Fulham remain confident that Marco Silva will commit to a long-term future at Craven Cottage by signing a new contract this summer – despite the Portuguese coach being considered for Serie A vacancies.
Silva told Talksport after the final day defeat by Manchester City last Sunday that he would definitely be staying in SW6 after rejecting approaches from Tottenham Hotspur and Al Hilal. Reports from Italy this weekend have Silva on the shortlist to take over permanently at Juventus and as a potential successor to Simeone Inzaghi at Inter Milan after the Nerazurri‘s humiliating Champions’ League final thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain, but the Fulham hierarchy believe their boss will soon put pen to paper on a new deal.
Chairman Shahid Khan is prepared to fund summer signings as Silva looks to radically reshape an ageing and smaller squad ahead of the new season, with investment seen as key to keeping the former Hull City, Watford and Everton manager away from the clutches of other suitors. Whilst Silva is admired by Damien Comolli, who is expected to be appointed as Juve’s new sporting director in the coming days, the Bianconeri are believed to be focusing their search on managers with Serie A experience.
Silva is understood to value the strength of his working relationship with Fulham chief executive Alistair Mackintosh as well as Khan and has gradually gained more control of the club’s recruitment, which was previously the domain of director of football, Tony Khan, who had driven an analytics-driven approach. The Whites have stepped up their efforts to keep Kenny Tete, who is out of contract at the end of the month, at the club as Silva has requested.
Where’s all this information coming from then?
Let’s hope he stays and TK gives him the financial backing his record deserves. Also he is the man who has to work with the squad so he should have the right to say who we sign. Really hope we can keep Kenny
He had the say on signings last summer and we ended up with Smith-Rowe and Andersen.
We often say the grass isn’t greener about players who leave Craven Cottage for ‘bigger clubs’ but the same is true of managers. Roy Hodgson’s move to Liverpool was an unmitigated disaster and Mark Hughes resigned citing the club’s lack of ambition and will start the new season in charge of Carlisle United in the Conference.
Silva would be silly to swap a place where he’s highly regarded for the Juventus, whose instability has already chewed up and spat out Thiago Motta, and where the summer rebuild is arguably bigger than the one required at Craven Cottage. I hope he stays because he can take Fulham further with the sort of investment promised by Shad Khan.
There’s an interesting article in the Sunday Times this afternoon that says transfers should only be analysed after two years – and take into account the number of games played by the signing. If we didn’t apply this analysis, then Brede Hangeland, Bobby Zamora, Zoltan Gera and Chris Baird – for instance – would be considered failures, which would be ridiculous.
I’m confident that Smith Rowe will come good and Silva certainly deserves credit for how he has reintegrated Ryan Sessegnon into the squad more successfully than anyone thought possible. I’m excited for the new season with Silva at the helm, especially if the board are going to spend big.
What’s the source on this? Nothing cited.
Hope he stays as best manager in my lifetime.
If he did get offered the Juve job, couldn’t blame him if he took it. Massive club and opportunity.
Read some comments from their fans, amd they want someone bigger, so let’s see…
Just a comment on the sourcing as it has been raised by a couple of commenters. We’ve heard from several senior officials at the club as well as someone closely connected with Marco Silva. We wanted to bring an update to our readers as quickly as possible – but we obviously don’t divulge the identity of the individuals concerned.
excellent post Andy, couldn’t agree more
This is just a load of typical churnalism!
Have to agree with Andy, I fear we live in a world of instant gratification, must be patient. I don’t think clubs suffer from the same short termism ( is that even a word) as fans.
Talking with an Arsenal friend, he said that whilst ESR showed flashes of brilliance and obviously had a touch of class about him, he always appeared to be overweight, not as hardworking as he could be and maybe just lacked that competitive edge. I don’t know but I’d definitely give him another season to prove he has the desire. Whilst he didn’t have so many starts he did chip in with 5 or 6 goals, not a complete failure. Think he has to form a partnership with someone, maybe Sess, just like Zamora/Gera.
Anyway glad to read everyone’s thoughts, I think one thing we’d agree on is that we’d like to see Marco stay., albeit £25 million a year, tax free, looks very appealing against a measly £4 mill. That would be short termism that would pay the kids school fees.