Is Joachim Andersen worth £40m?

With a little more than two weeks left of the transfer window left, Fulham find themselves still needing to replace both Tosin and Joao Palhinha. There has been rumours floating about replacements for both, but to replace two potential Tosin replacements seem to have come to the forefront, Diego Carlos and Joachim Andersen. As of writing, Fulham have put in a second bid for the Danish international worth £25m with £5m of add-ons, but with Crystal Palace looking for closer to £40m, many are asking: is Andersen worth that much?

Defending the Dane

The obvious and boring answer to this article is simply yes, he’s worth whatever Palace think he’s worth, but is it sensible for Fulham to part with a serious chunk of change for the 28-year-old? For nostalgia, Andersen would be a great signing. Known for his tough tackling while on loan from Lyon alongside his spraying passes from defence, he’d be a perfect fit for Fulham and would complement Calvin Bassey well.

‘Joa’ would provide a real aerial threat from set-pieces as well with two goals last season, alongside three assists. He’s a proven Premier League defender whose got experience in abundance and as he’s been at the club before would require less of a transitional period – but I’m not fully convinced.

The opposing view

He’s defensively sound while not being overly impressive, just about getting into the top 50% of defenders for tackles, interceptions and passes attempted alongside a pass completion of 77.9% (putting him in the bottom 9%) of defenders. At £40m, he would be Fulham’s record transfer – it would require us to make a serious ‘statement signing’ to depart with that kind of money, and while Andersen would be a good addition, I just don’t think he’s worth £40m.

Looking at the statistics above; he’s got a similar style to Tosin and while he’s defensively more sound he struggled slightly more with passing last season (a large chunk of the season was played under a pragmatic style with Roy Hodgson in fairness).

Who else do Fulham buy?

I understand why Crystal Palace have valued Andersen at £40m. They want to deter us and with the uncertainty around Marc Guehi they can’t afford to lose two starting defenders. But for me, we shouldn’t pay anymore than £30m for Andersen. I can’t see Crystal Palace accepting that, so where do Fulham go from here?

I was thinking about this earlier, we’re in obvious need of a central midfielder and a centre back, instead of spending £40m on Andersen, why not just spend £45m on Andre and Diego Carlos? For £5m more we solve both of our problems, keep Silva happy by finally getting Andre in, and Diego Carlos brings in experience and quality even if only for a few seasons. For me, that seems like a serious no-brainer.