I’ve been speaking highly about a number of our loan players recently.
Joachim Andersen and Alphonse Areola have been the main targets of my praise, but for the most part all the players we’ve brought in on loan have all been performing pretty well (with the possible exception of Ola Aina).
Which led me to think, especially after Areola’s comments about how he had to take a step back to join us. How many of them are we likely to see stick with us for the long-term? Now obviously I would like to see all of them stay on, I made the point when it came to Harrison Reed over the summer about how important continuity is when it comes to putting a team together, especially if we are to be in a relegation scrap all season and want to improve on that.
But if we were could only prioritise one of them, or put an order in of who we’d like to keep, who would be one we have to focus on the most?
How much will Fulham spend this winter?
Less than £10m
More than £10m
In my mind, I think the priority has to be Joachim Andersen. I just think that finding a decent centre-back is going to be harder to find than a solid goalkeeper for us. And with the debates over the summer about Marek Rodak’s place within the team, I still think that we have a good Premier League goalkeeper ready and waiting in the form of the Slovak.
We’ve been waiting arguably since Brede Hangeland left to find a proper centre-back at the club, because even in the Championship there were still questions surrounding whether or not Tim Ream or Denis Odoi would hack it in the Premier League. Now though I think we have someone who is more than comfortable at this level. I just hope we stay up and are in a position to bring him in.
It’s also key to ask these questions now because we’re approaching the January window, and just like Ivan Cavaleiro last year we could make one of them permanent sooner rather than later depending on the contract particulars.
What about you? Which of our loan players would you prioritise bringing in permanently?