Fulham in race to sign modern and undervalued World Cup player for Silva journalist

Following a successful 2022/2023 campaign back in the English top flight, Fulham will be eager to strengthen their ranks and bolster key areas, though that is yet to come to fruition thus far.

The Whites finished mid-table and briefly contended for European qualification last season, even finishing above west London rivals Chelsea. However, to maintain their solid performance level, Silva must freshen up the Fulham squad whilst adding desired quality.

Fulham have been linked with a few fresh faces over the last few weeks, perhaps most notably Man United midfielder Fred, Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, USA internationalSergino Dest, Valencia midfielder Yunus Musah and Roma defender Roger Ibanez.

Silva’s side have also placed high price tags on their most prized assets to ward off potential suitors, with reports suggesting that star midfielder Joao Palhinha could cost around £90 million to interested sides like Man United and West Ham (The Daily Mail).

In terms of incomings, while there have been few developments in the way of official bids or talks, Fulham do have their eyes on a fair few potentials – with a report from France linking them to African defender Ballo-Toure.

The 26-year-old, who featured briefly for Senegal at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar last year, faced off against England in the last 16 of the tournament.

According to Foot Mercato and journalist Sebastian Denis, Fulham are interested in signing Ballo-Toure, but they face stiff competition as a trio of clubs join the race for him.

Indeed, Bologna, Werder Bremen and league rivals Everton are now also in the mix to sign Ballo-Toure alongside Fulham – with a four-horse battle now on the cards.

Denis wrote:

“Fodé Ballo-Touré keeps a good rating on the transfer market,”

“After Fulham (which still keeps an eye on him), three new clubs are interested in the 26-year-old left-back who worked for PSG, LOSC and AS Monaco.

“According to our information, Bologna , Werder Bremen but also Everton are in the process of recovering the 2022 Italian champions, under contract until June 2025 with Milan.”

How good is Fode Ballo-Toure?

Playing 10 Serie A matches last season, totaling around 518 minutes for the Rossoneri, Ballo-Toure could well be looking for a new side who can hand him more playing time (WhoScored).

The full-back may perhaps come as an alternative option to Antonee Robinson on the left-hand-side, and according to football philosopher Joost van der Leij, who applies the scientific principle “Bayesianism” to the beautiful game, Ballo-Toure could come as a solid option for Silva.

“Fodé Ballo-Touré is an above par LB with decent defending probability and okayish finishing probability and a bit of passing game probability,” said van der Leij on Twitter.

“A modern LB, but I prefer a bit more defending probability myself, even though his finishing probability is really nice to have in a team. Replacement value for AC Milan = €7,560,655. So he is quite undervalued.”