The arguments for and against selling Andreas Pereira

As Fulham reportedly look to offload their Brazilian midfielder, we look at both the pros and the cons of the deal.

Copyright Leighton Rudd 2025

It’s widely acknowledged that Fulham are ready to call time on Andreas Pereira’s time at Craven Cottage. But is that a good call? As with everything, there are two sides to that argument.

George Rossiter: time to sell

This is the perfect time to move Andreas Pereira on.

Firstly, from a contract perspective, Andreas joined on a four-year deal three years ago, so we’re effectively collecting back the fee we paid for him in 2022, when he could leave for zilch at the end of this season. That’s clever business for a player who frustrates a decent proportion of our fans and looks to slowly being phased out by Marco Silva.

Let me preface, I am by no means anti-Pereira; we have to recognise the role he played in helping us re-acclimatise to the Premier League, coming in with a point to prove at this level. But ultimately, certain positions in this team need evolving; to do that you have to move players on that simply don’t have a place anymore, and for me Pereira is one of those.

When AP signed, we all adored the way he’d press high for 90 minutes and cause opposition defenders all sorts of issues on the ball. At times it was like playing an old school 4-4-2 out of possession the way he moved beyond Aleksandar Mitrovic to get in the faces of opposing teams.

However, since recovering from his broken ankle sustained against Manchester City at the back end of that first season back in the Premier League, something’s just not been the same. The intent is there but it feels like his ability to be that pressing machine for a sustained period of time disappeared. Often his efforts would tail off towards the end of the first half of games before he’d eventually be subbed off around the 60-70 minute mark because his body just wouldn’t let him play that role on a game-by-game basis.

We also have to consider the position Andreas plays in. That first season his name was the first on the teamsheet as that number 10 in behind Mitro. Since then, Marco Silva has frequently tried the Brazilian in a variety of deeper roles that time after time just have not worked to the same effect.

His four assists last season was his lowest effort for Fulham, and his eight yellow cards his joint highest too. He just didn’t adapt to that role and it cost us quite often with his quite obvious lack of positional discipline. With Marco Silva putting faith in Josh King (and Seth Ridgeon soon to also emerge) while also pointing out in the media the need for a new, more creative number eight in the transfer market, Pereira just doesn’t have a place in this squad anymore.

The decline in goal contributions and lack of general creativity from midfield have frustrated the fan base to a point where I think most will be happy to say thank you and goodbye at this point in time.

Perhaps though, the greatest frustration regarding Andreas, is his constantly poor set pieces. He’s been the nominated man on dead balls for most of his time at the club and yet produced so little from them. Seeing free kicks miss the mark from promising positions and corners not beat the first man so frequently when the likes of Jimenez, Wilson and Lukic are known to be good set piece takers and viable alternative options within the squad, only added to that frustration.

The main argument I can imagine for anyone wanting Andreas to stay is because he’s a pressing monster; he’s an important creative threat and brings an element of grit and determination that any fan loves to see.

Unfortunately, as I’ve pointed out, those abilities are on the decline and there are simply better players both in our own system and out there in the market to help this squad evolve beyond the current level of a player who seems to have peaked in the Premier League and won’t hold any market value for the club in less than 12 months time.

For me, it’s time to thank Andreas Pereira for his contributions and move on to greener pastures in our midfield.

Jack Collins: not so fast

I can understand the logic of selling Andreas - with a wonderkid emerging in Josh King and our club record signing battling for that number 10 position with him, there’s no obvious place for the Brazilian in the role we’ve seen him play best in for the last few seasons. There’s also the fact that he’s one of Fulham’s few sellable assets at this point, but I still have major reservations about letting him leave with the squad in its current state.

There’s a couple of reasons for this. The first is that I still think we’re a little bit short of creativity in deeper positions, and that while the tried-and-trusted partnership of Sander Berge and Saša Lukić offers much in terms of shielding the back line, I think it’s going to be a problem when we try and break down teams who are defending leads against us.

This is not a slander on either Saša or Sander - who are both very good footballers doing an excellent job at what they’re being asked to do - but more that neither particularly offer Fulham much going forward, either in terms of passing or destructive carrying at the moment. This could change, obviously, but we haven’t seen it yet.

In the excellent Fulham season preview on The Transfer Flow, Kim McCauley wrote that “Berge was the holder, while Lukić was the guy who did the closing down, and they complimented each other well in these roles. But neither offered the team anything in terms of ball progression. In possession, they kept it simple and just made sure they weren’t the guy who screwed things up. Good teams can get away with having one of those players in their midfield, but usually not two.”

Andreas is a frustrating player at times, and he loses the ball far more regularly than some of our other midfielders - but that’s because he tries things. His pass completion rate is lower than others because his passing is usually forwards, trying to progress the ball up the pitch. And that’s something that we don’t have other options for in deeper positions - while Andreas isn’t a natural number eight, he offers something in there that we don’t currently have in the squad: the ability to punch forward in both a passing and carrying sense, from one of the two deeper roles.

The other reason I think he should be staying is that he brings a pressing intensity that we are yet to see from Emile Smith Rowe and remains a bit of a mystery from Josh King at this point in his career. In the two games so far, Fulham have been chasing to come from behind, meaning that the substitutions have been about adding more attacking flair - but what about when things aren’t like that?

No team dropped more points from winning positions last season, so when we’re defending a lead, things have to look different. In those situations, I would rather have the industrious workrate of Pereira, closing down defenders, forcing teams long, leading the press - than any of our other options right now. Marco Silva has trusted Andreas (to the chagrin, at times, of the fanbase) as much as anybody else in our last three (successful) seasons, and to lose an experienced head and leader in the dressing room right now would be a shame.

Without a significant fee (the reports suggest around £8m, which feels low), having a player of his workrate and quality in the side should be something that Fulham are looking to maintain. There are evidently many layers to this, and if he’s pressing for a move (he presses well), then by all means, you open that door - but without replacing that creativity and intensity, the Fulham squad will be weaker for not having Andreas as part of it.