Fulham have signed Manchester City defender Tosin Adarabioyo on a permanent deal for an initial fee of around £1.5m.
The 23 year-old ball playing centre back has opted to move to London in pursuit of regular Premier League football having seen his path to Pep Guardiola’s first team blocked by the likes of Aymeric Laporte, new signing Reuben Dias and England international John Stones. Adarabioyo had hoped to build on the success of an excellent loan spell at Blackburn Rovers, where he scored three goals in 34 appearances last term, but City decided to cash in on one of their longstanding academy prospects with the 6ft 5in defender in the final year of his contract.
Adarabioyo, who has signed a three-year contract at Craven Cottage with the club holding a year’s extension option, told Fulham’s official website:
“I’m very excited, very excited to get going and finally be playing Premier League football. I felt like the time was right to leave and push on. It was the right time in my career to move on and hopefully get a lot of Premier League games.”
Adarabioyo, who spent the 2017/2018 campaign on loan at West Brom, joined Manchester City’s youth system aged just five. He was playing for the club’s under 18 side at just fourteen and was captaining the team just two years later. He made his professional debut in a FA Cup tie against Chelsea in February 2016 and came off the bench in a Champions’ League qualifying win over Steaua Bucharest in August 2016. Adarabioyo, who has won England caps up to under-19 level, will add depth to Scott Parker’s defensive options as the Whites have conceded eleven goals in four defeats since returning to the top flight.
Welcome, hope you’re as good as they say.
Looks promising although still unproven at Premiership level.
A fee of 8 million was being mooted so to get him for an initial fee of 1.5 million seems like a good deal.
Unlikely to start at Sheffield United as Parker is sure to want one of our more experienced centre backs alongside Joachim Anderson.
These new signings, by my reckoning, now give us a squad of 35 including Bettinelli, Sessegnon, Mawson and Christie out on loan but including fringe players like Stansfield and Jasper. That’s a very hefty payroll so expect to see a number of players departing, either permanently or temporarily, while the domestic window remains open.
IMO-these 3 signings add considerable quality to the team and, added to Lookman and the return of Harrison Reed, we can only expect things to improve significantly moving forward. Although he is not my favourite person and is much maligned as Director of Football, I feel a pat on the back for Tony Khan is in order for his work in this window.