I don’t think there is a Fulham fan who isn’t frustration by the glacial pace of the club’s recruitment. Marco Silva’s squad is lighter than it was three weeks ago after the Whites released nine players, lost Bobby De Cordova-Reid to Leicester City and sold Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich. Fulham’s transfer model places immense value on making signings at the end of a transfer window, but it increasingly asks a coach like Silva to work the oracle – especially in comparison to our competitors. The only other English top flight team not to have bought anyone in is Liverpool and Fulham’s need for building is far more urgent than the task awaiting Arne Slot at Anfield.

Of course, the positive way to view the lack of experience and depth at Silva’s disposal as pre-season steps up a gear is that it offers a chance to the leading lights from Fulham’s academy. The current first team coach has demonstrated a willingness to give young talent its head: most famously in the form of Fabio Carvalho at the very start of his tenure, but Silva has also handed senior minutes to the likes of Jay Stansfield, Luke Harris, Martial Godo and Luc de Fougerolles. That quartet should all feature as the Whites begin a series of behind-closed-doors training games this weekend before heading off to face Benfica and Sevilla on the Algarve.

Fulham’s highly-regarded academy has produced plenty of gems over the past decade, but the truth path to sustainability as envisaged by Shad Khan in the Bloomberg package yesterday runs through the integration of the best young talent into the senior side. Youth could play a big part in revamping what has been an ageing squad over the past few campaigns. Analysis from the Athletic showed Silva used only two under-21 players in the Premier League last term, the lowest of all clubs bar Arsenal. The talent is there, but the conditions have to be created for them to flourish.

de Fougerolles, who was part of the Canadian squad that finished fourth at the Copa America this summer, is a case in point. The Battersea-born versatile defender seized his opportunity during the Summer Series last year and must be licking his lips at an opportunity to grab some more first-team football as Fulham have failed to replace Tosin Adarabioyo to date. Still only nineteen, de Fougerolles will need regular game time to further his development and tests against the likes of Benfica, Sevilla and then Hoffenheim will do him no harm.

Right back Devan Tanton had a terrific season with Hayden Mullins’ under-21s last term, which was capped off by winning the Fulham Supporters’ Trust’s Johnny Haynes trophy. It will be interesting to see how the Colombian international fares with Kenny Tete and Timothy Castagne ahead of him at right back – a loan away from Motspur Park looks his likeliest route to regular football once the season starts, but he could be another to feature prominently in the immediate future. On the other flank, the tremendously talented Jon Esenga – who starred in the under 21s’ run to Premier League Cup glory last year – has a great chance to step up to senior level after Antonee Robinson’s Copa America exertions.

Midfield feels like the area where the Whites badly need reinforcements – even if replacing a player of Palhinha’s calibre is virtually impossible. It is unlikely that Josh King will step straight into the first team aged only seventeen, but the teenager’s poise on the ball and reading of the game make him a hot prospect. Silva has already recognised the youngster’s potential by naming him amongst the substitutes last season and the England youth international, adept at driving from midfield with the ball as well as picking a pass and winning a tackle, can’t be far away from a senior appearance. King’s journey from walking out with Tom Cairney as a mascot in the Championship promotion season of 2017/2018 to putting pen to paper on a professional deal shows you the promise of a category one academy as rich as Fulham’s.

King isn’t the only midfielder to have caught the eye whilst training with the senior side. Matt Dibley-Dias, another Haynes Trophy winner with Brazilian heritage was unfortunate not to make his senior debut for New Zealand last year when injury came at just the wrong time. Silva had selected the youngster among his substitutes at Everton on the opening day of the season and, having turned 21, Dibley-Dias’s time is now. Comfortable as a holding midfielder or a more orthodox box-to-box operator, the Kiwi has a delightful first touch and a lovely long-range shot.

With the Whites short on wide options following the departure of De Cordova-Reid and Willian’s refusal to extend his contract, we may well see more of Godo in the coming weeks. The England under-20 winger was a huge hit at Wigan Athletic last term after a meteoric rise from turning out for Margate two years ago and, whilst he will probably need a Championship loan come August, Godo’s work ethic allied with a fondness for fooling full backs gives him every chance of making it to the top. Jay Stansfield, previously used as a winger by Silva before his loan exploits at Exeter and Birmingham City, could also be utilised out wide as well as through the middle in what could be a big season for the Tiverton-born talent.

There are other strikers in the mix as well. I’m intrigued to see where Olly Sanderson goes next after a couple of seasons plundering goals for Oxford City and Sutton United, whilst Callum Osmand’s elevation to the senior squad earlier this month was arguably the most exciting of all. The Welsh youngster sunk Spurs with a stunning hat-trick in the Premier League Cup final and scored a hatful of goals at both under-18 and under-21 level last year. The eighteen year old’s ceiling seems particularly high.

Refining the pathway from Motspur Park to the becoming a regular in the senior side at Craven Cottage has been a project occupying the brains trust of Fulham’s academy for an awfully long term. A youth-set up that has delivered the likes of Marcus Bettinelli, Ryan Sessegnon, Harvey Elliott and Carvalho is the envy of England, but Fulham simply can’t afford another Matt O’Riley mistake. These few weeks should give the next generation an opportunity to strut their stuff.