Fulham remain in talks with Alvaro Arbeloa to appoint him as the club’s new head coach on a three-year deal. The Athletic reports that there are still two leading candidates for the role.
Fulham remain in talks with Alvaro Arbeloa to appoint him as their new head coach on a three-year deal, according to the Athletic.
Talks began with Arbeloa on June 10, a week after Marco Silva’s five-year tenure at Craven Cottage came to an end.
Fulham had been attempting to persuade Silva to stay on as their manager throughout the season and gave him an offer that would have made him among the highest-paid managers in the Premier League.
But Silva opted not to take Fulham’s most recent offer, instead returning to his homeland to manage Benfica, where he replaced Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho left to join Real Madrid, after Los Blancos and Alvaro Arbeloa parted ways.
Now Arbeloa could join Fulham to complete the triangle and although some reports have said the deal is done, Tony Khan has made it clear that there are two leading candidates still for the role.
Fulham have so far failed to come up trumps on a single occasion regarding their managers so far this summer, first losing Silva, before also failing to bring in former Liverpool manager Arne Slot, former Brentford and Tottenham manager Thomas Frank, Kieran McKenna, who was at the time at Ipswich and Ruben Amorim, who has since been appointed as AC Milan boss.
All four of those were considered ambitious appointments, but all walked away from the opportunity of joining Fulham, something that is becoming a worrying trend.
The Cottagers are also set to lose star player Harry Wilson as it stands, despite offering him a new contract, but with no update on whether he will sign it or not and his contract coming to an end in just a week.
It is hoped that Arbeloa can finally get the ball rolling for Fulham this summer, with the Cottagers facing significant uncertainty regarding their next steps this summer.
An Athletic article, written by David Ornstein, Mario Cortegana and Guillermo Rai, read: “Fulham are in the process of finalising a deal to appoint Alvaro Arbeloa as the club’s new head coach on a three-year deal.
“Club sources insist the process of finding a successor to Marco Silva remains ongoing and that comments made last week by Fulham vice-chairman and director of football operations Tony Khan that there were two leading candidates for the role remain valid.”
From a Fulham perspective, it is clear what is required; they simply need to secure a new manager and quickly, with the issues of last season needing to be addressed, as well as fixing the areas in which they have lost, ot will lose players.
Hopefully this time it will be Arbeloa, and the rumour mill can shift from players Fulham might sign, rather than who will be in the dugout for the Cottagers next season.
