Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2025

[Carborundum]

Douglas Luiz would be a top signing. He can play a deeper midfield role as well as a more advanced role. Would be a huge fan of a deal for him. If it's a loan deal we have to get an option though - one good season with us and his price tag will go through the roof.

Agreed.  The best opposition player I saw at the Cottage two seasons ago.  Villa got the ball to him and he sliced us to ribbons.  So much time on the ball. 

[JimmyConway]

Marco Silva is prioritising quality over quantity this summer. There will be additions to strengthen key areas and the plan is to keep this squad together as much as possible.

I think it's all a little too cosy at Fulham. Players wrestling, no competition for several places and new contracts for the boys into their 30s and later. Might be getting good enough results for now, but doesn't sound like a high performing culture in the medium term.

too cosy in the dug out as well by my reckoning. Last season was poor despite the record points total

If you ask Everton fans he spent so much money on crap and they are still paying the price . Luiz Isn't a upgrade on what we have in my opinion

I do not know anyone of our midfield who could lay a glove on Luiz! Can play holding can play more advanced. Reads the game so well is technically very good has brilliant vision and not frightened to put a tackle in. Hate to say it but possibly to good for Fulham?

[irish_mike]

Marco Silva is prioritising quality over quantity this summer. There will be additions to strengthen key areas and the plan is to keep this squad together as much as possible.

I think it's all a little too cosy at Fulham. Players wrestling, no competition for several places and new contracts for the boys into their 30s and later. Might be getting good enough results for now, but doesn't sound like a high performing culture in the medium term.

too cosy in the dug out as well by my reckoning. Last season was poor despite the record points total

Poor?

Really?

I will never understand a fulham fan calling that season poor.

It literally ranks as the best set of results the team has EVER achieved in it's entire history in the top flight. In almost any other season since premier league inception that points total has us top half and often qualifying for europe even higher

It tailed off towards the end, mostly in line with key injuries and unfortunately being a competitive year for Europe we slipped into bottom half by a whisker.

But poor is pure recency bias. Did people forget that most of the season we were hovering around 6th-9th before the back stretch. I get that it was a disappointing end to the season for sure but man.

We support Fulham 🤣🤣 - I don't think I can ever recall us consistantly sitting around that that high a league position,for that length of time in the prem,in many decades of supporting Fulham.

I appreciate the counter argument.

To me it wss the weakest Premier league in years. We stumbled across our record points total but still finished 12th wasn't it?

He couldn't get a tune out of ESR or Andersen or keep a clean sheet.

Once you scratch beneath the surface of "record points total" you'll see alot to be desired in my opinion

I also completely disagree with the little old Fulham mentality.

[@jolslover]

Marco Silva is prioritising quality over quantity this summer. There will be additions to strengthen key areas and the plan is to keep this squad together as much as possible.

I think it's all a little too cosy at Fulham. Players wrestling, no competition for several places and new contracts for the boys into their 30s and later. Might be getting good enough results for now, but doesn't sound like a high performing culture in the medium term.

too cosy in the dug out as well by my reckoning. Last season was poor despite the record points total

If you ask Everton fans he spent so much money on crap and they are still paying the price . Luiz Isn't a upgrade on what we have in my opinion

Yes he defo is IMO. Better than any of our CMs. Played every game for Villa the season they finished 4th and was their player of the season 22/23. Hence why Juventus paid 50m for him. If we could pull this off would be a top signing.

Also love the look of Rios (I know we probably missed the boat on signing him now as some bigger clubs are interested but he looked great in Club World Cup)

[RAY Rock]

Luiz 0 goals 0 assists in 19 games last season he will fit right in

[General]

Luiz 0 goals 0 assists in 19 games last season he will fit right in

You're getting slightly carried away there on the top line of his stats. Yes, on the face of it you're right, but he hardly played. Only managed 90 minutes in the league twice. Most of the rest of his appearances were under 20 mins with a handful over, between 20-30 and a few extras in the 60 minute bracket.

Players can have failed seasons adjusting to different teams/tactics and leagues.. doesn't automatically make them bad. His stats for Villa are better, but admittely he's not got stats to suggest he's a shoe in for us in our starting 11.

38 g/a in 175 games is quite average/poor at PL level, which may explain why Villa sold him? That being said, it's consistent for a player who played DM/CM and AM. Perhaps Silva has different plans and could play him further forward and get better g/a results.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/douglas-luiz/leistungsdaten/spieler/447661

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/douglas-luiz/leistungsdaten/spieler/447661/plus/0?saison=2024

[jayffc]

Marco Silva is prioritising quality over quantity this summer. There will be additions to strengthen key areas and the plan is to keep this squad together as much as possible.

I think it's all a little too cosy at Fulham. Players wrestling, no competition for several places and new contracts for the boys into their 30s and later. Might be getting good enough results for now, but doesn't sound like a high performing culture in the medium term.

too cosy in the dug out as well by my reckoning. Last season was poor despite the record points total

Poor?

Really?

I will never understand a fulham fan calling that season poor.

It literally ranks as the best set of results the team has EVER achieved in it's entire history in the top flight. In almost any other season since premier league inception that points total has us top half and often qualifying for europe even higher

It tailed off towards the end, mostly in line with key injuries and unfortunately being a competitive year for Europe we slipped into bottom half by a whisker.

But poor is pure recency bias. Did people forget that most of the season we were hovering around 6th-9th before the back stretch. I get that it was a disappointing end to the season for sure but man.

We support Fulham 🤣🤣 - I don't think I can ever recall us consistantly sitting around that that high a league position,for that length of time in the prem,in many decades of supporting Fulham.

I appreciate the counter argument.

To me it wss the weakest Premier league in years. We stumbled across our record points total but still finished 12th wasn't it?

He couldn't get a tune out of ESR or Andersen or keep a clean sheet.

Once you scratch beneath the surface of "record points total" you'll see alot to be desired in my opinion

I also completely disagree with the little old Fulham mentality.

I hear you,
but see it completely differently. for me it was way more competitive league than previous years across the board. You can say it was weak, why? Because the same top 6 teams weren't as dominant as normal? You can just as easily view the reason many of them struggled was that the mid-level teams closed the gap and as a whole were much better than normal making it a MORE competitive league generally.

If the prem was supposedly the weakest it's been - why did prem clubs win 2 of the 3 major european trophies still- with an all english final in the europa league?
Plus 2 teams in the champ league quarters & 1 in the semis.

Teams like Forest/Villa/Brighton/Brentford and Fulham have been well managed on and off the pitch recently, and so have been more competitive than normal, which meant increased competition across the board beyond the normal big clubs. It was an exciting and open race for europe as a result.

We finished 11th, 2 points of 9th. So 1 game in it.

In the end period where we fell off - our red hot striker at the time - Muniz, sadly got badly injured. IF that 1 challenge doesn't happen, is it possible, or likely we win 1, maybe even 2 more of those 6 games? Highly plausible imo and all of a sudden we might well have snuck into europe. In a game of fine margins I just can't see how Fulham being in with a shout of europe with a few games left can ever be called "poor". disappointing in the end having come so close, sure...but poor?! I dunno man I just find that a bit overboard personally.

We lost our best RB and RW at the time they got injured - both in top form - lost Nelson for half a season (we were around 6th-8th when he was an option) Lukic in and out, Robinson and Castagne playing on injuries for months that required surgeries, ESR apparently playing through niggling injuries. Yes that's what squads are for but those are alot of absolutely vital players for us. Before this we were flying, so context is necessary here.

I don't think it's small fulham mentality to judge our season based on the reality of the clubs size, history and resources.We all want to aspire to mix it with teams historically bigger than us, but if I can't rank a season where fulham won more games than they've ever before in the prem above "poor"- I'm probbaly gonna spend most of my time following fulham feeling pretty negative ha 😂

Anyway to each to their own. I hope we can push on as I think we're good enough to do so with a couple decent signings. Here's hoping.

[@jolslover]

Luiz 0 goals 0 assists in 19 games last season he will fit right in

9 goals / 6 assists in his last PL season year before playing most games at DM / CM is a great return. Not that I think goals is a metric to judge CMs on..

[Angus Telford]

2024/25 points total in isolation is pure vanity and misleading.

Against meaningful benchmarks like pre-season aims/expectations (top 10, Europe) or closest peer performance (Bournemouth, Forest) we failed, by a significant margin in some cases.

Our status as a club 30+ years ago when we didn't have a pot to pi$$ in has zero relevance to what constitutes a good season today (and I say that as someone who was there).

Injuries are no excuse either. All in all, we didn't have an unusually bad season in that respect.

[FulhamKC]

Watching US-Mexico in the Gold Cup final. 1-1 at halftime with Raul scoring for Mexico.

Mexico have a 16 year old winger named Gilberto Mora who is outstanding. Maybe Raul can get TK to buy him.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

I would be a lot more sympathetic towards the "little old Fulham" line of thinking if it was the case that we as fans were paying little old Fulham prices to support the club.

The reality is that we are nowadays one of the most expensive clubs to support in the country, with a number of players paid six figure salaries on a weekly basis.

It may sound entitled, but I don't think it's entirely unfair to think we should have done better last season despite our points total. If the fans are expected to shell out more to follow the club, I think it's only fair that we as fans raise our expectations of the team to match that.

[AJW48361]

Luiz 0 goals 0 assists in 19 games last season he will fit right in

Certainly a Baller that can dig also

[bahay18]

I think last season is better labelled as frustrating rather than poor . There were some fantastic performances last season which would then be followed by something soft losing us points . In years gone by it would have been called Fulhamish . For all the talk of poor seasons for the big clubs , the top 4 had a very familiar feel to it and the lesser fancied teams all fell away at the end . I think United and spurs would be right to describe their league season as poor , whereas ours was more about some outperformance before squad depth limitations moved us back towards expectations.

[@jolslover]

I think last season is better labelled as frustrating rather than poor . There were some fantastic performances last season which would then be followed by something soft losing us points . In years gone by it would have been called Fulhamish . For all the talk of poor seasons for the big clubs , the top 4 had a very familiar feel to it and the lesser fancied teams all fell away at the end . I think United and spurs would be right to describe their league season as poor , whereas ours was more about some outperformance before squad depth limitations moved us back towards expectations.

It was our highest prem points total ever, how can it be looked on as anything other than positive..

[hovewhite]

I think last season is better labelled as frustrating rather than poor . There were some fantastic performances last season which would then be followed by something soft losing us points . In years gone by it would have been called Fulhamish . For all the talk of poor seasons for the big clubs , the top 4 had a very familiar feel to it and the lesser fancied teams all fell away at the end . I think United and spurs would be right to describe their league season as poor , whereas ours was more about some outperformance before squad depth limitations moved us back towards expectations.

It was our highest prem points total ever, how can it be looked on as anything other than positive..

hugely positive season and getting stronger every season ,king and godo improving the Canadian CH coming through.a back up striker,Luiz if not just gossip ,the future is bright.no little old Fulham from me.

[kiwian]

Watching US-Mexico in the Gold Cup final. 1-1 at halftime with Raul scoring for Mexico.

Mexico have a 16 year old winger named Gilberto Mora who is outstanding. Maybe Raul can get TK to buy him.

I watched the game too, not much side to side stuff, the ref let play go most of the time, keepers not standing on the ball, and good to see Ream up against Jiminez. Very enjoyable

[jayffc]

I think last season is better labelled as frustrating rather than poor . There were some fantastic performances last season which would then be followed by something soft losing us points . In years gone by it would have been called Fulhamish . For all the talk of poor seasons for the big clubs , the top 4 had a very familiar feel to it and the lesser fancied teams all fell away at the end . I think United and spurs would be right to describe their league season as poor , whereas ours was more about some outperformance before squad depth limitations moved us back towards expectations.

It was our highest prem points total ever, how can it be looked on as anything other than positive..

Pre- Disposition , fairly evidentally.

Winning more football games than ever in our history in the top flight is merely a vanity metric apparently. 😅🤷

It was a disappointing end to a thoroughly entertaining and good fulham season imo. I can think of many poor Fulham seasons and that was a long way from one of them. Others see it more negatively. Is what it is, they're free to enjoy it all to the level they wish

Would like to see us finish top 10 next year and be in contention again to sneak a European place, it's a hard old fight in this league though so we'll certainly need some key improvements by end of the summer🤞

[Woolly Mammoth]

I can go along with the positive posts, because the potential is there to build on.
Nevertheless, realism also must play a part.
This coming season I feel will be a more challenging season.
Every team starts with a clean slate on Nil points.
What is crucial is that Fulham need to be more consistent with results, we had some marvellous victories, but blotted the copy book by some miserable defeats and draws against teams that we hoped to beat, which goes to show how unpredictable football is.
Also our home record was mediocre, fortunately our away record was good in comparison.
We need to make Craven Cottage a fortress if we have aspirations to build on last season.
Please remember that there is plenty to learn from our mistakes of last season, and ensure they are kept to a minimum this season.
Thinking we only have to turn up to beat certain teams was the hall mark of certain defeats which many have observed as poor attitude and application from certain players on the day.
Some supporters have criticised MS starting line ups and timing of subs, and they are entitled to do so.
You could put 30 supporters in a room to announce their starting line ups and subs and how many would agree to agree.
That is football and I acknowledge MS is not the finished article, but then who is, generally only the fortunate managers who use a cheque book as a crutch.
A manager to a large extent is only as good as the players he has under his command.
Marco Silva will need the full financial support of the club to attempt to secure the signings he needs if we are to build on the positives of last season.
Apathy is our biggest threat, and preparation and organisation as well as conditioning are the foundations of building a team and squad that on its day can beat anyone, but to also avoid losing to anyone, due to unnecessary arrogance and assuming you are going to beat a team at the bottom.
That is a recipe for defeat and disappointment.
Every single game is a challenge and victory has to be earned through lashings of blood and guts and a large portion of quality.

[General]

I can go along with the positive posts, because the potential is there to build on.
Nevertheless, realism also must play a part.
This coming season I feel will be a more challenging season.
Every team starts with a clean slate on Nil points.
What is crucial is that Fulham need to be more consistent with results, we had some marvellous victories, but blotted the copy book by some miserable defeats and draws against teams that we hoped to beat, which goes to show how unpredictable football is.
Also our home record was mediocre, fortunately our away record was good in comparison.
We need to make Craven Cottage a fortress if we have aspirations to build on last season.
Please remember that there is plenty to learn from our mistakes of last season, and ensure they are kept to a minimum this season.
Thinking we only have to turn up to beat certain teams was the hall mark of certain defeats which many have observed as poor attitude and application from certain players on the day.
Some supporters have criticised MS starting line ups and timing of subs, and they are entitled to do so.
You could put 30 supporters in a room to announce their starting line ups and subs and how many would agree to agree.
That is football and I acknowledge MS is not the finished article, but then who is, generally only the fortunate managers who use a cheque book as a crutch.
A manager to a large extent is only as good as the players he has under his command.
Marco Silva will need the full financial support of the club to attempt to secure the signings he needs if we are to build on the positives of last season.
Apathy is our biggest threat, and preparation and organisation as well as conditioning are the foundations of building a team and squad that on its day can beat anyone, but to also avoid losing to anyone, due to unnecessary arrogance and assuming you are going to beat a team at the bottom.
That is a recipe for defeat and disappointment.
Every single game is a challenge and victory has to be earned through lashings of blood and guts and a large portion of quality.

Perhaps that's why we're considering going back in for Palhinha if that rumours true. He was a consistent and tenacious tackler who added bite. We dropped off a lot less with him in the team for the weaker games.

I think we've kept the base of our first team and squad from last season, so if we focus on 3 or 4 quality improvements, particularly in the forward areas, then I'd like to think we have a chance to kick on.

If we had a more tenacious tackler and natural DM to cover our defence a bit better, a greater goalscoring threat in AM (If Luiz contributed to 14 G/A next season from AM, compared to what we had from Pereira/ESR/King/Cairney, then that'd be a significant difference already). Add in a striker capable of 20 goals, and a winger who can get double figures then we'd be in a much better place.

[AJW48361]

I think last season is better labelled as frustrating rather than poor . There were some fantastic performances last season which would then be followed by something soft losing us points . In years gone by it would have been called Fulhamish . For all the talk of poor seasons for the big clubs , the top 4 had a very familiar feel to it and the lesser fancied teams all fell away at the end . I think United and spurs would be right to describe their league season as poor , whereas ours was more about some outperformance before squad depth limitations moved us back towards expectations.

I think the Home performance were in General a little disappointing.