The FFC Rumour Mill: Arbeloa's in as Fulham target Real Madrid starlets
Jack Stroudley summarises all the latest Fulham ongoings.
He’s here - and he’s perfect.
Alvaro Arbeloa is our new boss, and with his arrival, the rumours are starting to trickle out.
Fulham have work to do ahead of our SW6 derby curtain raiser - so who have we been looking at?
Incomings
Not long after Fulham’s 11.45pm bomba, BBC Sport’s Nizaar Kinsella tweeted that Fulham’s new boss is looking to bring Real Madrid trio Franco Mastantuono, full-Fran Garcia and Gonzalo Garcia to Craven Cottage. Fran Garcia promptly signed for Real Betis, but highly-rated winger Mastantuono would be on loan, Gonzalo Garcia would be permanent - and Lyall Thomas from Sky Sports believes the striker is Arbeloa’s number one target.
These are the type of exciting young prospects you would hope for us to target following the new boss’s arrival, so I’m all over these.
Fulham are also targeting two from relegated West Ham United.
The Guardian is reporting that the Whites are now interested in winger Crysencio Summerville, who has a £40m release clause, but face competition from Chelsea and Manchester United.
If it came to it, obviously we’re bottom of the pecking order but Summerville would be a serious statement signing, although I do think we need to focus on other areas first.
One such area is striker, where West Ham’s Taty Castellanos has once again been linked to Fulham (alongside Everton). This comes from Matteo Moretto, so take it with a pinch of salt but Fulham have been linked with Castellanos before. He was one of the few bright sparks for Nuno’s relegated side and I think he’d be a fantastic signing.
Sticking with duos, Fulham have been linked to Japanese duo Daizen Maeda and Keito Nakamura. Falling for players who have a good World Cup is a tale as old as time, but these two certainly impressed for Japan. Fulham will need extra bodies in attack and I don’t think either would cost a bomb. I wouldn’t be opposed to either of these.
Outgoings
The biggest exit this week is, of course, Harry Wilson - our player of the season - heading to Leeds United.
the move was confirmed on Wednesday, and I’ve shared my thoughts on it before, so I’ll not go over old ground. But it’s the right time to say, “thanks for the memories, Harry”. He’s certainly given us enough of them over the last five years - who put the ball in the Brentford net?
This next one isn’t so much of an outgoing, but more of a ‘not coming back’. New AC Milan boss Ruben Amorim has poured cold water over any possibility of a Samu Chukwueze reunion by saying the winger will stay at the San Siro. With Arbeloa likely to want to put his own stamp on the squad, this doesn’t feel like a bad thing.
Again, not a direct departure, but 18-year-old former Fulham academy goalkeeper Oliver Mayer has joined Brighton to play for their U21s. Mayer was one of the 14 players whose contracts expired at the end of June. Go well, Oliver!