Finishing just below mid-table rounded off a season of mixed emotions for Marco Silva and Fulham. There were positives to the campaign with the 2-1 home win against Arsenal on New Year’s Eve and a 3-0 Craven Cottage victory over Tottenham Hotspur acting as the stand-out displays – but inconsistency across the season ultimately cost Silva and his squad a place in the top half of the Premier League table.
Thoughts have already turned towards the summer transfer window and the main priority for the Cottagers boss may well be retaining the services of Portugal midfielder Joao Palhinha, who continues to attract the attention of some high-profile suitors almost a year after coming close to a move to Bayern Munich. Silva will, of course, look to add to his squad – and we thought we would try and get an insight into the future so we fired up Football Manager 2024 to see how the world’s most popular management simulation sees the summer playing out at Craven Cottage:
Goalkeepers
First and foremost, we should point out Bernd Leno remains very much Silva’s first-choice goalkeeper and that much has been made clear from the opening month of the new campaign. However, the Germany international now has some serious competition after Silva paid £4m to sign Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner and Swansea City stopper Steven Benda on a free transfer. Marek Rodak was allowed to leave Craven Cottage as he joined Montpellier for £2m.
Silva’s goalkeeping options: Matt Turner, Bernd Leno, Steven Benda.
Defenders
Now there are a fair few changes here and it’s been a hectic summer for the Cottagers defensive ranks. Firstly, the departures were widespread as club stalwart Tim Ream departed to join New York Red Bulls in a £2m, Timothy Castagne moved to Spanish club Cadiz in a £6m move and Tosin Adarabioyo left the club on a free transfer. In their place came Strasbourg centre-back Abakar Sylla, Ipswich Town’s Harry Clarke, Real Sociedad full-back Diego Rico and Udinese defender Jaka Bijol at a combined cost of £48m. Chris Smalling also returned to Craven Cottage in a £3m from Roma.
Silva’s defensive options: Abakar Sylla, Chris Smalling, Issa Diop, Calvin Bassey, Kenny Tete, Harry Clarke, Antonee Robinson, Kevin Mbabu, Jaka Bijol, Diego Rico.
Midfielders
There were two new faces in the midfield ranks after Silva paid £9.5m to Atalanta to secure the services of former Chelsea player Mario Pasalic before securing the services of Leeds United star Iliya Gruev on a season-long loan deal. Departures in midfield were Sasa Lukic (£9m to Celta Vigo) and Tom Cairney (£2m to Leicester City)
Silva’s midfield options: Joao Palhinha, Harrison Reed, Iliya Gruev, Mario Pasalic, Andreas Pereira.
Forwards
There were several exits at the top end of the pitch with Armando Broja returning to Chelsea after the end of his season-long loan deal, winger Harry Wilson joined Crystal Palace in a £28m deal and Raul Jimenez returned to Mexico with a free transfer switch to Necaxa. There were new faces with Watford star Yaser Asprilla and Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga moving to Craven Cottage for a combined outlay of £46m.
Silva’s forward options: Anthony Elanga, Adama Traore, Yaser Asprilla, Rodrigo Muniz, Jay Stansfield, Bobby Cordova-Reid, Alex Iwobi.
