Diary of a Fulham FC journo from the Algarve

Jack Kelly gives us the lowdown from Portugal as Fulham prepare for another Premier League campaign.

First of all, this is a work trip, not a holiday. Or is it a bit of both? Well, after shutting down my laptop at 22:30 last night after working a 12-hour day, I realised it was very much the former.

I touched down in Faro on Monday afternoon, less than 48 hours after Fulham’s 3-1 win over Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest, but I didn’t get the feeling I was late to the party. As Walter White once said in that infamous phone call with Skyler in the season five episode ‘Ozymandias’ - '“I’ve still have things left to do.”

I checked into my Airbnb, grabbed some lunch (burger and chips - pathetic, I know, but I was starving) and was suddenly bombarded with Fulham news. Tanton’s latest injury, Luc de Fougerolles’ potential loan (which has subsequently gone through), and Forest’s interest in Adama Traore.

I jumped on a livestream, recorded a podcast and called it a day. I knew the following days would be more Michael Hectic.

Tuesday brought a day full of excitement! The elephant in the room was that like many others, I wouldn’t actually be seeing a game live in the flesh while out here in Portugal, but luckily my trip was made well worth it. I was and am incredibly fortunate to be offered the opportunity to interview two Fulham players. The first, as revealed last night was the man of the moment - Harry Wilson! Three sumptuous goals across the two games, and it was a pleasure to speak to the Welsh Wizard. Watch out for that interview very soon.

The second player I will keep to myself - for now - but at the time of writing, I plan to reveal this evening. Oh boy, am I excited.

I felt rather pleased with outcome of day two in Portugal, so I decided to splurge a little and buy myself a Tapas dinner. Chorizo on toast, oxtail croquettes and fries. All food reviews can be found on my Patreon - it’s worth the fiver alone! I even had a cheeky pint with dinner (Sagres, not Super Bock).

The only negative of day two - sunburn. Very much a case of The sun 1-0 Jack Kelly. Shoulders and chest - finito. “Did you put on suncream?” asked my mother on a brief FaceTime call - I sheepishly admitted that I hadn’t. Another poignant lesson learned.

To day three was the busiest of the lot. Al-Ittihad vs Fulham - the big fixture. I paid my £6.99 for the FFCTV pass, fired up X and started getting back into the familiar routine of live tweeting the game, albeit from my Airbnb.

Some outstanding first half goals from Harry Wilson, Emile Smith Rowe, Josh King and Jorge Cuenca had me and I’m sure many other Fulham fans feeling very, very giddy at half-time. ‘Signings? Who needs signings’, I thought as I gave my half-time report to my subscribers. All tongue-in-cheek of course, as the second half highlighted how silly I sounded.

Karim Benzema scored a couple of goals to make the scoreline not-so glamorous, and suddenly my gleeful mood at around 18:45pm, within an hour, had turned to realisation that work still needs to be done in the market - as painfully obvious as that already is.

I was blown away by Josh King, impressed by Wilson, intrigued by Emile Smith Rowe out on the left, and dazzled by Tom Cairney’s control in midfield. Then Andreas Pereira entered the fray, and lazily found nobody but an Al-Ittihad player from a Fulham corner, for then the hosts to counter-attack and score a second goal. Unimpressed to say the least.

One positive from the second half was Benjamin Lecomte, our only signing so far this summer. Saving a penalty, albeit the rebound was squirmed home by Benzema, and an impressive save in added time to deny our opponents a third goal.

We weren’t done for the day. I jumped on a livestream to react to the match, then jumped on Cottage Talk to give another assessment of the friendly and then tapped up some fairly interesting quotes from Marco Silva. The standout being this:

“Unfortunately, until now we have just signed Ben. Unfortunately, we don’t have players to adapt for our group. This is the moment of the season you should use for it, when you are all together in a camp.

“We usually use this time for new signings to adapt, unfortunately for us, it’s not the case. We use it in a different way - to build, not just the physicality of the players but to create that bond that has been key for us as a group. To use the games to see what we have been working on, day by day.”

Another exasperated plea to the board, but this time through the club’s media. Alarm bells.

Jorge Cuenca, on the other hand was happy and smiling, delighted with this first Fulham goal. Good on him - he’s a top player. One who Silva has stated is not for sale.

So what’s on the agenda for day four, and beyond? Well, hopefully some transfer news to report on. Reiss Nelson, Raheem Sterling and Samuel Chukwueze are the names being linked. Nelson, is close, I’m lead to believe. I did enjoy reporting the news that Fulham are still keeping tabs on one Joao Palhinha. One to watch.

The Alexander Isak saga could have a domino effect that could lead to Newcastle going in for Rodrigo Muniz, as was reported by Craig Hope yesterday. We shall see.

Now it’s time to grab some lunch, and eat another couple Pastel de natas, adding to the 7 (SEVEN) I’ve already consumed. I’m far from finished in Faro, and hopefully the same could be said for the Fulham board in terms of their transfer business.

This is Jack Kelly reporting for Fulhamish, Faro.