Marco Silva insists it was an ‘easy decision’ to join Fulham and believes his first-team squad has ‘great quality’ as he aims to take the club back to the Premier League.

The Portuguese head coach, speaking at the end of his first day at Motspur Park after what said had been a difficult quarantining period, revealed that he was attracted by the prospect of managing again in England and the history of Fulham. He told the club’s official website:

“To be honest, it was an easy decision. I had some offers from different clubs and different cultures as well. I had the first contact with the director of football and then the chairman, personally. The way the club approached the project and showed the trust in us to come to Fulham Football Club and create the conditions to be successful in the end of the season, it was really, really good. They play a key role in my decision, even if to be honest, Fulham as a football club makes every manager feel important. When you come here, you are talking about such a historic club that gives me the opportunity to come back to England and when I looked at the project I am really confident that we can create something really important in this football club. The first aim for us is to get promoted at the end of the season – even if you know that it is a tough competition but you are confident you can achieve that.”

Silva sounded pleased by what he saw during his first day in charge of training – although he admitted there would be plenty of hard work ahead.

“I’m happy with what I’ve seen from them. In football, you can achieve something if you work hard. You can talk about quality, you can talk about commitment, but before that always comes what work. What I saw from them today … they were happy, working in a good environment but in the meantime working hard because it will be a tough competition. A long competition. We need to be together, fight together. I saw good things from them as well.”

He is encouraged by the ability in the first team squad and detailed his preferred style of football, insisting that only promotion could be considered a success in his first season at Craven Cottage.

“We have quality. A big part of this squad got promoted two seasons ago. For us, it was not a good season last season. But you are here to change things again and to compete every single match to win the football matches.”

“I think all of you now I like my teams to have control of the game. I like my team to play offensive style of football – it it is true, but I don’t like to lose the balance. You can play a good style of football if you have the right balance. You have many ways to win football matches. Each manager has his way. I think in eight to ten days I will know better all of our squad and it will be a moment for us to take some decisions as well. This is a moment for me to see all of them and I have the backing of the board and owner to change the squad if I need to. I know they will do that.”