It Would Be A Win-Win If Fulham Sign Piazon Permanently
Usually when clubs like Fulham loan players from Chelsea, one would not expect the player to be there permanently beyond the end of the season. Very often they are 19 or 20 and are touted as the next big European superstars. The case of Brazilan Lucas Piazon however, is different.
Already 23-years-old and with only one Blues appearance to his name, it’s hard to imagine him breaking into the star-studded Liverpool squad. With Willian, Hazard and so man stars at Chelsea’s disposal, along with the possibility of more big name arrivals in the summer, Piazon’s time looks to be up.
Chelsea brought Piazon over from Sao Paolo as a 17-year-old to play in their development teams back in 2011. Following one year of that, plus a single appearance for the first team, he was loaned out to Malaga in Spain where he played 11 times. More long term loans have come and gone at Vitesse, Eintracht Frankfurt and Reading, before he landed at Fulham. These moves somewhat give his profile the look of a journeyman.
All these loan spells, without a prolonged period back at Chelsea to train with their first team regulars shows that he is surplus to requirements and that he will not feature too heavily in Antonio Conte’s pre-season plans. Piazon must do what is best for his career progression. Now that his goal record appears to now be just slightly on the up it’s fair to say he’s comfortable at Fulham and comfortable with the Championship.
Even if he’s not a Chelsea material right now, surely the £2.13m rated attacker would be of great value to a forward thinking Championship side. Despite fracturing his jaw, Piazon has managed 23 games in the second tier this season scoring 5 goals and creating 2 others. Those stats aren’t too bad and Fulham must do all they can to keep their creative players, knowing well that if they are in the Championship again next season they will need goal scorers to get them out of it.
Losing a creative talent from the squad on a permanent basis would be a disaster. Hence, it is best for Fulham to hold on to a talent like Lucas Piazon.