Could Sasa Lukic’s Fulham future be as our number eight?

In his debut piece, Thomas Greene says that Sasa’s strong start could see him attempt to move further up the midfield.

Sasa Lukic has hit the ground running this season, in what is set to be his most important at the club to date.

Slow start

Since signing for Fulham in the January 2023 window and becoming only the fourth Serbian to pull on a white shirt, we’ve only seen flashes of what Lukic can really offer to us. A disappointing first half of a season saw him only make 13 appearances and not have much to say for them.

However, the 2023/24 campaign proved more productive; Sasa racked up 28 appearances, including a goal in that special win against Spurs back in March. Some of his best performances came away from home, in two out of our four away wins. He impressed against Everton on the opening day and he also played a crucial role in that famous win at Old Trafford in February. As for this season so far, Lukic has been one of our best performers, starting all three of our opening games in the Premier League.

Evolution

So far, we’ve seen Lukic try to fill João Paulinha’s shoes, but could we see a battle between him and Andreas Pereira for that number eight role in our midfield?

The first three games have left us rather disappointed with AP despite his weekly Instagram story post highlighting his chance creation stats. In my opinion, Pereira is looking like a man who was told he wasn’t allowed to leave over the summer. However, dropping Pereira down to the bench would leave Fulham without their set-piece taker. Could this be too big of a risk?

Decisions

With the arrival of Sander Berge from Burnley and of course Emile Smith Rowe from Arsenal in the summer, it’s hard to see where all these midfield players will fit into the team. We know Silva likes to play with a holding midfielder, then someone slightly more advanced and in front of them a number 10. Who fills those three positions is something Marco must decide.

Battle for the eight

If we compare Lukic’s 2021/22 season in Serie A with Torino to Pereira’s 23/24 campaign with us, there’s not much of a difference in terms of stats. Despite the similarity in numbers, Lukic was playing in a number eight role, whereas Pereira, as we know, was playing in that 10 role. Lukic ended that season with nine goals/assists to his name, compared to Pereira’s 10. The main difference between the two players’ stats for these respective seasons is the chance creation/assists. As I am sure you can imagine, Pereira takes the crown here, with seven assists, compared to Lukic’s four. As well as this, the Brazilian was also way ahead in number of chances created, which played a part in him earning his space back in that Brazil squad for their Copa America campaign.

Time to shine

With the arrival of ESR, could Sasa be the new main man for us? We are yet to see his best form in a Fulham shirt but if he can unlock that, can he replace Andreas as our creative midfielder? I don’t know to be honest, but if he can, we might find ourselves regretting not accepting one of the reported offers for Pereira in the summer.

If Silva can get ESR to rediscover his best form and produce the goals and assists we saw him produce at Arsenal in a Fulham shirt, then Pereira may not be needed in the starting XI and instead, we could see Lukic fill up the number eight role, with Berge sitting in front of the back four. Lukic has played most of his career in a central midfield role compared to a defensive or attacking midfielder; this is his favoured position, and I’m convinced this is where we’ll see the best of him. After his strong start, I think we could see this battle for the eight commence pretty soon.