With Aleksandar Mitrovic making it quite clear that he saw his future away from Fulham during the summer it was incumbent on Fulham to get a replacement, and recent reports suggest that Marco Silva was desperate to sign a player that bagged 22 goals last season.
The Cottagers have started the 2023/24 Premier League season reasonably well and currently find themselves in 10th position on seven points thanks to two wins, one draw and two losses from their five games so far.
Had Fulham been able to get their hands on Viktor Gyokeres from Coventry City, there’s a cogent argument that his goals may have them even higher in the table at this point.
According to WhoScored he’s already scored three goals and provided one assist in just five games for new club, Sporting.
A Bola (h/t Sport Witness) note that it was Fulham that came closest to signing him in the summer, before he plumped for a switch to the Portuguese league.
“Not everyone was sleeping, he really wanted to come to Sporting. We saw the proposals, [Hugo] Viana showed me the proposals that the player had,” Sporting manager, Ruben Amorim, is quoted as saying.
“He understood the project, he is a very ambitious player and the clubs he had (looking at him) were probably not the ones he wants to go to in the Premier League.”
Ultimately, Silva has had to accept that both Mitrovic and Gyokeres didn’t see their futures at Craven Cottage, and whilst that would’ve been a disappointment, it’s not one that the club and their manager should dwell upon.