Jack Stroudley reflects on Fulham’s January transfer window arrivals—or lack thereof.
Deadline day and Fulham typically go hand in hand. On their calendars, Tony Khan and Alistair Mackintosh circle the day; they come alive and distribute deal documents as if they were becoming obsolete. It was a little different this time. The club chose to bring back 36-year-old Willian for a third stint, despite Fulham boss Marco Silva’s cries for a full-back and a right-winger going unanswered. Although there has been some discussion on the internet over Willian’s suitability as a signing, this essay will focus more on the board and if they have missed a great chance.
Given the injuries to Harry Wilson and Reiss Nelson in the forward positions, there were cries for Fulham to improve our offensive line and add a more direct player, and it appears that Willian has heeded those requests. He offers a wealth of depth, talent, and experience, and he can be the direct option we’ve frequently called for to turn some of our many draws into wins. On a short-term basis, though, we could do much worse.
I obviously want Willian to succeed but I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the reports late on Monday night. Replacing a 35-year-old Willian with a 36-year-old Willian when just a season earlier we re-signed a 35-year-old Willian to replace a 34-year-old Willian is as Tony Khan as it gets. Willian’s best performances for Fulham came on the left, cutting inside and driving at defenders. Unfortunately for the Brazilian that position seems to be locked down by Alex Iwobi and given the injury to Welshman Wilson, Willian will likely feature on the right where he often flattered to deceive.
When talking about a January window, there are a lot of arguments for and against, so I’ll do my best to summarise. In my opinion, Marco Silva has once again been let down by the board. Fulham has a great chance to do something exceptional, but we’ve stagnated as other teams around us have improved. We are now one point outside of eighth place, which is a projected European position given the extra spot England is likely to receive.
The argument is often that January is a difficult month to do business and while I agree to an extent, that’s no excuse for not taking a proactive approach. Marco Silva has said throughout all of January that we need to add quality, we’ve failed him by not bringing in sufficient cover for Castagne, adequality filling the Wilson-shaped hole and overall failing to improve the squad.
I simply do not get the notion that we must wait until the end of the window on every occasion because that’s when deals are cheaper. We’ve received a record transfer fee twice in the past 18 months and made a pretty penny on Jay Stansfield – so spend it. How often are the likes of Manchester United and Spurs going to be as poor as they currently are? How many more chances are we going to get to back Marco Silva and push for a European place? Silva will naturally be a man in demand once again and if he were to leave, I wouldn’t blame him – he’s been failed again.
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