Fulham head coach Marco Silva has confirmed that the Whites are in advanced talks with teenage midfielder Josh King about a contract extension.
The eighteen year-old midfielder, who made his professional debut in the EFL Cup second round win win at Birmingham City last August, has made eight first-team appearances since being promoted from the academy into the first-team squad earlier this season. King, who has been at Fulham since the age of eight, signed his first professional deal with the club last January and is believed to be keen to remain at Craven Cottage despite interest from right across Europe.
Silva told the press yesterday:
“Yes, we are in conversations with him, with his agent, with his family as well. It’s not just important for us. I think it’s important for him, too. It’s a really important moment of his career. It’s the first big decision, probably, that he’s going to take and a big step that he’s going to take.
He knows how much the club the club trusts him. I won’t say ‘for a long time’, but conversations are already underway. Let’s hope we can have news as soon as we can.”
I don’t understand the statement” He knows how much the Club trust him”. If that is the case, will the Club offer him a contract with substance and will Silva play him, I’m not so sure. Young players have no place in his side unless the’re Brazilian. The Club didn’t work their magic on Carvalho did they? they have previous when it comes to contract talks with our academy players.
Unfortunately we’ve seen all this before. This lad is the ‘badger’s nadgers’ with confidence and workrate coming out of every orifice. His ‘knowledge of the club’s trust’ should not come into it: we should be pushing for his signature on a lengthy contract. Harvey Elliott is about to win his second Premiership winners’ medal and looks good for a Champions League gong too. Happily for Harvey, the grass was greener. He was a Liverpool fan, which probably came from his father, a big influence to a teenager – so when the Bin Dippers came in for him, they probably didn’t have to try too hard. I know The Hammy End are ‘not too fond’ now of Harvey but I just see wasted potential. Fabio Carvalho went off to pastures new and fell flat on his face at first. This lad was a personal favourite of mine and I wish him the best of luck now at The Bus Stop in Hounslow – I’ll say this quickly and only once: a well run club with an excellent nurturing manager. Both Fabio and Josh respectively were and are on fire when playing in a white shirt. We come back to my expression ‘wasted potential’ – let’s save ourselves 15-25 mil and develop this lad. If we PROVE the club’s trust in him by offering a decent contract and playing him more regularly, one day we may have another statue in the Stevanage Road, even if he’s a closet Gooner. COYW!!!