Fulham Football Club
Nicknames – The Lillywhites, The Cottagers, The Whites
Best PL Finish – 7th (2008/09)
Few clubs can claim to be more of a ‘Premier League club’ than Fulham FC. In fact, before their relegation to the Championship in 2014, they had spent 13 consecutive seasons in the top flight.
They first reached the heights of the Premier League in 2001 under the leadership of the Frenchman Jean Tigana and have just returned thanks to Slavisa Jokanovic who, as we know, was replaced with Claudio Ranieri after after a string of poor results. Now, Fulham have never had the most glittering squad in the Premier League, but here we take a look at the best, the worst and the most expensive signings made by the club.
Top 5 Record Transfer Fees (as of 04/02/19):
- Jean-Michel Seri – £25 million (from OGC Nice – July 2018) *
- André-Frank Zambo Anguissa – £22.3 million (from Marseille – August 2018)
- Aleksandar Mitrovic – £22 million (from Newcastle- July 2018)
- Alfie Mawson – £15 million (from Swansea – August 2018) **
- Steve Marlet – £11.5 million (from Olympique Lyonnais – August 2001)
*Fee varies on different sites because many state that the transfer cost was combined with Maxime Le Marchand, also signed from Nice. (Telegraph)
** Fee officially undisclosed but reported to be a £15m inital fee (Sky Sports).
(Figures include initial fees in GBP at the time of the transfer, as reported by the BBC unless specified otherwise)
Biggest Flop – Steve Marlet
Fulham’s transfer history is relatively stable and rarely have the club shelled out big money for any signing, but one stands out from the crowd. Fulham’s 5th most expensive ever signing, Steve Marlet, can well and truly be defined as a Premier League flop.
The French striker signed for the Cottagers in 2001 from Olympique Lyonnais for an £11.5m transfer fee- that equates to around £18m now. Now although in the current market that seems like a meagre fee, Steve Marlet made only 54 appearances for Fulham in his 4 years at the club, scoring 11 goals in the process. That means he cost the club about £330,000 per appearance in today’s money. Funnily enough previous Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed even took Jean Tigana to court over the amount of money he spent on Marlet – certified flop.
Biggest Bargain – Clint Dempsey
Fulham’s long history in the Premier League means that they have a list of player who were close to Premier League legend status. The likes of Andy Johnson, Steed Malbranque, Danny Murphy and Edwin Van Der Sar all plied their trade for the Lillywhites, but none probably had a better time at Craven Cottage than the one and only Clint Dempsey.
Dempsey signed for Fulham in January 2007 for a fee of just over £2m* from MLS side New England Revolution, making him the most high-profile MLS signing ever.
Dempsey quickly turned into a fan favourite, scoring in a 1-0 win against Liverpool which propelled the club away from the relegation zone. He went on to make 184 appearances for Fulham and scored 50 goals before leaving in 2012, placing him 4th on the all-time scorers list for the South-West London club.
And he was so good, they signed him twice, returning the club in 2014. Unfortunately, Dempsey only made 5 appearances in his second spell at Craven Cottage but the USA international will no doubt go down in Fulham folklore as one of their best ever players.
*no exact fee found but the Telegraph reported it as just over the stated fee.
Records and Trivia
- In 1968, Fulham FC received a then British transfer fee record from Leicester City FC for striker Allan Clarke of £150,000.
- Four of Fulham’s top 5 transfer fees were recorded in this season’s summer transfer window.
- Fulham’s current net transfer spend is -£90 million.
- Steed Malbranque, once Fulham’s record signing in 2001, was one of 3 players Tony Blair said had caught his eye in the 2005/06 season.
- Bryan Ruiz’s £11.26m transfer to Fulham FC from FC Twente in 2011 is still the highest fee ever paid for a Costa Rican player.
- Clint Dempsey’s transfer to Fulham from New England Revolution in 2007 for just over £2.7m was the highest ever fee commanded by an MLS player at the time. The current record is held by Alphonso Davies, who signed for Bayern Munich in a £9m deal from Vancouver Whitecaps in the Summer.
