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How does Fulham’s summer recruitment look a month later?
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- How does Fulham’s summer recruitment look a month later?
(Reuters)
After a summer of turbulence at Craven Cottage, with several major outgoings and incomings, it has hardly been an ideal start to the season.
That hardly needs reiterating, with the Cottagers sitting in 19th in the table and on just two points, above only Tottenham , who also have two points.
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They have faced some tough opposition, not least three of the so-called 'big six', having faced Chelsea , Liverpool and Manchester United .
And of course, we have to acknowledge the fact that the club went under significant changes in personnel both on and off the pitch, with Alvaro Arbeloa replacing Marco Silva and several key players leaving.
That included Harry Wilson , Fulham 's best player by some distance last season, and also Raul Jimenez , who was their second top goal scorer.
But Fulham also lost experience in Issa Diop and Sasa Lukic.
Those two were replaced buy by far younger options, which was supposedly the plan with Arbeloa at the helm anyway.
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So, in another assessment exercise before we begin to look ahead to beyond the international break - how has Fulham's recruitment fared?
Well, the Cottagers used Arbeloa's links to Real Madrid from the outset, and were immediately linked with Gonzalo Garcia .
They succeeded in bringing in the Spanish forward after much deliberation and also signed Cesar Palacios and Manuel Angel.
Garcia and Palacios have both had their moments, and have registered a couple of goals each, but I think the expectations when they joined were of greater performances.
Angel has only played 27 minutes and so we cannot realistically judge him just yet.
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Fulham then brought in Shea Charles from Southampton and again while we have seen glimpses from the former Manchester City academy player, we are yet to see him at his very best.
Hugo Larsson has also shown he can be a useful addition to the squad with a bunch of strong cameo performances.
Then there was the one Fulham new signing who you can wholeheartedly say has made an instant impact - David Affengruber .
He has settled into the centre back role brilliantly alongside Calvin Bassey and the Cottagers look a whole lot more secure at the back as a result.
On the face of it at the time those signings for Fulham were a group of good, young players who will take some time to develop.
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Seven games into the season and it still feels that way.
Fulham opted to let go of a lot of tired and tested Premier League talent and to bring in a set of players who for the most part have no experience in the Premier League.
While they may yet come good and see Fulham rise up the table, it is currently quite hard to see the Cottagers' summer business in an entirely positive light - perhaps with the exception of Affengruber.
