Floyd Ayite’s sudden burst of goals hasn’t come as a surprise to Fulham head coach Slavisa Jokanovic.
The Togolese winger opened his club account with two fine headers at Wolves at the weekend – the second stooping header rescuing a point in injury-time after Fulham had blown a 3-1 lead – and then popped up with the winner against bottom of the table Rotherham at Craven Cottage. Jokanovic, who purchased Ayite from Bastia for a fee of around £1.7m, insisted the 27 year-old’s success was never in doubt – but that his progress at Craven Cottage was hampered by an untimely injury.
He’s not doing anything differently. He started the season very well, but he spent a month injured. We know he’s a quality player, not only scoring goals, but also working very well. He’s a player who is important right now, and he’s going to be more important in the future.
When I spoke with him before he wasn’t especially happy because he wasn’t scoring goals. Now it’s good news for him. I think now he’s going to start believing in himself more strongly, and that’s good news for us too.
At this rate, Fulham will sorely miss Ayite’s predatory instincts when he departs for the African Cup of Nations with Togo in January.
