Thursday Fulham Stuff - 02/01/25...

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Wednesday 01/01
Brentford	1-3	Arsenal

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Man United Want to Sign £40m Premier League Star in January – Report
Man Utd's Targeted £40m Solution to Wing-Back Woes

Manchester United's search for a solution to their problematic left-back position appears to be honing in on Fulham's Antonee Robinson. According to Give Me Sport, the club's interest in the American international has intensified, particularly since Robinson has adapted to a wing-back role at Fulham—a position he is expected to fill at Old Trafford under Ruben Amorim.

Robinson's Rising Stock
This season, Robinson has emerged as a key player for Fulham, not just in defence but also as a significant attacking contributor. With seven assists already, he ranks third in the Premier League for assists, trailing only behind superstars Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka. Such statistics highlight his quality and versatility, making him a valuable target for United.

"Robinson has been flying for Fulham this season, with 7 assists already in the Premier League season he finds himself third in the division for assists," reports Give Me Sport. This performance is a testament to his skill and adaptability in a demanding league.

Why Robinson Fits United's System
The significance of a proficient wing-back in Ruben Amorim's tactical setup cannot be overstated. Operating in a 3-4-2-1 formation, the role of the wing-backs is crucial for providing width in both attack and defence. Without effective wing-backs, the team's formation could lose its balance, forcing other players to fill out of position areas, thereby weakening the central attack zone.

Currently, United's options like Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot have struggled to fulfill this role effectively, lacking the specific attributes needed to excel as solo wing threats. Robinson's potential arrival could address this gap, offering pace and a proven ability to contribute directly to goal-scoring opportunities.

Financial Feasibility and Strategic Fit
The estimated £40m valuation of Robinson fits within United's budget, especially with potential exits from the squad freeing up financial resources. His acquisition would not only solve a tactical problem but also represents a strategic investment in a player still developing and possibly rising in value.

Our View – EPL Index Analysis
As a Manchester United fan, the prospect of signing Antonee Robinson brings a mix of excitement and relief. The left-back position has been a point of frustration for seasons, and Robinson's current form suggests he could be the solution we desperately need. His ability to play as a wing-back under Amorim's system seems particularly promising.

Robinson's performance stats are impressive, especially his assist tally, which places him among the top creators in the league this season. This attacking prowess, combined with his defensive duties, makes him a dual threat, which United has been missing. The potential to see him linking up with the likes of Bruno Fernandes and potentially rejuvenating United's left flank is thrilling.

Furthermore, the financial aspect seems manageable. A £40m investment in a player of Robinson's calibre and age is reasonable, considering the inflated market. It's also encouraging that United could fund this transfer by offloading some less essential squad members, which would also help streamline the team for Amorim's vision.

In conclusion, if United secures Robinson, it could be a pivotal moment in turning our fortunes around, particularly in how we manage games from a tactical standpoint. Robinson could very well be the missing piece in Amorim's puzzle at Old Trafford.



https://eplindex.com/125053/man-united-want-to-sign-40m-premier-league-star-in-january-report.html

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Jamie Carragher suggests Liverpool has already seen perfect Andy Robertson replacement
Liverpool could be in the market for a new left-sided defender with Andy Robertson's performances dropping in recent month, and Jamie Carragher hinted he has already seen the perfect one at Anfield

 Jamie Carragher has praised the talent of Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson, opening the door to the possibility that he is the man to replace Andy Robertson as Liverpool's new left-back.

There's a growing feeling around Anfield that the Reds will need to look for additional resources at left-back soon, with Robertson's performances taking a sharp nose dive this season.

Robinson is seen as one of the Premier League's outstanding left-backs and was widely selected in many Teams of the Season at the halfway point of the 2024/25 campaign. He was in Carragher' s, who, in a post on X, justified the selection and stated: "Gave the best left back performance I've seen this season at Anfield for Fulham. Got 7 assists also."

The American international has been linked with a move to Liverpool in recent weeks, with Football Insider claiming the Reds are 'keeping tabs' on him.

 Meanwhile, Give Me Sport has stated that Manchester United is considering whether to make an approach for Robinson in the January window, with Ruben Amorim feeling the Fulham star would be an ideal candidate to play in an attacking left wing-back role.

Either way, Liverpool's interest, or lack of, is unlikely to be relevant in January, with Arne Slot already confirming he does not expect any major additions this month.

"There's nothing in the media yet about who we're going to bring in? No? And also not in my mind," he said after Sunday's win over West Ham United. "I'm very happy with the squad we have, I said this six months ago and everybody was like 'is this guy crazy?' But I think the players show the confidence the club and me had in them was all deserved."

That stance goes against Carragher's advice, with the ex-defender recently telling Slot to consider bringing in a left-back during the mid-season window.

"He [Robertson] needs help, doesn't he? [Kostas] Tsimikas is injured and he's not at that level, we know that," Carragher said last month. "But Robertson is playing too much football. He can still do 15-20 games a season, but he needs help in January."



https://www.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/jamie-carragher-antonee-robinson-transfer-30688615

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Fulham's Best Moments of 2024

As an exciting 2025 approaches, George Rossiter reflects on the best Fulham moments of 2024, including some special derby wins, last minute drama and a couple of emotional returns.

7. Poacher's Purple Patches

For half a decade, whilst Fulham sides under Jokanovic, Parker and Silva could rely on the goalscoring abilities of Aleksandar Mitrovic, we came into the year of 2024 searching for solutions following the summer 2023 departure of our Mitro. Jimenez was continuing to struggle following his awful skull injury at Wolves, and Rodrigo Muniz was still an unknown at Premier League level. In 2024, however, both would go through spells of form that would not only excite the fanbase, but pay back the faith shown in them by Marco Silva to be our options in the Premier League.

Going into February 2024, Muniz was yet to open his account in the Premier League. Within a few months, he was an emotional and proud winner of a Premier League Player of the Month award and ended the 2023/24 season as Fulham's top scorer, with nine in the Premier League and 10 in all competitions, including two braces against Tottenham and Bournemouth. Raul Jimenez's return to goalscoring form in the Premier League has been equally as heartwarming. His last Wolves goal had come midway through the 2021/22 season, with the Mexican spending multiple years struggling to re-find the form he'd been in prior to his nasty head injury sustained in a duel with David Luiz. However, Marco Silva's faith in the forward has paid off. Jimenez scored nine goals in the calendar year of 2024, including important goals in wins against Newcastle and Forest. Those goals have made him Mexico's all time top scorer in the Premier League, a wonderful accolade for Raul.

6. Semi Final Pride

The biggest story in the Fulham world was the club's first ever League Cup semi-final, with the two-legged tie against Liverpool to be played in January. And boy did we give it a go as big underdogs. The Whites led the first leg at Anfield at half time following an early Willian strike. Unfortunately, despite a brilliant performance, Liverpool scored twice in quick succession to win the game, as they previously had done in the league fixture at Anfield. Despite those goals from Jones and Gakpo, Fulham went back to the Cottage just one goal behind and with their dreams of a Wembley final still alive.

What an occasion that second leg was at the Cottage. The Hammersmith End was a true sight to behold with displays and fire going off in front of the home fans, making it clear that this was a real spectacle and potentially a special night in the club's history. While Liverpool took an early lead through Diaz, Diop gave Fulham hope by bringing the aggregate score back to 2-3 with a quarter of an hour to play. Liverpool would eventually prevail and beat Chelsea at Wembley. However, the pride of reaching that stage of the competition and taking on the mighty Liverpool over 180 minutes in such an amazing occasion filled our fans with nothing but pride and ultimately an ambition that one day in the near future under Marco Silva, we can go that extra step further.

5. Ange Annihilated at Cottage

Ange Postecoglu had gained many admirers since his move to the Premier League to manage Tottenham Hotspur. His side were top of the league ten games, and though they'd slipped away from those lofty heights by the time they arrived at the Cottage in March, their style of football had received praise from many in the media. Fulham were coming off the back of a poor performance in a defeat at Molineux and were the underdogs in this one...

This was a proper one sided game, but not in the way people may have expected. Fulham started like a house on fire and were comfortably the better team, but for a while it felt like a game where the Whites would reflect on missed opportunities. That was until the in form Rodrigo Muniz opened the scoring just before half time. Another two followed via Lukic and then Muniz again within 15 minutes of the restart, with Tottenham resorting to damage limitation against Marco Silva's side. After multiple good performances against the typical 'top six' that hadn't warranted the results they deserved, this game on top of a New Years' Eve win over Arsenal were a sign of our ability to compete with the best in the country.

4. Exciting Summer Arrivals (and re-arrivals)

The summer transfer window was one of the most exciting in this club's recent history. With the departures of Mitrovic and then Palhinha in the two most recent summer windows, the money was there to be spent and there was scope to make some really exciting moves, and boy did Fulham deliver. None more so than when the club smashed the previous transfer record by signing England international Emile Smith Rowe for north of £30m. Reiss Nelson followed from Arsenal on a deadline day deal that went right down to the wire.

As well as the two Arsenal boys who came with a tonne of pedigree behind them, there were some emotional returns to Craven Cottage too. Joachim Andersen returned to the club, this time on a permanent deal from Crystal Palace, for a large fee. Andersen was already a fan favourite following his brilliant displays under Scott Parker and fans were delighted to see him return. The most exciting and heartwarming signing though, had to be that of Ryan Sessegnon. Fulham's potentially most loved academy graduate of this century, returned to the place he knows as home following the expiration of his contract of Tottenham. Add to those four signings the arrivals of Sander Berge and Jorge Cuenca, plus the development of Josh King graduating to the first team fold, and the feel good factor was glowing around Motspur Park going into the new season.

3. Theatre of Iwobi's Dreams

When Fulham went to Old Trafford in February, revenge was on the mind. 12 months earlier, this was the scene of what would become an infamous FA Cup quarter-final between the two sides. Fulham had played United off the park but came undone after red cards for Mitrovic, Willian and Marco Silva in an incredible turn of events, which ended up with Man United progressing to the semi-finals as the Whites ultimately fell apart.

Fulham were once again the better side in this league fixture, playing by far the better football against Ten Hag's side, who's form had been ropey all season. With just over an hour on the clock, Calvin Bassey gave the Whites a deserved lead. Fulham continued to play with confidence, looking to see out a famous win, until Harry Maguire turned home from close range in the 90th minute, breaking the hearts of everyone in the away end. When a lengthy amount of stoppage time was added on, Fulham's fans feared the worse, we'd been here before with Man United and it never ended well. Suddenly, Adama Traore had burst forward over half of the length of the Old Trafford pitch, finding Alex Iwobi in the penalty area. The Nigerian slotted home in the 97th minute, sending the away end into delirium and putting to bed most of the pain from the previous season's nightmare.

2. Wilson's Derby Delight

Fulham came into the first South West London derby of the season in a rather pessimistic mood. Not only was there the worries that come with a derby game against our newest 'rivals' from Hounslow, but Fulham didn't find themselves in the best form. Despite outplaying the champions at the Etihad, Fulham had fallen to defeat against Man City. Another defeat followed at the hands of Aston Villa, before a last minute Beto equaliser denied the Whites all three points at Goodison. Optimism amongst Fulham fans for such a big fixture was dwindling in the build up to this one.

Those fears came to life in the game. Fulham just did not get going and when Vitaly Janelt scored a screamer from range to put the bus stop side in the lead, it felt like it was going to be a painful evening at the Cottage. As the minutes ticked down, Fulham improved but to no avail. Then up stepped Harry Wilson. 92nd minute, right wing cross, the Welsh Wizard looks to backheel a volleyed effort, and though it appeared to come off the shin, it did enough to loop over Flekken (and win Premier League goal of the month). The joy did not end there. 97th minute, left wing cross, Wilson heads home. Whilst the ball almost seemed to move in slow motion towards the corner of the net, the roof coming off the Hammersmith End happened instantaneously. One of  the most memorable moments in the history of our grand old stadium.

1. Blues Beaten at Bridge (Finally!)

When I was growing up, despite the rivalry with QPR, despite the emerging derbies with Brentford, despite the historical hatred of Gillingham, Chelsea was the team. They were the team that you had to absolutely despise more than any other. Just one issue, they were also the team I grew up seeing us lose over and over to. Even when we weren't beaten, it still felt gutting coming away from a Fulham-Chelsea fixture. Take Dempsey's Valentine's Day penalty miss in stoppage time, for example. Though Carlos Vinicius may have ended a long wait for a win over the Blues not so long ago, it was 1979 the last time Fulham won at Stamford Bridge in a game of any sort of magnitude.

After 45 years of dreaming of a win at the Bridge, finally, this Fulham side delivered one. Cole Palmer's genius prevailed in a fairly equal first half of football, and let's not forget that this is no joke of a Chelsea side, at the time of the game they were comfortably Liverpool's biggest title threat. Just like against Brentford, Fulham grew and grew into the game, but as the game came to a close, it seemed like another frustrating derby day. 'Then up stepped Harry Wilson'... a familiar tale. The Welshman once again heading home a crucial derby goal to equalise after Robinson's cross was headed back across goal by Timothy Castagne into Wilson's path. What happened at that same end of the pitch not five minutes later will remain in Fulham folklore until the end of time. Sasa Lukic bombed down the right hand side on the counter, finds the perfect pass for Rodrigo Muniz in the penalty area. With 95 minutes on the clock, the popular young Brazilian produces a composed finish beyond his years, sending the away fans present at Stamford Bridge into a mix of a frenzy, disbelief and genuine tears. Greatest moment of 2024? Without a doubt. It's probably as good as anything we've seen from a Fulham team since the days of Roy Hodgson.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/post/2025-01-01-fulhams-best-moments-of-2024/

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Fulham player 'top priority' for manager – Club will make another offer to sign him in January
Marseille have rekindled their interest in Fulham's Andreas Pereira, after failing to sign him in the summer window.

That's according to Nosso Palestra, who state the Ligue 1 side will make another offer for the 28-year-old.

Marseille sent an offer to Fulham in the last window, and it was also confirmed by Pereira last month.

The report now claims the French club had offered €25m and it was turned down by the Premier League side.

They will soon make another offer for the Brazil international in the winter market mainly because of Roberto De Zerbi. It's claimed the Italian manager has identified the midfielder as the 'top priority' and his side will make an offer to Marco Silva's side in January.

There's no mention of the fee Marseille are planning to propose or if the London club are willing to let the player leave.

Palmeiras are also keen on signing the former Manchester United man and can offer up to €22m in instalments.

Earlier today, ESPN in Brazil reported Pereira hasn't responded to Palmeiras' offer because he's awaiting proposals from Europe.

With Marseille set to table a bid, the player could favour them over Palmeiras, as long as De Zerbi's side can convince Fulham.



http://sportwitness.co.uk/fulham-player-top-priority-for-manager-club-will-make-another-offer-to-sign-him-in-january/

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Marseille mulling new Pereira move
Marseille are considering improving on their £20m bid last summer for Fulham attacking midfielder Andreas Pereira, according to the Times reporter Gary Jacob.

The Brazilian international, who celebrates his 29th birthday today, has been told by Marco Silva that he will need to submit a transfer request to leave Craven Cottage after being dropped last month having given an interview expressing an interest in moving elsewhere. He was explicit in that discussion about how 'cool' it would be to work with Marseille head coach Roberto di Zerbi and, although the former Manchester United midfielder claimed his comments had been taken out of context and mistranslated, PL Brasil proved that to be incorrect within 24 hours.

Silva is known to be disappointed by Pereira's flirting with other sides having handed the Brazilian a chance to revive his career in England after his early promise at Old Trafford fizzing out. He has been a key player since Fulham returned to the top flight, making 99 appearances and scoring ten goals, and is under contract until 2026. The Whites do not wish to sell Pereira in this window, but the entrance of Marseille – currently second in Ligue 1 – into a bidding war could lead to attractive offers.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2025/01/marseille-mulling-new-pereira-move/

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Manchester United Cooking Move For This Fulham Star: What Will He Bring?
Ruben Amorim is pushing the club to go after Antonee Robinson.

According to a report by Give Me Sport, Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is pushing the club to go after Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson in the January transfer window. However, they will face stiff competition for the signature of the player.

Antonee Robinson has done excellent
Antonee Robinson joined Fulham in the summer of 2020. Since then, he has taken huge strides in his professional career. He has established himself as one of the best left-back across the globe and proved himself at different stages.

Robinson is having an impactful campaign so far as he has already provided seven assists in 19 games. He is averaging 2.7 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 3.1 clearances per game (stats via whoscored).

The USA international is physically solid, can be relied for one-on-one situation and also marks an aerial presence. He is one of the fastest players in the Premier League and provides high work-rate. He is also effective in the offensive front by creating chances.

Antonee Robinson can improve Manchester United instantly
Manchester United are bound to target a new left-back as recurring fitness issues with Luke Shaw are doing no good for them. As they have started a new project under Ruben Amorim, they need to provide him with better resources.

Antonee Robinson could be a great addition to the unit as he can be impactful on both fronts on the pitch. He will suit well in the Portuguese system, who gives the full-back more freedom. His ample Premier League experience will allow him to settle down quickly at the Old Trafford.

The 27-year-old is valued at £40 million, which shouldn't an issue for Manchester United. However, the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea are also present in the race. It will be interesting to see which English giants get to acquire the services of the left-back.



https://the4thofficial.net/2025/01/manchester-united-cooking-move-for-this-fulham-star-what-will-he-bring/

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Most chances created from open play 2024: Iwobi is third-best behind only Chelsea and Arsenal stars
Nigeria international Alex Iwobi created the third most chances from open play in Europe's top five leagues in 2024, according to football statistics website Whoscored. 

The Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A and France's Ligue 1 make up Europe's top five football leagues.

The Fulham attacking midfielder and winger created 67 chances  in the English top-flight, bettered only by Chelsea star Cole Palmer (79) and Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard (76).

Completing the top five are Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and Liverpool forward Luis Díaz, both with 66 chances to their name.

Iwobi is one of Fulham's most important players, making the difference from the middle of the pitch or on the flanks.

The Hale End Academy product has been deployed in multiple positions, including left wing, right wing, central midfield, attacking midfield and right midfield.

Sitting eighth in the table, six points behind the Champions League qualification spots, Fulham have impressed in the league this season, thanks in large part to Iwobi's outstanding form.

Iwobi has either scored or assisted against seven different teams this season, namely Leicester City, Newcastle United, Everton, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel



https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=54177

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Brighton delay Ferguson decision
Fulham are looking at a host of possible striking additions after Brighton and Hove Albion indicated they would delay a decision on whether to let Evan Ferguson leave on loan until towards the end of January.

Marco Silva wants to add another centre forward to provide competition to Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz with the Whites having sold Jay Stansfield to Birmingham City on the last day of the summer transfer window. Fulham hold an interest in Ferguson, but the Irish international is currently injured and Brighton are unwilling to allow the 20 year-old's desire for more regular first-team football to strengthen a potential rival for European qualification, according to the Times.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2025/01/brighton-delay-ferguson-decision/