Benjamin Lecomte is undoubtedly a fine goalkeeper. The 34-year-old Ligue 1 stalwart of Lorient, Monaco and Montpellier fame arrives in the Premier League with a wealth of experience and with the promise of doing a fine job warming Fulham’s bench for most of the season.
However, with the greatest of respect due to Lecomte, for him to be your club’s only signing in the 2025 summer window to date at the cost of £500,000 must be underwhelming as a Fulham supporter. Or enraging if your name is Marco Silva.
In the 73 days since the transfer window first opened on June 1, Fulham haven’t signed a single player for their first XI, the only Premier League club not to do so, with Lecomte their only addition.
In fact, the biggest signing Fulham have announced this summer, in a move that only Fulham could make, is adding Moet Hennessey (no, not Wayne’s brother) as an official champagne, rose and cognac partner. Cheers!
Silva isn’t known for keeping his opinions to himself, and he didn’t mince his words at Thursday’s pre-Brighton press conference.
“It’s not an ideal scenario,” Silva stated on the eve of the season, before adding that Fulham play in white shirts and that the sky is blue.
“I didn’t expect us to be this passive. I knew what I wanted and the plan was there, but it hasn’t happened. Right now, we need to reinforce. In some positions, we are very short.
“Did I expect it? Of course not, but the market is the market.”
The market is indeed the market, and Silva is by no means the only Premier League manager to state dissatisfaction at the heel-dragging of their club’s owners and/or recruitment teams.
In fact, no fewer than a quarter of the league’s bosses have gone public with varying degrees of volatility at their respective situations.
Nuno has spoken of his frustrations even as Forest were progressing with more signings (Barrington Coombs/PA Images via Getty Images)
Here’s Nuno Espirito Santo of Nottingham Forest, speaking even as Forest bankrolled a club record £37million deal to buy Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich Town: “Dealing with doubts is the worst thing you can have in football.
“We have doubts, who is going to be (here), when are they (new signings) going to come? All these things create doubts.
“We have to understand, but I cannot hide I am worried. This is the reality and I deal with the reality. Should I be over the moon? Totally opposite.”
Forest have since signed James McAtee from Manchester City, too, and are pursuing other deals.
Yet a succession of opening press conferences for the new campaign carried all the optimism and positivity of a dentist’s waiting room.
Here was Enzo Maresca about wanting a new centre-back to replace the injured Levi Colwill at Chelsea: “The club know exactly what I think — I think we need a central defender. We are looking for an internal solution, but as I said, the club know exactly what I think.”
Vitor Pereira piped up with some more market chat as he reflected on Wolves being down on numbers, having signed three players to replace the five who left at the start of the summer.
“It’s been a strange market this summer, it didn’t move a lot, we had the Club World Cup,” he said on Friday.
“I don’t like to wait, but this is a reality.”
Then, on Saturday, before watching his team being thumped 4-0 by Manchester City, Pereira added: “Today is not the day to complain about what is missing.” Maybe Sunday, then?
Crystal Palace, like Fulham, arguably haven’t strengthened their first XI either, signing only Croatia international Borna Sosa from Ajax as competition at left wing-back, as well as backup goalkeeper Walter Benitez.
You can imagine Oliver Glasner, with a European campaign ahead of him for the first time in Palace’s history, will be privately seething at the lack of business. In public, he said last week, “If you’re thinking like this (about waiting to buy players), you make a mistake. Then you’re always reacting to situations. You can’t run a business where you’re always reacting.
“You can, but you’ll never have long-term success. You have to be active and plan what’s going on.
“You can’t say we wait and then on the 28th, if we qualify for the Conference League group stage, then we act. We don’t think like this.
“If we want to be better than last year, then let’s sign at least two players.”
Eberechi Eze could leave Palace, but the club are also yet to make many signings (Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Many of the Premier League big boys, i.e., the ones with gigantic revenues and few PSR concerns, got their business done early, with Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea buying 13 first-teamers between them by July 6 at a combined outlay of around £500million.
It has taken time for that money to recycle around the market, and those towards the bottom end of the Premier League food chain have had to be patient, while also performing PSR juggling acts, even at a high-flyer like Aston Villa, where sell-to-buy is their new reality.
Of the clubs still waiting to do some proper business, Silva’s disquiet at Fulham is among the most legitimate — and is the one that could have the biggest consequences, given his contract expires next summer, like Glasner’s at Palace.
Fulham’s line-up for their opening day draw at Brighton was very familiar; Bernd Leno in goal, Joachim Andersen at the back, Sasa Lukic in midfield, Raul Jimenez up front and Rodrigo Muniz in the super-sub role of netting a late equaliser.
New season, same names.
Not that there was a huge amount wrong with Fulham’s 2024-25 squad (from which they lost Wilian, whose contract expired, and Reiss Nelson, who went back to Arsenal after his season-long loan, although there are suggestions Fulham would like him back). However, it was clear to anyone who watched the Cottagers stutter to a finish of 11th in May, having been four points off a Champions League spot in March (and in an FA Cup quarter-final), that the squad needed both beefing and freshening up. Evolution, not revolution, but something.
Winger Kevin from Shakhtar Donetsk would add said fresh beef, but Shakhtar have rejected a €30m bid from Fulham for the 22-year-old, who scored nine goals last season.
All of which leaves some fans — and possibly Silva — questioning the ambitions of owners who recently bankrolled a £350million refurbishment of Craven Cottage’s champagne and hot tub stand, AKA the Riverside Stand, but haven’t (as yet) given Silva, undoubtedly one of the best managers Fulham have had, any new players to work with.
What’s that old Premier League adage? Stand still and you move backwards?
There is interest in Muniz from other clubs (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
There are also concerns that Muniz is about to be sold, with Leeds United among the clubs to have expressed an interest this summer. Muniz is a rare example of Fulham, a club that tends to buy ready-made first team players, developing a young talent. To lose him would be a blow.
“Rodrigo Muniz, we want you to say,” they sang in the away end at Brighton on Saturday. Fulham’s fanbase don’t come across as a reactive, provocative bunch, but in the worst-case scenario of Muniz leaving and new signings still not forthcoming, their patience would be tested.
It’s not all bad by any means — 18-year-old academy graduate Josh King had a fine game at the Amex, showing composure, poise and some serious quality as he continuously dovetailed with Alex Iwobi, drove Fulham into the box and marked himself out as a Premier League star in the making — while Kenny Tete and Tom Cairney were tied down to new contracts.
Fulham won’t go down, but unless the next two weeks are fruitful, it’s asking a lot for them to go up the table, no matter how good their backup goalkeeper is.
(Top photo: Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
