That moment when you are looking to build on your first top-10 finish for 11 years and along comes the distraction of the Saudi Pro League clubs and their millions.
For Fulham, it has felt different. While other Premier League clubs are doing business with Saudi sides, these transactions have largely been suiting all parties, often featuring players surplus to requirement, nearing the twilights of their career. It has certainly helped Chelsea and could soon add further funds to Liverpool’s midfield reshuffle as well.
But no other club has faced a disruption like Fulham, whose summer has been dominated by talk of their manager and star striker leaving for Saudi Arabia at a time when, so far, not a single signing has been made.
Already, then, it appears the decisions made by Marco Silva and Aleksandar Mitrovic are set to define a season that has not even begun.
In Silva’s case, Fulham will hope this period of temptation is at an end. He had already turned down a two-year £34m offer from Al-Hilal, as reported by i earlier this month, before the former Everton boss rejected Al-Ahli’s £40m advances over the weekend.
“My commitment for the club [Fulham] is clear and it will continue,” he said on Saturday, although he refused to comment on whether he had turned the offer down. “I have shown my commitment to this club last season so many times. I will not talk about the situation. I don’t come here to talk about offers and these situations.”
Evidently coveted, Silva could yet be the subject of further offers, while Mitrovic does appear to be on his way out.
“It’s not the ideal situation,” Silva admitted, with Mitrovic reportedly angry with Fulham’s £52m valuation and telling relatives he would never play for the club again. Al-Hilal have already had two bids rejected for the striker, who watched Sunday’s pre-season friendly win over Brentford from the sidelines and was caught yawning when in-house replacement Carlos Vinicius scored.
Carlos Vinicius shows that there is life after Mitrovic for Fulham!
— Mail Sport (@MailSport) July 23, 2023pic.twitter.com/hH0918LyMH
“Losing Mitrovic is a blow, but not a disaster,” Farrell Monk of the Fulhamish podcast tells i. “He was key to Fulham’s success last season, no question, but after missing a third of our league games through a mix of suspensions and injuries, Silva and the squad had to adapt without him, picking up five wins and a draw in his absence.
“That famous eight-game punishment applied to the Serbian may well have been excellent practice for his eventual departure. Carlos Vinicius proved a more than able replacement and is now a popular figure following a memorable and rare winner against Chelsea.”
On top of Vinicius, Fulham appear close to signing striker Raul Jimenez from Wolves, but Silva would not address any player in question, adding after their pre-season win over Brentford: “The market is open. It’s no surprise that we are looking to sign players in different positions. I’m going to talk about players when they have our shirt.”
But time is running out before the new season, and as it stands there have been zero incomings at Fulham, hardly ideal in a league where standing still can often mean going backwards.
Fulham’s match with Brentford was the second of nine friendlies in the Premier League Summer Series, which are all being played on the USA’s east coast and read like the equivalent of Formula One’s midfield battle, with Aston Villa, Brighton, Chelsea and Newcastle also competing.
Of course, Newcastle now have higher aims as a Champions League outfit, with Chelsea out to right the wrongs of their calamitous 2022-23 campaign, and so arguably Fulham’s nearest rivals are Brentford, Brighton and Villa – all of whom have been making moves in the transfer market.
Brentford finished ninth last season, seven points above Fulham, and have already spent a club-record £23m on centre-back Nathan Collins, surpassing the £20m spent on Kevin Schade, the forward whose move was made permanent this summer.
Down at Brighton, a first Europa League campaign awaits, with Bart Verbruggen, Mahmoud Dahoud, Joao Pedro and James Milner all arriving after the expected departure of Alexis Mac Allister. With Moises Caicedo set to follow him out the door, the Seagulls could yet have another £70-80m to spend.
And up at Villa, they are welcoming new names ahead of their bid to match West Ham’s Europa Conference League-winning exploits. They may yet face a battle to keep hold of their player of the year Douglas Luiz, but have already signed Youri Tielemans on a free and defender Pau Torres for £33m, with Moussa Diaby joining from Bayer Leverkusen as well.
Transfers do not guarantee success (see: Chelsea) but a quiet window can prove detrimental, as Leicester proved when, on a tighter budget, they went from eighth to 18th in the space of 12 months after making just two summer signings in 2022.
And Fulham can ill-afford a similar scenario. Silva defied the odds with this side when finishing 10th last season, placing as high as sixth in February, but disruption can lead to distraction which can lead to talk of relegation – that last year they admirably managed to emphatically avoid.
“Make no mistake, despite Fulham’s successes last season on the pitch, a lot of gaps have appeared,” Monk adds. “On top of Mitrovic, the club are looking to cash in on Tosin Adarabioyo, and the coveted Palhinha may end up filling a Declan Rice-shaped hole in East London, although separating his shoulder against Brentford may have cooled that.
“Whether or not the Silva-Saudi situ was merely postulation to get Tony Khan’s team to get a move on, it is nothing new to Fulham fans. It is a pattern of behaviour that crops up every transfer window with each of Silva’s predecessors in the Khan era.
“I have no doubt that the manager committing his future will move things along a little and some will start to trickle through before the usual waterfall on the last day. It is no secret that Marco Silva is a bit of a tactical perfectionist so getting players in early and slowly integrating them into the system is important but hopefully it doesn’t mean making rash choices just for the sake of it like years past.”
So be it soon or on deadline day, it would appear Fulham will not end the window without a single incoming, but it has sure been slow-going so far.
However, as they proved against Brentford on Sunday, under Silva they can continue to compete. The Fulham boss’ commitment is integral to the outcome of the season ahead, and they would do well to avoid another offer coming in for Portuguese.
Just ask Villa fans about Martin O’Neill leaving the club five days before the new campaign started in 2010. Fulham will hope to avoid a repeat scenario, and while they must also reach a swift resolution around Mitrovic, vice-chairman Tony Khan recently did the club few favours with his response about Saudi Arabia’s spending.
“It’s amazing,” he told the Dan Le Batard Show last week. “I think if you have enough money you can get away with anything, including murder, and try to sign up all the top players in the world.
“Certainly they have approached a lot of great players and I’m very, very interested to see where this goes. But for us, we’re definitely committed to keeping our top stars and doing what it will take.”
Negotiations for Mitrovic could, therefore, prove tricky, especially if they hold out for £52m.
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