Timothy Castagne signs official

[General]

Nice touch, wonder what the history is there.

Picture perfect. 📸 pic.twitter.com/qBjZsdIzSS

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 29, 2023

[General]

Castagne at the Cottage! 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/gKu6nnStQ6

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 29, 2023

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[General]

CASTAGNE SIGNS FOR FULHAM

By Geoff Pruce

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The Club is delighted to announce the signing of Timothy Castagne from Leicester City for an undisclosed fee.

A right-back who is perfectly adept at operating on the opposite side as well, Castagne has agreed a contract until the summer of 2027, with an option to extend by a further 12 months.

He will wear the number 21 shirt.

Speaking to FFCtv at Craven Cottage, Castagne said: "I feel very good. It's been a long transfer window, but finally I'm here, and I'm happy to be here.

"It's a big relief. I've talked to the Manager and I just can't wait to start training and playing."

Tony Khan added: "I'm excited to welcome Timothy Castagne to Fulham!

"He's a versatile and very talented defender with great experience in the Premier League and international competition for Belgium.

"I'm pleased that Timothy has committed to a four year contract with us, and we believe that he'll be an excellent addition to Marco's squad!

"Come on Fulham!"

Castagne broke into the Genk first team at the age of just 18, going on to make 27 appearances in his maiden campaign.

The following season he helped them qualify for Europe courtesy of a fifth place finish in the Belgian top flight, leading to a memorable Europa League adventure in 2016/17 when they made it through to the Quarter-Finals.

Castagne's performances in his 99 Genk appearances caught the eye of Serie A outfit Atalanta, who parted with €6m to bring the player to Italy.

During his time at the club, Castagne helped Atalanta secure consecutive third place finishes, while he also sampled Champions League football for the first time as the team reached the knockout stages in 2020.

It was in Italy where he demonstrated his capabilities at the top end of the pitch, registering eight goals and 10 assists in 96 outings.

The Premier League was the next port of call for the versatile full-back, with Leicester paying a reported €25m for his services.

It was a dream first season for Castagne and his new side. After scoring on his Premier League debut, he helped them finish fifth in the league, before going on to win the FA Cup. Castagne played the full 90 minutes of their 1-0 win over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.

He followed that up with an eighth place finish and a Europa Conference League Semi-Final appearance.

Castagne's Leicester career reads five goals and eight assists in 112 matches.

Having made numerous appearances for Belgium from Under-18 to Under-21 level, Castagne was handed a senior debut in 2018, and has since appeared at the 2020 European Championship and 2022 World Cup.

He now has 33 international caps to his name, in which time he's scored twice.

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/august/29/castagne-signs-for-fulham/

[WhiteJC]

Belgian defender Timothy Castagne has left Leicester City Football Club to join Fulham for an undisclosed fee, subject to league approval.

- Belgian international departs King Power Stadium
- The 27-year-old has joined Fulham on a permanent deal
- He made 112 appearances for the Foxes in all competitions

The 27-year-old, who helped the Foxes to Emirates FA Cup and Community Shield victories in 2021, joined the Club from Atalanta in September 2020.

He made 112 appearances in all competitions and scored five goals, as well as playing a key role in City reaching the semi-final of the UEFA Europa Conference League in May 2022.

He leaves Leicester City with the best wishes of everyone at the Club for his future career.



https://www.lcfc.com/news/3654703/timothy-castagne-completes-fulham-transfer?lang=en

[JEEVES]

Good Signing, keep them coming please!

[jayffc]

Great "Cover" at RB (And LB) in someone who can and has been a quality starter at this level for years successfully. So not "just backup" but absolutely someone who can push Tete (who is m favourite RB ever for Fulham). Great to know if Tete is out we have someone capable of keeping levels high who can also operate if short in other areas.

A great sign for squad depth which is so vital to successful teams.

Welcome Timothy!

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

The £12-15m reported for a player who we all agree is coming as 'cover' seems well over the top for me. Not to mention Leicester fans appear happy he's gone. Can't say I'm thrilled by this one.

[General]

The £12-15m reported for a player who we all agree is coming as 'cover' seems well over the top for me. Not to mention Leicester fans appear happy he's gone. Can't say I'm thrilled by this one.

I'm not so sure he's guaranteed to be cover.

He's also versatile and can play both sides, which means he'll probably get a decent amount of game time as things stand.

The benefit also of building a strong squad with depth is that you can compete on multiple fronts and really lean into squad rotation and having the players all feel included.

It's a sign of ambition if we continue along this route.

The reason why I think he may not be considered a back up is because of the following...

Marco had him as his top summer target

He's got a better goal scoring and assist ratio than our other full backs.

He seems more versatile. Both Robinson and tete are great, but they are strongly one sided. Everyone would think it absurd to put tete on at LB and Robinson on at RB, castagne you wouldn't.

He's also done well at his career in different countries, which suggests his quality.

He won two trophies at Leicester and 2 third place finishes in Italy in an impressive Atalanta side.. also got through to the semi final of the ECL..

I really rate Tete and Robinson, they're both great for us and solid players who I'd like to keep at fulham long term. Tete last season was incredible in particular.

But this is strong competition for both now.. and potentially have reguilon coning in too.

Its a good choice to have, now it's Marco's job to bring everyone together and keep them happy. The hard part.

[jayffc]

The £12-15m reported for a player who we all agree is coming as 'cover' seems well over the top for me. Not to mention Leicester fans appear happy he's gone. Can't say I'm thrilled by this one.

It's not "cover" in the sense that he's some random squad filler. He's legitimately started for years in top leagues and for a good Belgium national team. It's absolutely plausible at some point he gets a run of games, does well, and defends a starting position.

The sort of player where if a big Tete bid came in next year we'd have a player legitimately capable of starting without panicking about that position. In a world where Rice goes for 105m, £12m for a good international player capable of playing RB and LB is perfectly good business if you ask me.

We're fortunate to have landed one of the bargains of the century in Tete, but if we want to get to the next level, we need quality players across the bench who would be capable starters at other clubs in their own right, as all the top teams do.

[General]

First interview

https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/august/29/castagne--worth-the-wait/

[Fulham Tup North]

The £12-15m reported for a player who we all agree is coming as 'cover' seems well over the top for me. Not to mention Leicester fans appear happy he's gone. Can't say I'm thrilled by this one.

It's not "cover" in the sense that he's some random squad filler. He's legitimately started for years in top leagues and for a good Belgium national team. It's absolutely plausible at some point he gets a run of games, does well, and defends a starting position.

The sort of player where if a big Tete bid came in next year we'd have a player legitimately capable of starting without panicking about that position. In a world where Rice goes for 105m, £12m for a good international player capable of playing RB and LB is perfectly good business if you ask me.

We're fortunate to have landed one of the bargains of the century in Tete, but if we want to get to the next level, we need quality players across the bench who would be capable starters at other clubs in their own right, as all the top teams do.

Also for Tete to improve we need players who can push him.. he can't sit back and think he's the first name on the sheet each week, because there is someone who could easily oust him.  Positive competition is vital to keep improving....
Welcome Timothy 
COYW

[Arthur]

The £12-15m reported for a player who we all agree is coming as 'cover' seems well over the top for me. Not to mention Leicester fans appear happy he's gone. Can't say I'm thrilled by this one.

Seemingly, Castagne is someone very much admired by Marco. If the Club, wherever possible, can sign those players whom Marco most wants and it convinces him that the Club's ambitions meet his own, and he then signs a new contract, it might be the Club has done what is best overall for its stability and progress in the season ahead.

[sunburywhite]

Is he eligble for the cup tomorrow?

[OZ-WHITE]

Entirely possible he comes in as Right Wing/ Left Wing who can cover Right Back/ Left Back
Thats Silva's game style really , a winger who can swap sides during a game and also provide a higher level of defensive cover for the full backs . At the moment Mbabu is Tete's backup , I don't believe we are going to offload him now that Castagne has signed on

[hovewhite]

The £12-15m reported for a player who we all agree is coming as 'cover' seems well over the top for me. Not to mention Leicester fans appear happy he's gone. Can't say I'm thrilled by this one.

people still find things to moan about hope I don't sit next to you at a game as this site must have the biggest load of people that are not happy ever.

[Tabby]

Entirely possible he comes in as Right Wing/ Left Wing who can cover Right Back/ Left Back
Thats Silva's game style really , a winger who can swap sides during a game and also provide a higher level of defensive cover for the full backs . At the moment Mbabu is Tete's backup , I don't believe we are going to offload him now that Castagne has signed on

I doubt Mbabu is in the plan Silva has consistently said that we only have one RB in interviews and also said that Castagne is a target for RB and LB yesterday.

[filham]

It is on the OFFAL but there are three days to window closing day, seems as though we may be changining out habit of being late with signings.
£15m for a player to provide cover for Tete seems a lot of money, shame that an academy player, like Sess., could not have done the job.

[Fulham 442]

Is he eligble for the cup tomorrow?

We're playing tonight!

[General]

If this is to be believed he had a similar season to Tete in terms of quality last season.. would be pretty scary in a good way if true given how well tete played and castagne was in a relegation team. There's a graphic on the link, but I can't seem to get images from articles onto posts.


In profile: Timothy Castagne

Jack Stroudley looks at our first signing (of probably many) this week.

It's going to be a very busy week, Marco Silva stated after our 2-2 draw with Arsenal that Fulham still needed five more signings and the first of those has just been announced. Timothy Castagne has been linked with a move to Fulham all summer but a deal between £12.5m and £15m has been completed. I'm sure this won't be the last profile piece I write this week, but let's find out a little bit more about our soon to be newest signing.

The fact file
Castagne started his youth and professional career in Belgium playing for KRC Genk, he would earn his first league start in football under Alex McLeish in 2014 against Club Brugge. Playing over eighty times during his three year spell at professional level, Castagne earned his first major move to Italian side Atalanta for €6m.

The Belgian international's first season in Italian football was seen as an adapting year, he improved during his second year at the club where he played over thirty times in all competitions. While Castagne was strong defensively, he would also pick up goal contributions regularly with 18 over the course of his tenure in Italy. A third season and another impressive one for Atalanta would catch the attention of Leicester City who signed the full-back on a five-year deal.

The now 27-year-old became a staple of the Leicester City side playing 112 times for the Foxes over his three season spell which included 13 goal contributions as well as an FA Cup. Following Leicester's relegation, Castagne is looking for a new challenge and appears to have found it with Fulham.

A deeper dive
Castagne is a full-back who despite being able to cover either side, is much more confident playing on the right. Over the course of his career, he's featured 206 times on the right (either in defence or midfield) compared to 75 times on the left. Meaning that while he is able to provide cover for Robinson, he is more likely to deputise for Kenny Tete.

Castagne does have some attacking qualities with five goal contributions last season, but he excels defensively. The Belgian averaged 3.11 clearances per 90 last season putting him in the top 7% in Europe, the top 16% for tackles as well as in the top 20% for blocks and aerial duels won. So how does Castagne compare to Tete?


Castagne (Blue) compared to Tete (Green) for the 2022/23 season, thanks to Soccerment.

We can see here that the players are both very similar in terms of defensive and attacking output, a slight height advantage gives the Belgian the edge on physicality but both players statistically are very similar. We all know how good Tete is so if we can get someone in to replicate what the Dutchman can offer when he's unable to play, it's only going to be positive.

The final verdict
I like Castagne, I've always been a fan of him when I've watched Leicester and a relegation on his CV doesn't truly reflect the calibre of player he is. It's a bit of business that summarises what we've tried to do over the last few seasons. Very shrewd, can cover multiple positions and at a good price. A four-year deal with an option of a fifth as well means that he does have some sell-on value and at 27 he's just coming into the peak of his powers. It's a big yes from me.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2023-08-29-in-profile-timothy-castagne/

[Lighthouse]

Silva rarely makes public the players he wanted. Clearly by his statements this is one of his. So while I can understand that some will find Castagne an underwhelming signing. As I did. I doubt very much he is going to be a filler in the squad. Silva has a clear idea for him so we wait and see.

Good luck to him and hopefully the first of many.