The squad-building theory that could explain Fulham's summer
From García to Palacios, the Whites' transfer targets all point towards the same long-term recruitment philosophy.
Recently I came across a football squad building concept that I hadn’t seen before, which is the 4-8-8-4 model.
It was first coined by Hibernian’s Lee Johnson, but apparently has been used by other Directors of Football such as Michael Edwards who is most known for his tenure as Liverpool’s Sporting Director.
The model works on the principle that you should aim for the following age balance within a squad.
4 breakthrough players (Ages 16–19): Young prospects stepping up from the academy to bring energy and add value to the daily training environment.
8 assets (Ages 20–25): Developing players entering or moving through their early 20s who represent the financial and competitive future value of the club.
8 prime players (Ages 26–30): The core group of peak performers who carry the tactical and physical weight of the team.
4 twilight players (Ages 31–35+): Experienced senior leaders and winners who guide the dressing room culture and mentor younger members.
With Fulham suddenly switching their focus to younger players, a move that has probably been made a necessity due to the new Squad Cost Ratio - I thought it would be interesting to try and see where Fulham are within this model, and where Fulham’s likely signings of Garcia, Palacios and Nwaiwu also fit.
For the sake of this exercise I’ve not included players who are currently registered as U21 on the Fulham website such as Luke Harris, Farhaan Ali Wahid and Samuel Amissah, but obviously it feels like some are on the brink of the first team.
Breakthrough players (Ages 16–19):
Josh King (19 years old)
Jonah Kusi Asare (19 years old)
Assets (Ages 20-25):
Kevin (23 years old)
Oscar Bobb (23 years old)
Rodrigo Muniz (25 years old)
César Palacios (21 years old)
Gonzalo García (22 years old)
Chibuike Nwaiwu (23 years old)
Prime players (Ages 26–30):
Emile Smith Rowe (26 years old)
Jorge Cuenca (26 years old)
Calvin Bassey (26 years old)
Ryan Sessegnon (26 years old)
Antonee Robinson (28 years old)
Sander Berge (28 years old)
Sasa Lukic (29 years old)
Kenny Tete (30 years old)
Joachim Andersen (30 years old)
Alex Iwobi (30 years old)
Timothy Castagne (30 years old)
Twilight players (Ages 31–35+):
Harrison Reed (31 years old)
Bernd Leno (34 years old)
Benjamin Lecomte (35 years old)
Tom Cairney (35 years old)
I doubt that Fulham use the 4-8-8-4 model, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they use something similar. I thought that breaking it down into these terms was an interesting exercise that maybe gives an indication of how we are trying to create a more balanced squad that has a mixture of youth and experience.
What’s quite striking is that we have a large amount of players on the extreme ends of the ‘prime players’ category. We have four players aged exactly 26 years old and another four aged exactly 30 years old.
Therefore, it’s not surprising to see that our three likely links are all in the 20-25 age bracket. That’s also been the case for other signings that have been mooted such as Jordan James and Shea Charles (both are 22 years old).
Obviously, age is a very rough metric and will be far from the only attribute the club uses for squad building, but I thought this was an eye opening way to break down Fulham’s squad and get a glimpse into why all of our targets seem to be in the same demographic.
The model works on the principle that you should aim for the following age balance within a squad.
4 breakthrough players (Ages 16–19): Young prospects stepping up from the academy to bring energy and add value to the daily training environment.
8 assets (Ages 20–25): Developing players entering or moving through their early 20s who represent the financial and competitive future value of the club.
8 prime players (Ages 26–30): The core group of peak performers who carry the tactical and physical weight of the team.
4 twilight players (Ages 31–35+): Experienced senior leaders and winners who guide the dressing room culture and mentor younger members.
With Fulham suddenly switching their focus to younger players, a move that has probably been made a necessity due to the new Squad Cost Ratio - I thought it would be interesting to try and see where Fulham are within this model, and where Fulham’s likely signings of Garcia, Palacios and Nwaiwu also fit.
For the sake of this exercise I’ve not included players who are currently registered as U21 on the Fulham website such as Luke Harris, Farhaan Ali Wahid and Samuel Amissah, but obviously it feels like some are on the brink of the first team.
Breakthrough players (Ages 16–19):
Josh King (19 years old)
Jonah Kusi Asare (19 years old)
Assets (Ages 20-25):
Kevin (23 years old)
Oscar Bobb (23 years old)
Rodrigo Muniz (25 years old)
César Palacios (21 years old)
Gonzalo García (22 years old)
Chibuike Nwaiwu (23 years old)
Prime players (Ages 26–30):
Emile Smith Rowe (26 years old)
Jorge Cuenca (26 years old)
Calvin Bassey (26 years old)
Ryan Sessegnon (26 years old)
Antonee Robinson (28 years old)
Sander Berge (28 years old)
Sasa Lukic (29 years old)
Kenny Tete (30 years old)
Joachim Andersen (30 years old)
Alex Iwobi (30 years old)
Timothy Castagne (30 years old)
Twilight players (Ages 31–35+):
Harrison Reed (31 years old)
Bernd Leno (34 years old)
Benjamin Lecomte (35 years old)
Tom Cairney (35 years old)
I doubt that Fulham use the 4-8-8-4 model, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they use something similar. I thought that breaking it down into these terms was an interesting exercise that maybe gives an indication of how we are trying to create a more balanced squad that has a mixture of youth and experience.
What’s quite striking is that we have a large amount of players on the extreme ends of the ‘prime players’ category. We have four players aged exactly 26 years old and another four aged exactly 30 years old.
Therefore, it’s not surprising to see that our three likely links are all in the 20-25 age bracket. That’s also been the case for other signings that have been mooted such as Jordan James and Shea Charles (both are 22 years old).
Obviously, age is a very rough metric and will be far from the only attribute the club uses for squad building, but I thought this was an eye opening way to break down Fulham’s squad and get a glimpse into why all of our targets seem to be in the same demographic.