I think based on the way his preseason has gone, Emerson will not only make his debut, but also get some serious minutes for Fulham. It sounds like he was consistently a positive player.
I agree with this. If we stop looking at his age and lack of experience, he played about the amount in preseason that you'd expect from a starter or at the very least a sub who plays a lot. They've invested a lot of minutes into Hyndman in the preseason, I doubt they'd just say nice work and send him to the reserves. I think its likely that he starts the season as a bench player. It might be risky throwing him into the fire in the first game as a starter. He's only played a few games with the reserves, so to make the jump to being a starter so quickly with the first team would be a big step. I think they will ease him in by giving him minutes off of the bench. Remember this, Fulham has a very good academy and they want to go back up to the BPL with young players leading the way. Giving the likes of Dembele, Roberts, Woodrow and Hyndman playing time on the way back up will go a long way towards that.
When you look at Fulham's first team roster, they're not particularly deep in midfielders (and there have been rumors about winger Dejagah leaving) If they don't go on a spending binge in the next couple of weeks, there's no question in my mind that Hyndman (as well as other youngsters) will see playing time in the midfield this season. He'll probably start the season as a backup for Scott Parker, and that's a great place to be for a kid that age.
The exodus from Fulham continues............... Fulham Football Club @fulhamfc · 2h #FFC can confirm that Ashkan Dejagah has joined Al-Arabi on a permanent deal. http://ow.ly/zHHLl
Surprise the see Dejagah leave considering his history with Magath at Wolfsburg. Magath really put him in position to succeed which ultimately led to Dajagah securing a deal with Fulham. I guess Fulham and Dajagah received an offer they couldn't refuse. Shame. I thought Dajagah was going to play a big role in their quest to return to the BPL.
Dejagah probably had to take a pay cut in the Championship and his new gig will not be taxed. Not quite as a good a deal as Asamoah Gyan's $12M/Y tax free ... I assume. Fulham's got a solid striking force though - at least, on paper - and Magath has often played a 4-2-2- Diamond anyway.
The internets seem to suggest that Dejagah just wanted out. They got the best money they could for him.......................... For folks that have watched Fulham over the last couple of years in the Premier League, they're going to need a chart to figure out who's playing for the now. I imagine that the next player out will be Stekelenburg. He'd have been Holland's #1 keeper if he hadn't gotten injured in the run-up to the World Cup. Holland's #1 can't be in the Championship. Brede Hangeland is a free agent, and the last rumor I saw had him going to Hull. Mitroglou is gonna be gone as well, with Bryan Ruiz also shipped out on loan. So who exactly is going to be left...................?? Scott Parker, Rodallega, and Kacaniklic are the only veteran names I recognize. I saw this tweet yesterday: Fulham Youth @fulham_youth Average age of our current squad is 25. With Dejagah gone since then, the number is even lower. If you take Scott Parker out of the midfield, egads is it a young group. As a long-time Fulham watcher (due to the Yanks there)......................this does not look like a group thats going to bounce right back up. In fact, their kids better be ready for "prime time," or they might be bottom half.
Rodallega wants to go to River Plate. But it'll be tough for them to get good money for Mitroglou, so they might as well keep him. McCormack will be the other striker. Hangeland is past it but Magath brought in Tim Hoogland (ex-Stuttgart, ex-Schalke) from the Bundesliga. The central D pairing will probably be Dan Burn and Fernando Amoribieta. Fulham does have a bunch of very young guys in midfield - Eisfeld ( a German kid from Arsenal), Dembele the Other, Kacaniclic but Felix also brought in Chihi (120 matches with 20 goals for Köln). Plus, they're funded well by Khan, so more talents will be brought in.
David Stockdale (the guy I thought was going to be the #1 GK as he has a ton of experience in the Championship) just transferred to Brighton and Hove Albion. Stekelenburg was injured for huge stretches of last season. He'll need to play himself into shape before any real offers come for him. Hangeland is 100% gone. He said some less-than-nice things in interviews recently about his past couple years at Fulham. He won't be back. Normally I'd say yes, but Mitroglou couldn't get healthy after his transfer and will also need to play his way into a better situation (his contract didn't have a relegation clause, because obviously he'd be gone already otherwise). Ruiz hasn't had any real time with Magath (he went on loan through the end of the season a month prior to Magath's hiring). He's coming off a great World Cup, so I think they're going to see what they can get out of him, at least until the next transfer window. I don't think they'll run away with the Championship (it's Fulham - they never win anything). However, it's a team that will definitely be in promotion playoff contention. Two recent signings played CL football with big teams last year (Tim Hoogland at Schalke, and Kay Voser at Basel). They just gave Leeds big money for Ross McCormack, the Championship's Golden Boot winner last year with 28 goals. They also landed a major prospect from Arsenal's youth system (Thomas Eisfield), and I'm excited to see the "other" Moussa Dembele who is supposed to have limitless potential. A lot of the guys you think are as good as gone will be here for at least part of the season. As disappointing as relegation was, this is the youth revolution I've wanted at Fulham and I'm excited to see where it leads.
...is exactly the point. Last year's performance was so uninspiring that I wonder if last year's team could even survive the championship. Completely serious--remember the Sheffield United FA Cup games? The team that played those two games would have been taken to the woodshed by Wigan, Derby County or even, egads, Brentford. Sidwell and Reither, and to a lesser extent Stockdale, are the only two I would've kept who have left/are rumored to leave. Ruiz has some class, but we don't see it enough. You're right, bouncing back may not be automatic, but the team needed to move on from the past to avoid repeating it. The fanbase has been clamoring to see the academy kids for a few years now. For better or for worse, we're about to get it.
Sidwell is at Stoke now, Riether is back in Germany with Freiburg. Stockdale is gone to Brighton and Hove Albion, as mentioned above.
Stecklenburg isn't close to being Holland's #1 and hasn't been in two years. He wasn't left off the squad simply because of injury, even if he was fully fit Van Gaal most likely wasn't going to take him.
Hyndman in the starting lineup for Fulham's season opener away to Ipswich Town. Game starts at 12:15 p.m. eastern on beIN Sports Connect
Wow. So they were serious about playing him. Would they be interested in Lletget? Rock bottom price, very low mileage.