The next few months could be the biggest in Fulham’s history

Since his arrival in the summer of 2021, Marco Silva has seen his stock rise from being a Premier League cast-off, after his controversial exits from Vicarage Road and Goodison Park, to being talked about for traditionally ‘big jobs’ across the Premier League and beyond. 

From July 2021, Fulham has risen from being a club with a clear lack of tactical identity or transfer strategy to a side being labelled as a model for newly promoted sides to emulate, something that seemed completely out of the realms of possibility just four or five years ago.

He’s a genius

It may stun some that full-time wrestling promoter and part-time Director of Football, Tony Khan, isn’t the catalyst for this seismic change. The catalyst for such change goes by the name of Marco Silva.

From the day Silva walked in the door, the 47-year-old has reinstated some tactical ingenuity back into Motspur Park after a two-year hiatus courtesy of Scott Parker. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, but let’s bask in some recent glory.

Fulham swashbuckled their way to the Championship title, scoring the most goals in second-tier history, which Silva then followed up with learning from his Serbian predecessor, Slavisa Jokanovic, adding an element of pragmatism to his style of play once Fulham reached the Premier League. 

Put simply, Silva is a manager players want to play for. Tactically astute, a brilliant man manager, and a career revival specialist, the mere presence of Marco Silva in SW6 has seen Fulham become a destination for many players that maybe would have looked elsewhere if a less prestigious manager was at the helm, especially those of a Lusophone disposition.

Much was made about the losses of Mitrovic, Palhinha, and possibly Antonee Robinson in these coming months, but Silva has shown that he is more than capable of rolling with the punches, counteracting the aforementioned major losses with added forward fluidity, a unanimous change in ball-winning mentality in the middle of the park, and bending his system to the players at his disposal. 

If Marco Silva is in charge, Fulham stands in good stead, both in the transfer window and on the pitch, but with Silva’s current deal up in the summer of 2025/26, it’s likely Silva will seek a new challenge in when his contract’s up. 

So, how do Fulham prepare for this?

Life after Silva

Once Silva moves on, the directorship of transfers will be placed back into the hands of Tony Khan, something that even the most staunch Khan supporter won’t be enamoured with.

The Khans have to place the club as an attractive move for players long after Silva has gone, as relying on Silva’s Portuguese-tongued contacts and ability to revive many footballing careers sets a dangerous precedent for what the club will do once the former Estoril boss has left the Cottage.

Fulham needs something to build, something to help set out a clear long-term plan.

Forget about the thought of obscure away days to Eastern Europe or continental Cottage nights; achieving a landmark Premier League season would allow Fulham to be recognised as an upwardly mobile club, with recent European pedigree being a statement of this.

A season of European football under Silva would allow Marco the opportunity to build on an already talented crop of players with a younger crop of Premier League-experienced players looking for a move up the table, accompanied by distinguished talents across Europe and South America, as players would be jumping at the chance of European football with a stable London Premier League outfit, setting the club up for a distant future of upper mid-table finishes alongside many an exhilarating cup run.

The time is now

As I stated in my last article, Raul and Rodrigo have both shown in parts that they will have purple patches throughout a season, and this may be good enough to see Fulham have a good latter half of the season, but the Cottagers don’t need a good latter half of the season; they need a great latter half of the season.

Is January the ideal time to bring in a talismanic number nine? No, it’s not, but when you never truly bring in a replacement for your club’s best striker in the 21st century, I’m afraid, to win big, you have to spend big.

Marco Silva stated in the summer that PSR wouldn’t be an issue; Fulham has the cash to take a gamble in January. If Fulham strikes hot with a goalscoring centre-forward, that vein of form could be all you need to get you over the line in big games towards the back end of the season, when chances are limited and goalscoring nous is needed, something Fulham is currently devoid of.

Ricardo Pepi at PSV, Richarlison at Tottenham, and Santiago Gimenez at Feyenoord all present options that would fit the bill of an aerially threatening yet robust Silva system for prices up to the £30m mark.

A pretty penny, but a penny no doubt worth it if Fulham are back in Basel next autumn.

The big sides that are usually accustomed to European finishes are flailing. Fulham have just overcome a gauntlet of Tottenham, Brighton, Arsenal, and Liverpool unbeaten and still sit in eighth, a potentially European spot. 

The Whites come out of Boxing Day with some winnable fixtures, and if the Whites can build upon some good results leading up to Christmas against teams around and above them, this Fulham team, alongside a new number nine, may smell the blood it needs to mount a European charge come May, instead of putting on the sombreros once survival is secured.

Buckle up

No matter where Fulham sit in late May, a special season is in store on the banks of the Thames, and this has to be enjoyed, because a season like this seemed like this would have seemed a pipe dream not so long ago, but if Fulham want to truly instate themselves as a progressive Premier League outfit, 24/25 is where they stake their claim to return European nights to Craven Cottage.

I’m not suggesting Fulham are about to cement their place among Europe’s elite for years to come; no, we all know that would be unrealistic, but for life after Silva, having a season of European nights in the books once again would help attract a different calibre of player to Motspur Park, and the fact that Fulham have lost seventeen points from winning positions, enough to be six points clear atop the Premier League table, suggests that anything is possible. 

So buckle up, folks; the second half of 24/25 may be the biggest second half to a season Fulham ever have…