2 goals in 12 games: Fulham dodged a bullet by not signing £21m striker this summer
Fulham attempted to sign Brazilian striker Pedro from Flamengo in the summer but might be glad they didn’t right now.
A report from the Evening Standard suggests that Fulham made a £21m bid for the 26-year-old in the transfer window.
After playing in the World Cup last year for Brazil, Pedro was starting to attract attention from the Premier League.
West Ham were also keen, but like Fulham, didn’t make a big statement signing up top.
However, the two clubs were in very different situations going into this season.
The Hammers may have lost talisman Declan Rice, but they replaced him sufficiently with James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez.
Fulham also lost their main man Aleksandar Mitrovic as he made the switch to the Saudi Pro League.
His £50m fee should have given Marco Silva a war chest to find a suitable replacement.
However, no striker came in and right now Raul Jimenez’s worrying goal drought continues to drag on.
That doesn’t mean that Fulham made the wrong call by not going all in to sign Pedro this summer.
The 26-year-old has struggled to recapture the form that saw him go to Qatar ever since Fulham’s interest was made concrete.
Fulham made right call not pushing further for Pedro this summer
It’s hard to argue right now that Fulham shouldn’t have signed another centre-forward.
Carlos Vinicius has scored twice in all competitions and is currently the best-scoring striker at the club – outside of Jay Stansfield on loan at Birmingham City.
But the Brazilian’s two tap-ins are hardly indicative of a player ready to step into Mitrovic’s shoes.
Rodrigo Muniz has proved to be a lively substitute but is not yet ready to regularly start in the Premier League.
However, since the rumours of Pedro joining Fulham this summer surfaced, he’s been in a similar position to Silva’s current options.
He failed to score in all three Copa do Brasil games since August and has found the back of the net twice in nine games in that time.
Pedro might have adapted well under Marco Silva but it looks like he’s not the player that Fulham need right now.
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