City set for FUL scale battle if Marco moves for Sky Blues hitman
THE TRUTH BEHIND FULHAM’S TRANSFER ‘APPROACH’ FOR GYOKERES
COVENTRY City fans are going to have to get used to speculation linking their star players with interest from other clubs this summer.
Barely a week goes by without one of the Sky Blues big three being the subject of a report claiming X, Y or Z have designs on signing them in the upcoming transfer window.
It’s Viktor Gyokeres’s turn this week. City’s 17-goal striker has been linked with a possible move to newly-promoted Fulham, with claims that The Cottagers have “made an approach” for his services.
It is claimed that manager Marco Silva sees him as a potential back-up option and competition for Aleksandar Mitrovic, who on Monday night took his goal tally to 43 as Fulham sealed the title in devastating fashion with a 7-0 thrashing of Luton.
The Serbia striker’s two goals gave him the highest-scoring English league season record for over half-acentury, surpassing Guy Whittingham’s 42 goals for Portsmouth in 1992-93, the most in the current 46-game league format, by one with one game remaining of the Championship season.
So what do we know about Fulham’s reported interest in Gyokeres and what’s been said about it?
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Sorting the facts from fiction
First and foremost, the good news is that the Coventry Telegraph understands that, contrary to reports, Fulham have not made an approach, contact or any formal inquiries to Coventry City. That doesn’t mean they won’t, or that feelers have been put out, but, as of yesterday, no formal or official call has been made.
Is it likely?
It is certainly possible, not least given the fact that Gyokeres has proved himself to be an accomplished goalscorer in the Championship. Seventeen goals – hopefully more with one game to go at Stoke on Saturday – are not to be sniffed at and make the 23-year-old hot property. Asked about his achievement at the weekend, manager Mark Robins joked about his 17th of the season against Huddersfield, saying: “That’s another million! It’s a brilliant return and it could have been more.”
Would Fulham be interested?
Why wouldn’t they, is the simple answer. Marco Silva has seen at first hand what Gyokeres can do on two painful occasions this season.
The striker has scored three goals against Fulham, two in the humiliating 4-1 victory at the CBS Arena in October and another in last month’s wonderful 3-1 win at Craven Cottage. The memorable home game turned on its head after the break when Matty Godden nicked the ball off a defender as Fulham attempted to play out from the back. The striker’s touch fell to Callum O’hare who pushed into the box and played a square ball to Gyokeres who coolly slotted home the equaliser two minutes into the restart. Godden then scored from the spot before Ian Maatsen added a third to make it 3-1 before Gyokeres bagged his second on 70 minutes when Godden picked him out to the left of goal and, under pressure from a covering defender, the Swede stretched to send the ball the wrong side of the stranded keeper.
He was then denied a hat-trick when keeper Paulo Gazzaniga got a hand to push his shot wide of his far post as the Sky Blues went looking for a fifth. His goal more recently at ‘The Cottage’ was a powerful strike from just outside the box that Fulham’s other keeper Marek Rodak fumbled, allowing the ball to squirm past him and into the net.
Silva is clearly an admirer of the player, whom he singled out and spoke of in glowing terms.
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What Silva has said
Reflecting on the 4-1 humbling earlier in the season, he said: “It was one of the toughest games, the way we lost. It was a key moment, to analyse, to understand why it happened, that type of second half.”
And speaking after the 3-1 defeat in London, the former Watford and Everton boss said: “I have to give credit to them. It’s been tough for us.
“It’s these types of games that we need to control. We tried to rush too much. They had moments on the counter-attack. We had some moments ourselves with clear chances to score but it wasn’t our afternoon.
“This afternoon, they were more confident than us, without reason. They were better than us, more confident than us and the game was decided from individual mistakes.”
The Portuguese boss also acknowledged strong individuals who made a difference in Robins’ side, picking out goalkeeper Simon Moore and Gyokeres.
“He did his job well,” Silva added of shot-stopper Moore before adding “they have a very strong striker (Gyokeres) who created many problems for our back line.
“I think, overall this afternoon, all of them (Coventry) were better – even their fans were better than ours. When you are playing at home, if something is going wrong for us, we football players – our team, our fans – we have to fight against it. This afternoon they were on top, their fans were on top as well, and they won the game.”
ANALYSIS
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Is Fulham’s promotion a factor?
The Cottagers have been champions elect
for weeks. It’s been a question of not if, but when their title would be secured and their return to the Premier League at the first time of asking. And as such, Silva has been able to get to work with his recruitment staff to prepare for next season, knowing that he would be back in the top flight.
He will therefore be able to do his business early and the club will be well down the line with their recruitment plans for next season.
What’s City’s stance?
Dave Boddy told the Coventry Telegraph last week: “There’s clearly going to be a lot of interest in our players this
summer because of the success that we have had, and the success that they have had this season. “Market forces will always dictate what happens to players but we will not let players go for anything less than we believe to be the market value. “We are not looking to sell anybody. We are trying to protect them all and I think we have shown that ambition by extending their contracts during the season. But if people do come knocking they’ll get short shrift unless they come up with the values that we believe the players are worth. And even then we will fight it. But the market dictates what players do sometimes.”
We are not looking to sell anybody. We are trying to protect them all and I think we have shown that ambition by extending their contracts.
Dave Boddy