THE DIRECTOR

Marco Silva

Born in Lisbon, Silva became a professional footballer with local CF Os Belenenses. In his 15-year career, he has only played two Primeira Liga games, one with this club and another with SC Campomaiorense. From 2000 to 2005, he alternated between the second and third divisions, representing CD Trofense, Rio Ave FC, SC Braga B, SC Salgueiros and Odivelas FC.

In the 2005 off-season, Silva moved to GD Estoril Praia, where he remained until his retirement six years later, still at the second tier. He played his last game on 2 January 2011, a 0–1 home loss to FC Penafiel in the Taça da Liga group stage.

Silva retired in June at the age of 34, amassing a total of 152 Second Division appearances and two goals for three clubs.

Silva started as director of football before moving into management. Silva managed at Estoril, Sporting CP and Olympiacos before being appointed to Hull City in England. Silva arrived halfway through the 2016-17 season, with the club bottom of the Premier League. Unfortunately, Silva couldn’t save the Tigers from relegation and resigned when their relegation was confirmed.

On 27 May 2017, it was confirmed that Silva would join Premier League club Watford as head coach on a two-year contract. After a strong start to the season, he was wanted for the vacant managerial job at Everton in November.

During this period and the following two months, the team’s performance became increasingly poor (five points from 30 in ten Premier League appearances), with fans citing its loss of concentration as exposing them to risk of relegation.

Silva was dismissed by Watford on January 21, 2018, with the club citing “the unwarranted approach of a Premier League rival” which caused “a significant deterioration in focus and results to the point where the long-term future of the Watford FC have been compromised.” In February, Everton agreed to pay £4m in compensation in response to the claim.

After a short stint with the Toffees, Silva joined Fulham at the start of the 2021/22 season. Silva had a great season with Fulham, winning the league title to secure Fulham’s return to the Premier League.

TO MONITOR

Bernd Leno

Leno played at a level that belied his young age, becoming only the third goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to get clean sheets in his first three matches, before breaking the record for the youngest goalkeeper to appear in Champions League soon after. Leverkusen quickly made the deal permanent and Leno went on to enjoy seven excellent seasons at the BayArena, making 304 appearances and keeping 100 clean sheets. The lowest the club finished, in six of those seven campaigns, was fifth. His consistency in Germany prompted Arsenal to bring Leno to London for a fee believed to be north of £20m ahead of the 2018/19 campaign. Leno quickly moved Petr Cech between the sticks and finished his first season at the club with a Europa League runners-up medal, before finishing second in the club’s Player of the Season vote a year later. He left the Emirates with plenty of Premier League experience under his belt and also won 37 clean sheets in his 125 appearances in all competitions.

Andreas Pereira

On Monday July 11, 2022, the Club announced the signing of Andreas Pereira from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee. The versatile midfielder has agreed a four-year deal, tying him to Craven Cottage until the summer of 2026, with the club holding an option to extend for a further 12 months. Born in Belgium while his professional football father played there, Pereira later moved to neighboring Holland where he joined PSV Eindhoven’s academy. Aged 16, he joined Manchester United, impressing as he progressed through the age groups to make his senior League Cup debut in August 2014. A Premier League arc later followed that season in a 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Pereira’s first goal for the club came on his first appearance in 2015/16 when he made his full debut against Ipswich Town, ending the campaign with 11 appearances to his name, including a first taste of football from the Champions League. Pereira was a regular under Jose Mourinho and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with 62 times over the next two years.

Aleksandar Mitrovic

In July 2018, Fulham confirmed the return of Aleksandar Mitrović on a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee from Newcastle United. Mitrović initially joined Los Blancos on loan at the 11th hour on deadline day in January 2018, and went on to have a huge impact in their promotion to the Premier League. Mitrović began his career in his native country with Serbian giants FK Partizan, making his professional debut with their affiliate club FK Teleoptik. Despite his young age, Mitrović was Partizan’s first-team top scorer in 2012/13 as they won the title, and his form quickly caught the eye of Belgian side Anderlecht, who beat his transfer record to sign him in the summer of 2013.

Despite Fulham’s relegation from the Premier League, Mitro impressed with his 11 goals and then committed his future to the club by agreeing a new deal in July 2019. His next two seasons in the Championship, which sandwiched a campaign in Premier League, were absolutely sensational. Winning the division’s Golden Boot on every occasion, he first established a Championship and then a modern second-tier record in 2021/22, finishing the season on 43 goals as Fulham won the title. He was named Fulham’s Player of the Season both years.

TECHNICAL SHEET

Name: Fulham FC

Foundation: 1879

Owner: Shahid Khan

Coach: Marco Silva

League rank: 7th (Premier League)

Nicknames: The Cottagers, The Whites, The Lilywhites

Top scorer: Aleksandar Mitrovic (3)

Kit Supplier: Adidas