Fulham team
According to The Sun, Fulham are plotting a £18million swoop for Lyon and Ivory Coast forward Maxwel Cornet after his impressive performance against Manchester City in the Champions League. The 21-year-old was one of the standout performers for Lyon and scored the opening goal of the night as the French outfit stunned Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad.
The Ivorian started his senior professional career with Metz and then moved on to Lyon in 2015. Since then, he has made a total of 137 appearances for the French giants across all competitions, finding the back of the net on 29 occasions.
Manager Slavisa Jokanovic inspired Fulham to a promotion to the top-flight after a good outing in the Championship last time around. Furthermore, he also had the financial backing to bolster the squad ahead of the Premier League season.
Consequently, Fulham made headlines in the transfer market with mega-money deals for Aleksandar Mitrovic (loan deal made permanent), Jean Michael Seri and Andre Schurrle (two-year loan deal from Borussia Dortmund).
However, despite playing some aesthetic and free-flowing football this season, the Cottagers haven’t quite gotten the desired results to speak for their efforts. Jokanovic’s men have picked up only one win from their first six games and currently sit 15th with 5 points.
Although they haven’t performed up to their potential, they haven’t been outrightly poor. The manager should have plenty of positives to take from the first few games of the season. However, the team must strive to get better and work on the weaker areas of their game as the season progresses. When they carry the ball into the opposition’s half, they often look like one of the top teams in the Premier League. But they have struggled to keep out attacks due to some sloppy defending.
Aleksandar Mitrovic’s late equalizer helped the Cottagers rescue a point against Watford last weekend and the Serbian currently heads the scorer’s tally in the Premier League with five goals. Another summer recruit, Jean Michael Seri, has established himself as the team’s midfield powerhouse and already has a goal and an assist to his name. Meanwhile, Andre Schurrle has proven his worth down the left as well and has contributed with some impressive performances.
A player characterized by pace and sound technique, Cornet is a fast, agile and intelligent forward who is capable of playing anywhere in the forward line of a 4-3-3 formation. He is adaptable enough to play down the right, left and through the centre in the attacking third. Not only will he provide cover and competition for the likes of Schurrle, Vietto and Mitrovic but his presence should allow Jokanovic to experiment with his team dynamics.
A truly two-footed player, the Ivorian is adept at putting away chances with both feet and has the presence of mind to make subtle runs behind the defence. His agility and sharpness to lose his marker always bring liveliness to the final third.
Cornet has largely been used as a substitute and is yet to start a game for his current club in the Ligue 1 this season. Hence, a lack of regular minutes is something the player might be concerned about.
To put things into perspective, Cornet is a player with huge potential and a move to the Premier League might just bring the best out of him in the coming days.
That said, he could enjoy a more significant and well-defined role at Fulham and the Cottagers should go all out to sign the player in January.