Poaching top six cast-offs is working in Fulham’s favour

Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson have definitely hit the ground running at Craven Cottage this season. The former is starting every week and already frequently contributing at the business end of the pitch. Nelson has made a couple of encouraging cameos too, and scored both in the league against Newcastle and in the league cup defeat to Preston North End. While they joined on entirely different terms, both moved to the club from Arsenal after falling down the pecking order in North London. Nelson and Smith Rowe will have felt the need to prove a point and to kickstart their careers in the Premier League, with the view to getting back into contention at international level, Smith Rowe already having senior England experience (Nelson last featured in the England setup in 2020 for the U21s).

Tried and tested

They are not the only players in Marco Silva’s squad at the moment who were seen as surplus to requirements at a top six club. Bernd Leno lost his place to Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal before becoming Fulham’s number one and flourishing at the Cottage. Alex Iwobi may not have come directly from Arsenal but last season arguably played the best football of his career and has established himself as a quality Premier League player, changing the slightly more negative opinions held of him from his time at the Emirates. Andreas Pereira was rarely a regular starter during his time at Manchester United, but as we all know rarely is dropped by Marco Silva. While mostly down to injury, Ryan Sessegnon never kicked on at Tottenham, and despite a number of successful loan spells, Harry Wilson’s main break came at Fulham rather than Liverpool.

It seems to be a strategy that works for every party. The selling club moves on a fringe player for a fee, and the player gets to develop under Marco Silva, who has gained a reputation at the Cottage for helping players whose careers have stagnated. It’s been well publicised in the last three seasons how the likes of Tim Ream, Willian, Andreas Pereira, Joao Palhinha and more have either played the best football of their career at Fulham or pushed on to a level that previously didn’t seem possible.

A smart strategy

For Fulham as a buying club, the possibilities are endless. Firstly, and as has been proven with the number of success stories, the club gain a quality player. These signings weren’t coming through at these top six clubs because they’re any old Tom, Dick or Harry. They were highly rated by some of the best scouts and coaches in the country and either struggled to push on or found game time hard to come by. Within a couple of seasons, Fulham are likely to then have a first-team regular or a player they can sell on for a significantly higher fee than they bought them for, something which has never been so important as in the era of PSR.

It’s not just Fulham that are proof of this sort of strategy working. Nottingham Forest are flying this season, thanks a lot to the wing play of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga, two players who never kicked on at Chelsea or Manchester United but look to be fulfilling their earlier potential after being shown confidence in their abilities at the City Ground. Emerson Palmieri and Aaron Wan-Bissaka left those same clubs after losing their starting spots at their respective clubs, but will now surely provide a quality full-back pairing for West Ham. Even Brighton, whose transfer strategies are well publicised and correctly complimented, have added the likes of James Milner, Adam Lallana, Danny Welbeck and Tariq Lamptey during their journey towards European football because they knew the value of having these sorts of players in the squad who have experience of playing alongside players at the very top level.

So, who else in the doldrums of the traditional top six’s squads could Fulham potentially look? Bernd Leno won’t be our goalkeeper forever, and whether you look at Stefan Ortega at Manchester City or Caoimhin Kelleher at Liverpool, there are some phenomenal gloves-men sitting on the benches of the big sides. Joe Gomez, Jakub Kiwior and Sergio Reguilon all feel like players discarded at their current clubs who could plug gaps in Fulham’s defence at any time in the event of a big sale or an injury crisis.

In terms of the other half of the pitch, Richarlison, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka, Ben Doak and Matheus Nunes would all excite me greatly if they pitched up at the Cottage anytime soon. Are many of them likely? Maybe not… but they shouldn’t be written off as options as Fulham continue to prove that this is a market worth looking into.