring amortization in mind. Seems to be a similar number, so we will leave Mawson/Wilson out. This leaves Hector, Fabri, Kebano (which I expect the club will exercise) and Seri. Will call it 5 million because there are maybe a handful of people who actually know what happened with Seri's purchase. Who gets extended versus released could add 20 million more to the transfer budget.

So my math says 60 million with the potential to rise to 75 million depending on the expiring deals and potential additional sales.

[S.F.Sorrow]

Unfortunately there is a huge gap between what we need to be successful in the Premier League and what we can spend without getting into trouble with FFP. This season we will need to strengthen the most critical positions (especially in defence) and hope for a bit of luck. If we avoid relegation we can build on this the following season.

In my opinion our priorities should be (in more or less this order):

2x CB
LB
DM
CM
GK
RB (with Tete's injury record we will need one...)
LW
Backup striker

This is of course completely unrealistic. I can't see us being able to afford PL quality players in all these positions. Luckily we have BDR who may not be top Premier League quality but can at least provide cover in most attacking positions and maybe RB in a pinch. We really need a new Odoi/Bairdinho...

[WolverineFFC]

It's not a matter of how much we 'need' to spend but more about signing the right players within a budget. Just take Riyad Mahrez as an example. Leicester paid £450,000 for his signature. N'Golo Kante cost £5.6 million. Okazaki, £7 million, Vardy, £1 million. I could go on but you get the point. There are some very good players around who won't cost the earth. I'm not convinced that our recruitment team always look in the right areas. Just take the lazy signings of Knockhart, Cavaleiro and Fabri as examples. Of course, for every Knockhart and Cavaleiro there's a Tosin and a Tete. We just need to be a bit smarter in our recruitment. I think the club have learnt from past mistakes, but are unfortunately still paying the price for those mistakes, which will massively impact our recruitment this summer it seems.
The club have some difficult decisions these next few days because a few of the squad are out of contract. I hope they are sensible and don't take up any options or extend the contracts of Hector, Mawson, Ream and Kebano. Getting Cavaleiro and Knockhart off the books won't be easy with Cavaleiro contracted until 2024 and Knockhart until 2023. Somehow these two need to be moved on without impacting FFP. And then there's Seri who has a 1 year option which is probably worth taking up. Just my opinion of course, others may view things differently.

Knockaert is sunk cost at this point. I am hopeful with his contract expiring after 2023, the club will get somebody to take him (similar to the Chalobah situation) for 0 transfer fee and he will sign a new contract. That would at least save the club his 2 million in salary or so this season, but he is still going to cost 3-4 million in amortization regardless.

I really wonder what is going to happen with Cav with 2 years left on his deal. I would keep him on as part of the backups. If he leaves, the club would have to bring in someone else as a winger backup. For what it would cost to move him and then replace him, the club can spend the money better in other areas.

[FacundoSavasfacemask]

We need a new leftback as a matter of urgency. Bryan is better than Robinson but neither are good enough.
I highly doubt Areola will come back, so I think we need to look elsewhere.
We need someone to replace Tim Ream. Yes he's been outstanding this season, but he isn't quite at the level required. Tosin has to be our main focal point at CB with someone to compliment his style.

I thought Anguissa had been sold already? But we need a proper, solid midfielder. Keane, Viera esque. One who will break up play Reed is a good back up.

We also need to replace Carvalho.

Maybe we should start a Gofundme to try and buy Pogba. 

[H4usuallysitting]

If we decide on a new keeper...Areola literally lives around the corner & his family have settled locally

[Whitestone]

We need a new leftback as a matter of urgency. Bryan is better than Robinson but neither are good enough.

I guess its just a matter of opinion rather than a matter of urgency. IMO Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan and he already has a Premier League season under his belt when he was rarely criticised the way some fans have criticised him this season. That's because he showed he could handle the division. In the Premier League we will have less possession and will be on the back foot. Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan so I expect we'll see more of him.  Just my opinion of course.

[WolverineFFC]

We need a new leftback as a matter of urgency. Bryan is better than Robinson but neither are good enough.

I guess its just a matter of opinion rather than a matter of urgency. IMO Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan and he already has a Premier League season under his belt when he was rarely criticised the way some fans have criticised him this season. That's because he showed he could handle the division. In the Premier League we will have less possession and will be on the back foot. Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan so I expect we'll see more of him.  Just my opinion of course.

Agreed. Robinson is an absolutely passable premier league LB. He basically is the same player at both levels. A solid defender who is rarely beat for pace or strength. He can run for days, but his composure and technical skills are subpar. So we will continue to see the misplayed passes and occasionally silly fouls. Do I think the club could improve upon him? Of course. But when you have 6 or 7 other positions in the starting 11 in greater need of upgrading, it would be foolish to waste transfer funds at his position.

[Denver Fulham]

We need a new leftback as a matter of urgency. Bryan is better than Robinson but neither are good enough.

I guess its just a matter of opinion rather than a matter of urgency. IMO Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan and he already has a Premier League season under his belt when he was rarely criticised the way some fans have criticised him this season. That's because he showed he could handle the division. In the Premier League we will have less possession and will be on the back foot. Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan so I expect we'll see more of him.  Just my opinion of course.

Agreed. Robinson is an absolutely passable premier league LB. He basically is the same player at both levels. A solid defender who is rarely beat for pace or strength. He can run for days, but his composure and technical skills are subpar. So we will continue to see the misplayed passes and occasionally silly fouls. Do I think the club could improve upon him? Of course. But when you have 6 or 7 other positions in the starting 11 in greater need of upgrading, it would be foolish to waste transfer funds at his position.

If we're ranking our current starters in terms of most likely to start the PL opener assuming they're healthy, I'd go with this:

1.Mitrovic
2. Tosin
3. Wilson

[Huge gap]

4./5. Tete/Robinson

[Gap]

6. Reed
7. Cairney
8. Kebano
9. Rodak
10. BDR at CAM?
11. Ream

If an incredible LB at a cheap price comes available, you take him, but there are 6-7 other starting positions that need replacements/upgrades more than we need one for Jedi. Can't see us going that deep this summer in terms of starting-caliber new faces.

I have Rodak that low because it seems like the club is looking for a big upgrade, but if you really improve in front of him, maybe he gets a chance. I don't believe we're getting up to the Tete/Robinson tier in terms of starter replacements, tho. At least not intended for the start of the campaign.

[WolverineFFC]

We need a new leftback as a matter of urgency. Bryan is better than Robinson but neither are good enough.

I guess its just a matter of opinion rather than a matter of urgency. IMO Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan and he already has a Premier League season under his belt when he was rarely criticised the way some fans have criticised him this season. That's because he showed he could handle the division. In the Premier League we will have less possession and will be on the back foot. Robinson is a much better defender than Bryan so I expect we'll see more of him.  Just my opinion of course.

Agreed. Robinson is an absolutely passable premier league LB. He basically is the same player at both levels. A solid defender who is rarely beat for pace or strength. He can run for days, but his composure and technical skills are subpar. So we will continue to see the misplayed passes and occasionally silly fouls. Do I think the club could improve upon him? Of course. But when you have 6 or 7 other positions in the starting 11 in greater need of upgrading, it would be foolish to waste transfer funds at his position.

If we're ranking our current starters in terms of most likely to start the PL opener assuming they're healthy, I'd go with this:

1.Mitrovic
2. Tosin
3. Wilson

[Huge gap]

4./5. Tete/Robinson

[Gap]

6. Reed
7. Cairney
8. Kebano
9. Rodak
10. BDR at CAM?
11. Ream

If an incredible LB at a cheap price comes available, you take him, but there are 6-7 other starting positions that need replacements/upgrades more than we need one for Jedi. Can't see us going that deep this summer in terms of starting-caliber new faces.

I have Rodak that low because it seems like the club is looking for a big upgrade, but if you really improve in front of him, maybe he gets a chance. I don't believe we're getting up to the Tete/Robinson tier in terms of starter replacements, tho. At least not intended for the start of the campaign.

I think those rankings are pretty accurate. In addition, I would prioritize another backup to Mitro and a 3rd CB before I would spend much on replacements for the FB's.

[USNA90]

I've never understood the idea that the team that got promoted needs to stay together in the PL with minimal changes - you don't have to look any further back than the start of the 20-21 season to see that's a recipe for disaster.  Fulham got promoted because they did what they needed to do against lesser teams (Coventry and Derby County aside).  However, for those of you who think keeping this team more-or-less together is the path to success in the PL, I offer up this thought: Fulham was 3 - 4 - 3 against Bournemouth and the four Championship playoff teams, earning 13 points out of a possible 30 against some of the likely bottom tier teams in the PL next year. Not exactly awe-inspiring.

Fulham's recent promotion problems didn't come about due to a change in team chemistry. They happened because they either recruited the wrong players, recruited players too late, or a combination of the two. Simply put, they need to recruit better and do it faster - but recruit they must if there's to be any hope of survival in the PL.