Two Replacements For Scott Malone Who Fulham Can Target
With another unfortunate loss from last year’s impressive squad to add to the list in the shape of Scott Malone, Fulham find themselves delving back into the transfer market for replacements.
The marauding left-back played 38 times in the Championship for the West Londoners last term, scoring 6 goals and creating another 3 in an impressive attacking performance.
Newly-promoted Huddersfield Town have moved to snap him up for their Premier League campaign though and now Fulham will find it tough to replace him. That said, there are plenty more Malone type players in the sea and here are two potential replacements for Malone who Fulham can think about:
Jake Bidwell (Queens Park Rangers)
Although he was born in Southport, 24-year-old Bidwell knows his way around these parts, having played at Brentford for three years before joining QPR last summer.
He still has plenty of improvement in him given his age and experience and there’s every chance he can fill Malone’s shoes nicely. Though he started 10 of his 36 league games last season in midfield, Bidwell needs to improve his output going forward, having managed just a couple of assists.
He’d be at the right club to allow him to improve in that regard though, and Fulham’s swashbuckling style means he will spend more time in the opposition third than he does at QPR and would enjoy his football a whole lot more, meaning, a probable climb in his goal and assist fugures.
Greg Cunningham (Preston North End)
Cunningham played 40 times last season in the Championship for Preston, starting in all of them and managing a goal and 5 assists in what was an impressive attacking performance from the left-back. The current Preston number three would add some versatility to the Fulham squad too.
Starting 34 of his Championship games last season at left-back, Cunningham averaged 7.14 on whoscored.com. When moving to centre-back however, which he did three times in all, his rating improved to a very impressive 7.69, meaning he could be a live option to play in the middle should the situation demand.
Cunningham has been a real improver in the last year or two and there’s nothing to say that he won’t get better again over the next twelve months. Available at a cheap price potentially, he could be a real steal for a side that was just a whisker away from promotion last season.