Report: Another Championship club comes in for Alfie Mawson, with a potentially better deal than previous

It’s not the perfect solution, but it’s a little bit better than what the alternative option was in my mind.

According to Sky Sports (2/9/20, 17:57) Bristol City have shown an interest in taking Fulham’s central defender Alfie Mawson down to Ashton Gate. A combination of injuries, and just not getting picked ahead of the likes of Tim Ream and Michael Hector meant that he hasn’t played for Fulham since January, so a move might seem beneficial to him right now.

There were of course reports from last week that claimed Watford were in for him on a permanent deal, and if I’m being honest I’d much rather take the loan option rather than selling him on if we have any say in the matter, and that simply comes down to our control over him (not in an overpowering way, just on a contractual level).

When the reports first surfaced, I spoke about the deal, saying that it was OK by me, but we needed to have a replacement lined up to take his place, and judging by the reports of players we’ve been linked to this summer, there aren’t a lot of centre-backs being named and that’s worrying me.

That’s why I’d rather the loan deal, because whilst he might not be the best defender on the team (as explained in that previous piece), I’d still rather have the option to recall him in January if we felt like we needed him, something that would be a lot harder to do if we sold him to Watford.

So unless we bring in that central defender to play alongside Hector that we desperately need, I’d much rather have the option to call on Mawson again if we needed him, rather than scraping the barrel and putting someone there just for the sake of it.