Fulham Opinion: Cottagers wanted Clyne in January – a bad miss?

Fulham spent heavily in the summer transfer window but now find themselves in a serious relegation scrap. They are 19^th on the table, eight points adrift of safety and are looking very likely to play Championship football next season.

Claudio Ranieri has lifted the spirits in the players after replacing Slavisa Jokanovic but it’s not proving enough. Despite bolstering the squad in January by bringing in the likes of Ryan Babel, Lazar Markovic and Havard Nordtveit, Ranieri’s side still lack the quality to beat the drop.

According to a report from the Evening Standard, Fulham were interested in signing Liverpool right-back Nathaniel Clyne on loan until the end of the season. But the Cottagers missed out on Clyne, with the defender opting to join Bournemouth on loan instead.

The manner in which Clyne has slotted seamlessly into the Bournemouth XI since joining from Liverpool begs the question — did Fulham miss a trick by not signing the 27-year-old in January?

Timothy Fosu-Mensah joined Fulham on a season-long loan from Manchester United in the summer but has played just nine Premier League games. He has found game time hard to come by under Ranieri, with the Italian manager not trusting the versatile defender. In fact, he was open to let him go back to United last month.

Cyrus Christie is good going forward but is shaky when it comes to defending. Ranieri opted to go with Denis Odoi at right-back against Manchester United but that move didn’t work as well. That’s where the signing of Clyne would have made so much difference for the Cottagers.

Clyne is an experienced right-back, known for pace, agility, stamina and work rate. He is excellent going forward and defensively disciplined as well. The former Southampton star may have lost a bit of spark after missing most of the 2017-18 season with a back problem but there’s no doubting his positional awareness and ability to read a game.

Conclusion

Fulham didn’t sign a right-back in January when Ranieri actually needed one.

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They don’t have quality in their squad to retain their Premier League status and hence, a player of Clyne’s class and experience could have had a huge say on their relegation battle.