Exclusive: Marco Silva on Adarabioyo transfer, replacing Mitrovic and more

Marco Silva believes Tosin Adarabioyo will “probably” leave Fulham at the end of the season, as the manager reflected on the “big challenge” of an equally impactful transfer saga last summer, in the form of Aleksandar Mitrovic.

If Pep Guardiola’s men were to draw, Arsenal would remain top on goal difference, knowing six points from their final two games would almost certainly seal a first title in two decades.

For Fulham, though, there is much less to play for – firmly in mid-table following a rollercoaster campaign. Indeed, The Whites are on a run of just one victory in seven, which comes after a burst of three wins in four games – including against Manchester United at Old Trafford and a demolition of Tottenham Hotspur.

After a brilliant 2022/23, which saw them finish in 10th place after promotion from the Championship, this term began in trickier fashion due to the departure of Mitrovic.

The enormous payday on offer at Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League was too big to turn down. He left West London with his name in the history books, having shattered Ivan Toney’s previous single-season record of 31 Championship goals, as the Serbian bagged 43.

In his absence, Fulham failed to win back-to-back games until December. The first time they scored more than one goal in a victory was in October, as the centre-forward ranks of Raul Jimenez, Carlos Vinicius and Rodrigo Muniz struggled to fire.

Reflecting on that period in an exclusive interview with TNT Sports, Silva told former Fulham captain Steve Sidwell: “It was a big challenge. It was difficult, I have to say.

“We really squeezed the maximum out of Mitro. He had his best moments with Fulham – 43 goals in the Championship, then last season 14 goals in 24 games. For the fans, the impact when he left the club [was felt]. Sometimes I compare to Brentford, without Toney for six months and the impact a player like him can have. Losing main strikers is difficult.

“We signed Raul Jimenez to have him in the squad with Mitro, not to replace Mitro. Everybody thought that was to replace Mitro – it wasn’t. The idea was to have him and Mitro in the squad, plus one young [player]. He went, and for different reasons we were not able to replace him directly.

“I took a decision – it’s late in the market, some players don’t want to come – to stick with the players we have. We have to work with them, we have to recover the confidence in Raul Jimenez, because he didn’t score in 10 months before that. Let’s try to get the best from Rodrigo.

“At the beginning of the season, we were not creating enough for the striker, so the noise was bigger. We kept confidence in Raul, and now it’s paying off.

“We all know Mitro – two balls into the box and he is able to score. I wanted to analyse and to see deeper, and recognised we were making their life more difficult. It’s difficult to replace a player like Mitro – imagine you don’t provide enough for them. After October, we started to provide much better. We gave the strikers more solutions.”

Attention will now turn to the summer transfer window, with Fulham again set to be in the headlines for sales rather than purchases. The Portuguese coach said of his lack of spending power: “You’re in a competition that’s tough on the pitch, but even tougher off the pitch.

“We have to be really proactive, we have to be creative. We have to believe in some players that didn’t have the best years, that they can be successful in your football club. We have to have the capacity as a staff to make them better.”

Two players Fulham have got the best out of, but could well lose in the coming months, are centre-back Adarabioyo and winger Willian. The former has been linked with a whole host of suitors, including Tottenham, Manchester United, Newcastle United and West Ham United.

The ex-City youngster is out of contract this summer, and after an impressive couple of years will be extremely difficult to tie down. The future of Willian, though, is much more in the balance, with Silva having reinvigorated a career that was fading following a poor stint at Arsenal and in his native Brazil with Corinthians.

Silva continued: “I would like [them to stay]. It should be a priority to try to keep them, and to improve from that core of players.

“There’s been a lot of noise around Tosin. Being honest, it’s really difficult to renew with him. Probably at the end of the season he’s going to leave the club. Not 100%, but probably it’s going to happen.

“For Willian, we are going to do the same as last season. We convinced him to come after a difficult time in Brazil – he helped the club, we helped him. We will analyse the season, go for dinner or whatever. He knows we would like to have him again – it’s going to be his decision as well. We will see what he decides after our conversation.”