The heat does strange things to people. Only three weeks after we warned everyone about the silly season and Fulham fans have become fatalistic about some of the stories in the red tops. Plenty of people were pontificating about the relegation battle ahead on Monday as news broke of Issa Diop’s arrest in Toulouse, which had swiftly followed articles claiming that discussions between Tosin Adarabioyo and the club over a long-term contract had broken down. The conveyors of clickbait also continue to link Joao Palhinha with all and sundry before yesterday afternoon saw a story suggesting that Marco Silva himself was in two minds over whether to commit to a new contract at Craven Cottage. Each case provoked an outbreak of soul searching on social media, the severity of which left me wondering whether it was even bothering with the season to come.

Diop’s detention by the Toulouse authorities for alleged death threats against his wife, from whom he is separated, was quickly reversed with the French prosecutors issuing a statement in the middle of the afternoon saying that the French defender had ‘no case to answer’. I did enjoy the Griffin Park Grapevine, which is surely soon to be rebranded given how much time they spend commenting on London’s oldest professional football club, condemning Fulham for their moral depravity before becoming remarkably silent when Diop was released without charge. Having these sort of allegations levelled against a Fulham player is concerning, but natural justice still provides for the concept of innocence before proving guilt – something social media participants appear to have overlooked.

The revelation that Tosin is exploring his options ahead of the expiration of his twelve-month extension clause shouldn’t come as a surprise, either. The tall defender has been usurped by Diop during the French’s first season with the club and, perhaps more surprisingly, had to settle for a spot on the bench after Tim Ream’s remarkable campaign back in the Premier League. He might be keen to experience regular first-team football and players are now adept at exploiting a transfer and contractual landscape that is weighted heavily in their favour. For their part, Fulham are looking to bring in new centre halves – including Igor Julio, the Brazilian defender who has been told he can leave Fiorentina this summer – and will only entertain serious offers for any of Silva’s first-team squad, especially in this case as Manchester City have a 15% sell-on clause. Tottenham were linked but, only with considering an initial inquiry, which hasn’t materialised as of yet.

The Sun story suggesting that Silva, currently on a family holiday, was stalling over signing a new contract was perhaps the most predictable of the lot. Fulham’s latest head coach has consistently stated that, whilst he is happy at Craven Cottage, he would wait to see whether the ambitions of the club matched his and that the clearest barometer of that would come over the summer transfer window. Nothing has changed – and Fulham fans have become used to managers, or coaches as they are called these days – going public with their frustrations over the club’s recruitment policies. The piece, published whilst many of us were entranced by events at Edgbaston on a slow afternoon for football stories, contained no new information but Silva follows in the footsteps of Slavisa Jokanovic, Claudio Ranieri and Scott Parker in asking for action on signings.

I’ve never known a manager – of any club – to be completely happy with the size of his squad. The Fulham situation is somewhat stranger, with the chairman’s son holding a key role in the acquisition of new signings as director of football based on his data-driven approach. It’s been a while since we explored the specifics of Fulham’s two ticks strategy, but most clubs in this country have moved away from offering their managers full autonomy over transfers in the last decade. Plenty of fans have concerns about Tony Khan’s position, not just because he is the owner’s son and relatively new to football, citing his Stateside commitments with the Jacksonville Jaguars and All Elite Wrestling – but it won’t be changing any time soon.

Silva remains under contract and eager to build on two strong seasons in SW6. He was no doubt helped by a superb summer of signings this time last year, with Bernd Leno and Palhinha proving two of the bargains of the season, and, although I remain of the view that getting new faces in early – rather than picking up bargains at the end of the window would be preferable, Fulham are protected by the £6m release clause that another club would have to pay to secure Silva’s services. The Premier League sides he was linked to early in the summer – Tottenham and West Ham – have looked elsewhere and there is a palpable since that the Whites are moving in the right direction.

The frenzied speculation around Palhinha continues, as we warned earlier this month. Most of it remains staggering inaccurate, as Dan pointed out ten days ago, and the hysterical reaction to Fulham ‘slapping a £90m price tag’ on their prized Portuguese asset last night was hilarious. As we reported in the aftermath of this Mail Online article, the club’s position remains that our prince of tenacious tackling is not available for sale, despite West Ham’s media campaign to unsettle one of the division’s most consistent performers last season.

Fulham keep their cards incredibly close to their chests regarding transfers and there will be plenty more salacious speculation to raise an eyebrow or two, particularly as Wimbledon joins the Ashes in distracting us before the start of a new Premier League campaign. Now that both the much-missed Danny Fullbrook and TOOFIF’s near enough is good enough column are unable to point out the holes in some of this nonsense, we’ll continue to do so. In the meantime, the Fulham fanbase should remember just how foolish Silva’s side made the pundits appear with their tenth place finish last month. Keeping cool in this searing heat is advisable anyway and, to quote Rudyard Kipling’s prescient poem, ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs … yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it’. Or as Tommy Trinder would have put it, Fulham fans are ‘lucky people’. Let’s keep calm and carry on because no other fanbase has the joy of top flight football at Craven Cottage every fortnight in six weeks time.