Alfie Mawson is poised to have a medical at Fulham tomorrow ahead of a potential £20m move from Swansea City.
The England under-21 international has been on Slavisa Jokanovic’s radar for a while as Fulham sought a ball-playing centre back with Premier League experience and Swansea had expected Mawson to move on from the Liberty Stadium after their relegation last season. The defender is excited by the chance to move closer to Hillingdon, where he grew up, and to continue to play in the top flight after impressing during his two seasons in south Wales.
Mawson’s confident adaptation to the Premier League had impressed Gareth Southgate, who called him into the senior England squad for the pre-World Cup friendlies against the Netherlands and Italy. He was in contention for a place in the final 23 but the necessity of surgery on a knee injury meant he was ruled out of the trip to Russia. Mawson is confident that he will be ready for the start of the new Premier League season and his arrival would be another huge boost to the Whites. Fulham have seen off interest from Burnley, who were in prolonged negotiations over a possible transfer last week, and West Ham, who had a bid rejected earlier this summer.
Mawson, who started his career at Brentford before moving to Barnsley, is expected to move to west London for a fee of around £15m up front, which could rise to £20m with add-ons. Some of that money will go to Barnsley, who negotiated a sell-on clause when the defender left Oakwell, having helped them regain promotion to the Championship. The 24 year-old made 71 appearances for Swansea, who will likely use the cash to strengthen Graham Potter’s squad as they aim for an immediate return to the top flight, and scored seven goals.
With the impending arrival of Aleksandar Mitrovic from Newcastle, Mawson will add defensive nous to Fulham’s squad and continue their summer of significant spending. Jokanovic’s summer signings include defender Maxime Le Marchand and midfielder Jean-Michael Seri from Nice as well as Spanish goalkeeper Fabri and the German winger Andre Schürrle.
