Talk about bang for your buck. These men, for my money, are the best frees we’ve ever picked up. And three of them played in one of our most successful sides ever! A hat tip to our head of recruitment in 2007-09.
Ray Houghton (1982)
This Glasgow-born Republic of Ireland international was just a boy when he was recommended to Whites boss Malcolm Macdonald by West Ham reserves manager Terry Mancini in 1982. The chat resulted a free transfer and midfielder Houghton went on to make more than 100 appearances for Fulham in three years, netting 16 times. The cherry on the cake? £147,000 of pure profit when he moved to Oxford United in 1985.
Kit Symons (1998)
In an era when Second Division (League One) Fulham were starting to spend seven-figure sums on Premier League players, one of our best signings didn’t cost us a penny. But it almost didn’t happen, with Steve Bruce’s Sheffield United in the driver’s seat, as Kit once told me:
“I’d pretty much agreed to go there, but then Chris Coleman called me. We were friends and had played with each other for Wales and he said, ‘Come and play for us’. I told him about United and he said, ‘I’m with Kevin Keegan now, would you have a chat to him?’ So he put Kevin on and he said, ‘Come down and talk to us and I guarantee you’ll end up signing’. So, I went and spoke to Fulham. Keegan sold me the dream of being in the Premier League in five years and I fell for it. Then we got there in three!”
Symons was part of two promotions, scoring no fewer than 13 goals from central defence and played for us in the Premier League before heading to Crystal Palace in 2001. A tidy bit of business.
Andy Melville (1999)
Welshman Melville joined international teammates Cookie and Kit on the banks of the Thames in 1999, giving us one hell of a centre-back bank as we mounted our challenge to gain promotion from the First Division (Championship). He was 30 years old with more than 600 senior appearances under his belt, but still went on to make 153 in all competitions for us, winning the First Division title, and the Intertoto Cup, before playing for the Whites in the UEFA Cup. Quite the Indian summer.
Mark Schwarzer (2008)
He’s in the conversation when naming Fulham’s greatest goalkeeper (tin hat on for that), but if he can’t top that chart, he’s certainly got to be our best free ‘keeper.
Schwarzer turned down overtures from Italian giants Juventus to sign for Fulham after ending his 11-year stay with Middlesbrough. He’d go on to be in the sticks for Fulham as we beat Juve 4-1 at the Cottage. That Europa League run alone writes his name in folklore, but he regularly added 10 points a season to our Premier League tally though his saves and performances.
Danny Murphy (2008)
A candidate for perhaps our most iconic free of all time, Murphy initially arrived on loan from Spurs, famously helping us stay in the Premier League on the final day of the season with a header against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. It was (obviously) more than enough to secure him a permanent contract as his employment at White Hart Lane came to an end.
He was immediately handed the captain’s armband - the only logical choice to succeed the exiting Brian McBride. Murphy went on to help us qualify for - and reach the final of - the inaugural Europa League, amid nearly 170 appearances for the Whites.
Zoltan Gera (2008)
Another fantastic free in the rebuild of 2008, the Hungarian international would become another key cog in our Europa League wheel, scoring a vital brace against Juventus in our infamous 4-1 victory, and bagging the winner against Hamburg in the semi-final second leg. I’m not sure you get better value for those goals alone. Incredible.
Willian (2022, 2025)
Such a good free signing we did it twice. The Brazilian played a big role in stabilising us as a Premier League side after our latest return in 2022. After a tricky spell at Arsenal and a trickier one back home with Corinthians, we got the Willian of old when he signed on a free, and he went on to score 10 goals in 67 appearances across all comps. His second spell as a 37 year old wasn’t as fruitful (10 appearances, zero goals), but you can’t blame the club for trying.
Pretty good team