Ex-Fulham captain Danny Murphy criticises club’s summer spending
Former Fulham captain turned pundit Danny Murphy has criticised the club’s summer recruitment following the Cottagers’ poor start to the season.
Football.London report that over 12 new players arrived at Craven Cottage over the summer at a cost of over £100m.
The recruitment drive is yet to prove fruitful for manager Slavisa Jokanovic, with his team winning just one of their first nine matches on their return to the top-flight.
Fulham were swept aside by fellow strugglers Cardiff City on Saturday, eventually losing the match 4-2 and taking their goals conceded tally to 25, the highest in the league.
Their poor form leaves them 18th in the table, with Jokanovic reportedly coming under increasing pressure to improve results sooner rather than later.
However, Murphy believes the focus of the problem is the signings made in the summer rather than the manager.
He said on talkSPORT:
Their recruitment needs a big, big question mark over it. Recruitment is everything. You can get good players from abroad, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Who’s doing the recruitment? Think about what you need.
That Fulham squad that came up last year – hardly any of their players ever played in the Premier League. So what’s your first thing, as a layman? Get some Premier League experience to help these lads.
They put people in charge of recruitment who don’t know. I see some of the players on the pitch and I think, honestly, who is watching these players? What criteria is being used? They can’t be over a certain age because they’ve got to have ‘sell-on’, what a load of nonsense, because you make money from players keeping the club in the Premier League. £100m has not been well spent.