Forget Tom Cairney: Here Are 2 Quality Replacements For Fulham To Sign If He Moves To Newcastle

2 Quality Replacements For Cairney Who Fulham Can Sign If He Moves To Newcastle

Despite contrary reports, Newcastle United still appear keen on signing Fulham’s Tom Cairney after a £20million bid was rebuffed last January.

A year down the line, Cairney has continued to improve but has not necessarily been helped out by the changes to the formation that have been deployed this season by manager Slavisa Jokanovic, which have seen Cairney play in a slightly right or left of the middle in 4-3-3’s, rather than right down the middle as he did in last season’s regular 4-2-3-1.

He did the best thing he could by committing to Fulham last winter; however, it seems now that overall, the club has slipped slightly and may offer even lesser chance of promotion to the Premier League. So he may very well be tempted by a move.

Should he go, Fulham would need to replace him quickly and here are two players capable of filling his role:

James Maddison (Norwich City)

Just how receptive Maddison would be to a move down to Fulham is open for question, though one thing is for sure and that is that he is of an equal standard to Cairney.

Maddison has apparently been another option looked at by Rafa Benitez at Newcastle and so you could say he’d be a straight swap, though once again he may not be entirely happy with Jokanovic’s tactics this season, as just like Cairney the Norwich man wants to play right down the middle, usually in a 4-2-3-1.

He’d be quite a catch though to be fair, though the likelihood is that if Maddison is moved away from Norwich, it would likely have to be to the Premier League.

Sammy Ameobi (Bolton Wanderers)

Having been allowed to leave Newcastle, Ameobi has found his feet now and in fact, he may end up back in the Premier League.

Ameobi had injury problems which needed special attention, something he received at Cardiff City when on loan rather than at Newcastle and now has been playing his best football when allowed to play down the right, cutting in on to his left foot.

He was not deployed in this position at Newcastle and it seems they didn’t get the best out of him, though given Jokanovic’s penchant for a 4-3-3 now, Ameobi may be a decent replacement for Cairney as he would be more than happy playing off-centre so to speak.

Bolton need cash and are willing to sell Josh Vela in January, so maybe they’d be receptive to a move for Ameobi too?