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The Fulham squad for 2024/25 is looking to kick on in the new campaign
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The Fulham squad for 2024/25 has lofty ambitions, after two consolidatory seasons in the top flight. Indeed, two seasons back in the Premier League and two seasons without any threat of relegation. The base is there to build on, and with Marco Silva at the helm this is what the club must do. Aiming for a top-half finish should be the aim, and having reached the semi-finals of the League Cup last season, a run in either cup provide the club’s best chance of winning their first piece of major silverware. One thing Fulham need to address is the fact they have the oldest squad in the league and long-term replacements for Tim Ream and Willian will need to be found, but with the likes of Jay Stansfield getting some valuable time out on loan last season, he is someone who should be given a chance. Fulham opened last season with a 1-0 away victory at Everton, but then did not win on the road again until late February when they beat Manchester United at Old Trafford. So the away form needs to improve – especially against teams in the bottom half of the table. Another area to learn from is improving the amount of goals from all areas of the pitch. Rodrigo Muniz ended the season as top scorer with nine in the league, despite not bagging his first until February, so the midfield and wide players need to contribute more in front of goal. Marco Silva is hailed as a genius by the Craven Cottage faithful. As he starts his fourth season, he will demand more from everyone at the club and be aiming to push it to places it has never been before. With the right backing there is no stopping him. The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week. Belgium international Timothy Castagne displaced the very popular Kenny Tete at right-back and didn’t put a foot wrong. The 28-year-old was one of the most consistent and reliable players in the Fulham squad last term and the same will be needed this time around. Despite playing under six different managers and caretakers last season and ending up relegated, Jay Stansfield was one ray of light from Birmingham’s miserable campaign. So much so that the 21-year-old loanee completed a clean sweep at the Blues’ end-of-year awards, scooping all five prizes. Now is his time to shine at Fulham. On the pitch the mood is good and has been since Silva took charge three years ago, securing promotion and back-to-back seasons in the top flight. Off the pitch there is less harmony between fans and club, with rising ticket costs pricing some supporters out. Score from outside the box: Harry Wilson. The Welsh winger doesn’t score tap-ins – in fact, he’s more likely to have his own goal of the season competition. Open on time: the new Riverside Stand. It’s been more than five years since work began on the state-of-the-art stand, which is due to fully open this season. Another hitch is likely to delay again. Last season was pretty good. To deal with losing Aleksandar Mitrovic as well as we did is a testament to how good a manager Marco Silva is. Some historic wins over Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as a first ever League Cup semi-final, made it a fairly successful campaign. The big talking point is how much of our squad are we going to lose? Joao Palhinha is obviously the big one – he almost left last summer and Bayern Munich are destined to go back in for him, but after good seasons for Antonee Robinson, Andreas Pereira and an ageing Willian, we could lose a fair chunk of our side. This season will be different because we’ve started to re-establish ourselves as a Premier League side, so clubs will know areas of our game they can exploit. I won’t be happy unless we steer clear of the relegation fight. Last season, we played well and were never really looking over our shoulder thanks to point deductions elsewhere. I fear the Premier League will be more competitive at the bottom this term. Our key player will be Rodrigo Muniz – after a successful second half of last season, Fulham no longer need to look at reinforcements up front. His ability to hold the ball up, bring others into play and find the net make him ‘Mitrovic-esque’, and at just 23 he’s certainly got a bright future on his hands. Our most underrated player is Bernd Leno. He’s been a tremendous goalkeeper for Fulham over the past two seasons, but I never see any fans outside of Fulham give him the credit he deserves, maybe down to his past at Arsenal? Look out for Jay Stansfield. The 21-year-old has come off the back of a successful spell at Birmingham and is now looking to force his way into Silva’s side. The gaffer has already talked very highly of him in the press and his time to impress is now. Watch this space. Fans think our owner has a lot of questions to answer. Success on the pitch doesn’t always correlate to a happy club, and I fear that Silva’s magnificent job at Fulham is papering over cracks. Absurdly priced tickets, ignorance to large chunks of away fans in the home end and a somewhat questionable recruitment policy leaves Fulham fans very concerned. I fear that if Silva was to jump ship, it would all begin to unravel. The opposition player I'd love here is Gustavo Hamer. Picking a player from a club who was relegated seems strange, but hear me out. Hamer was great for Coventry and brilliant for a Sheffield United side who really struggled. Four goals and six assists from midfield is a good showing and would compliment Palhinha (if he stays). The opposition player who grinds my gears is Bruno Fernandes. Not that he’s necessarily done anything wrong to Fulham, but he’s such a frustrating footballer to watch. He’s clearly got talent in abundance, but his continual diving and mentality is so annoying. The type of player you’d love to have but hate to play against. The active player I'd love to have back is Fabio Carvalho. The player I'd happily drive to another club is Carlos Vinicius, who struggled last season. He’s still got some value and we could recoup some of the fee we paid. The pantomime villain will be Harvey Elliott. The Liverpool midfielder always gets a terrible reception when he comes to Craven Cottage. Our season ticket prices are a joke, and the club is going to force fans away. What happens if we get relegated – will they still charge £3, 000 for a season ticket in the new stand? Will they expect people to pay £70 for a Tuesday night fixture against a newly-promoted League One side? I'm least looking forward to playing Brentford. Despite being a local derby, they always beat us and it’s really getting under my skin! The fans' opinion of the gaffer couldn’t be higher. For all that’s wrong off the field, Marco Silva is certainly what’s right on it, making Fulham fans believe that we can beat anyone and dream of a trip to Wembley playing positive, attacking football. Long may it continue! We'll finish 12th – a standard season, taking some scalps and steering clear of the drop. I just hope things don’t become stale. Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 *Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription Join now for unlimited access Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 James Andrew is the editor of Four Four Two, overseeing both the magazine and website. James is an NCTJ qualified journalist and began his career as a news reporter in regional newspapers in 2006 before moving into sport a year later. In 2011 he started a six year stint on the sports desk at the Daily Mail and Mail Online. James was appointed editor of Four Four Two in December 2019. Across his career James has interviewed the likes of Franco Baresi, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham and Michael Owen. James has been a Fulham season ticket holder since the mid-1990s and enjoys watching them home and away, through promotion and relegation. Everton squad for 2024/25: Sean Dyche's full team for the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup When is the Champions League draw? Arsenal primed to complete signing, following bombshell twist: report Four Four Two is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. ©
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