Well, ladies and gentlemen, three months boiled down to six hours. That’s how Premier League clubs are usually ran right, right? Are you with me, people? No, you’re not. You shouldn’t be. The 2025 summer window goes down as a landmark window, for all the wrong reasons. Here’s why this summer window will prove to be disastrous in years to come (paragraph 14 onwards). First, I’ll review all our deadline day moves:
On the surface, deadline day business of Kevin, Chukwueze, and Jonah Kusi-Asare is superb. Let’s get stuck into to reviewing the Whites three deadline day signings. Shall we?
Kevin Signs: Be Patient
As I set out in my deadline day article, ‘’Kevin Move Stalls: Record Fee Risk Or Reward?’’, the reasons why Fulham smashed our transfer record on the 22 year old are clear. As Ukranian football expert, Andrew, of Zorya Londonsk, told me on Monday, Kevin has tremendous upside. Kev’ combines samba flair, clinical finishing, with an adeptness at playing on the break, utilising his blistering pace to devastating affect. The U20 Brazil international has all the hallmarks of being the latest esteemed Palmeiras academy graduate to take the European game by storm.
With that said, however, the Fulham faithful shouldn’t expect Kevin to hit the ground running in West London. The reason why a team of the stature of FFC have been able to attract a player with the upside that Kevin possesses is thanks to the rawness of Kevin’s game.
The São Paulo born star, who shares a second name with legendary Whites keeper, Tony Macedo, has been criticised for his crossing ability, and prepencity to over dribble in one on one scenarios. Kevin needs time to develop. In a winger room jam packed full of talent, ‘Kev’ will be afforded that time.
Was there better value in the market elsewhere? For this moment in time, the here and now? Yes, but Fulham need ceiling raisers, players of a younger age profile. If we remain patient, the former Donetsk man can unleash this the attacking talents of this Fulham team.
If you want a deeper dive on our £34M man, click here!
https://medium.com/@LondonsOriginal/kevin-move-stalls-record-fee-risk-or-reward-26b2a5ec08bf
Chukwueze Joins: Fulham’s X-Factor Arrives
Fulham’s second deadline day arrival, Samuel Chukwueze, is the pick of the bunch. Where Kevin won’t hit the ground, Chukwueze will. A truly multi faceted winger. If you don’t fancy going stride for stride will Samuel in a race to the byline, well, I don’t blame you, but I wouldn’t recommend showing ‘Chukz’ inside either…
On the outside, he’ll burn you for pace and whip in a wicked cross, push him off the right inside onto his left peg and the former Milan man will happily tuck it top bins with a zinging left foot.
Don’t believe me? Well, stats don’t lie. Producing a deadly combination of 3.1 successful take ons per 90, in the top 3% of all wingers in Europe’s top five leagues, and 5.33 shot creating actions per 90, sitting in the top 8% of all wingers in the top five leagues, is no joke.
The Nigerian international’s X-Factor on either side of a full back creates a matchup nightmare for opposition defences. Add Josh king’s trademark underlying runs to create a wide overload into the mix and, phwoar, not bad, eh? At just 26, Chukz’ has plenty to offer the Whites, if he can get anywhere near emulating his Villarreal form in black and white, the £25m buy option London’s Original have access to will be an absolute snip.
Jonah Kusi Asare: Low Risk, High Reward
It was on, off, and then on again, but come Tuesday morning, Jonah Kusi-Asare was a Fulham player. Tony Khan and co did the right thing, forcing a buy-option to be inserted into the deal, otherwise, paying a £3.5 loan fee for an 18 year old striker without a competitive goal scored above the fourth division of German football would be absolute lunacy.
Despite inserting a buy option, Bayern have a buy back clause for Kusi-Asare if FFC do opt to make Asare’s deal a permanent one. Looking at how he’s profiled across youth football circles, it’s easy to see why ‘Super Bayern’ want to do so. Nicknamed ‘Baby Isak’, the Swede’s technical prowess and physical stature easily draw comparisons to the now Liverpool centre forward, with the AIK youth product’s finessing finish against Tottenham Hotspur in pre season, just weeks ago, showing just what Fulham’s third choice striker can do with the ball at his feet.
Johah’s miniutes will be limited, but in games where Fulham need somebody to hit off, to relieve pressure to to knock it down in desperate need of a chance, Kusi Asare’s 6’5 stature give Marco Silva a unique profile at centre forward, with the towering Raul and Rodrigo paling in comparison to Asare’s build. An unknown? Yes. An inflated, panic driven, loan fee? Yes, but frankly, the Cottagers needed numbers. Jonah Kusi-Asare provides a safety net, a relatively low risk high reward striking gamble for a light Silva squad. Not the perfect deal, but I understand the logic.
Should Fulham Have Swapped Wilson For George?
Harry Wilson: a cult hero, a man eternalised at Craven Cottage. Fulham’s most gifted winger. Losing ‘H’ doesn’t even bare thinking about, but football is a heartless game. Wilson’s agent set his stool out early this summer: Harry wants a new deal, get it done. It hasn’t, and now we know HW signed off on a deadline day move to Yorkshire, a Welsh Wizard renewal seems unlikely.
If it was up to myself, the situation has an easy fix: Pay, your most talented winger, a sizeable weekly wage to continue strutting his stuff by the River, but unfortunately, I’m not Tony Khan, and I don’t have access to his dad’s credit card either… Therefore, with Wilson soon departing for free next summer, the decision to reject a Leeds offer in the region of £7m makes no sense in the modern world ruled by PSR.
Fulham had a replacement lined up, Tyrique George had completed a medical at Motspur Park for £22m. Far from a sure fire prospect, but we unfortunately saw last season at the Cottage what George can do. He’s highly thought about around the Bridge for a reason.
At 19, George has the perfect versatile frontline repotoire, and age profile to massive benefit Silva’s squad, not just now, but in he future too. Keeping a man soon to be departing SW6 on a Bosman, instead of cashing in and capitalising on a young, affordable asset to future proof your attack screams a directionless, panicked transfer team. The wrong call. George should be a Fulham player. Sorry, Harry.
Why This Summer Is An Outright Failure
That’s enough of the overviewing of transfers, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Why this window is an outright failure. In my video on X and TikTok on deadline, I was hounded by many for using the f-word. ‘Failure’. Many said it would have only been a failure if Muniz left, if Jedi left etc etc. Im afraid, thats where your wrong. Any hopes of Silva staying beyond 2026? You can kiss them goodbye. The way Fulham Football Club have conducted business this window has lost Marco Silva.
Forget keeping Muniz, Robinson, and Bassey, or bringing in two statement signings, namely Kevin and Chukwueze, the ultimate goal for this transfer window was to keep Marco Silva happy, stick to the plan laid out by the club’s hierarchy, a plan set in motion last January, per Marco Silva. The Whites have done complete opposite. Silva was promised time to bed in signings, let additions integrate with team early doors. Marco has banged on about this for years, 2025 was the year it was set to change. 2025 was the year it got even worse.
Losing Marco Silva is the worse thing to happen to this club this century. You can thank the 2025 summer window for that. That alone, makes this summer window a failure of epic proportions.
I made a joke in July, proclaiming our first summer signings would come past the 7pm deadline. Well, I promise you, I was joking, but look how right I was. It’s comical really. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. It’s almost like top clubs don’t wait till deadline day to do their business.
It’s almost like Fulham had no transfer window strategy, and had a manic deadline day with a scatter gun recruitment policy. It’s almost like waiting till the final day of a window to approach clubs about key squad members will always end in disatser. Just look at the last minute Danilo or In-Beom Hwang approaches we put in, its almost like Tony Khan’s not a football man, its almost as if he should stick to wrestling promoting, not being a Premiership DOF. Shahid, for your sake, and my sanity, stop the nepotism, hire a competent DOF.
Golden Years Passing Us By
These times will soon pass us by, when Silva goes, and all inevitably goes to pot, we will think about how close we were to something expenetioally special.
As Scott Parker would say, In football, its fine margins. Missing out on players true talents for a season because they didn’t have the required time to bed into a squad, or losing out on key targets, as Marco Silva alluded to in a recent press conference, that can be the difference between mid table mediocrity and trips to Eastern Europe, cups passing you by, or memories that last a lifetime. Marco Silva is the manager to give us those special moments, and soon his tenure will be a distance memory. A tenure tainted by what could of been.
This attitude of ‘little old Fulham’, being content with making up the numbers is why Fulham are the biggest club in Britain to not win a major honour – we deserve more. To those that say we are lucky to be here, I say no. We were, not anymore.
The days of Fulham being afoot the football league, merging with Queens Park Rangers were almost 40 years ago, Sean Davis’ goal at Ewood Park to complete our ascension up the football league into the Premier League for the first time: over a quarter of a century ago.
Football is for moments, for jubilation, for joy, not for coasting and mediocrity on a well trodden path to relegation – because post Silva, unless we get a new director of football in, thats where we are heading.
To that director of football I ask this: Was the whittling down of Kevin’s fee from £40m to £35m+5m worth than a month’s worth of Silva fury? Was it worth hampering a young player’s opening season in the Premier League? Was this long standing approach to transfers worth losing the man holding this football club together?
It wasn’t. Don’t get it twisted, the repricing of this summers’ failure will be felt for years to come. Will we hallmark this summer as the moment it all went sour on Stevenage Road? I think so. It’s no shot at Kevin or Chukwueze, they are exciting additions, but the facts remain – the 2025 summer window is a failure of cataclysmic proportions.