Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz has promised fans that his goal is 'coming' after struggling in front of goal all season. The Brazilian has scored just once this season in the Premier League, in the 1-1 draw with Brighton on the opening gameweek but has struggled with injuries since.
It has been a long time coming for Rodrigo Muniz in the goal-scoring stakes, with the Brazilian not scoring in the Premier League since the opening game of the season.
That goal, coming off the bench to steal a point at Brighton in stoppage time, looked set to deliver a big season for the 24-year-old.
But Muniz has had a season of immense difficulty, with two injuries ruling him out for long periods of time and he has been unable to add any more goals to his tally.
In total, he has mustered just 14 appearances this season, with Raul Jimenez taking on the bulk of the work in the striker role I his absence.
But he returned to the starting lineup in the 3-1 win over Burnley before the international break and now, while he feels he is not 100% yet, he is confident that that elusive goal is not far away for him now.
Speaking on the club’s official website: “Because at the beginning of the season, I said to my family, my wife, that this season is my season.
“Unfortunately it was not; The last six months have been really difficult because I have not been able to help my teammates but now I am back.
“I don’t feel 100% yet but I train hard every day to get fit as soon as possible and I want to be 100% as soon as possible.
“[As] a striker, we need to score, we want to score and I think the goal is coming.
“It is easy to say because it is just the moment, I know the goal is coming, my teammates help me a lot in training, in the game as well and I need to keep working every day with the staff helping and the teammates helping and I need to be confident, then I will score again.”
Muniz has had to largely watch on the sidelines as Fulham have pushed for a European place for next season, with the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League all possible for the Cottagers at the moment.
It is never easy watching your positional rival thrive, with Jimenez scoring nine goals for the Cottagers.
But Muniz has the utmost respect for Jimenez, referring to him as “my big brother.”
“It was really good, it is good, because when you play, you feel confident, like ok, now I am almost 100%, I need to play more and I want to play more but we have Raul,” he said.
“We have a good relationship and Marco [Silva] knows if we are going to play with me or with Raul and we need to both by fit and we want Fulham to win and then who plays is good for Fulham.
“Raul is a top guy, he is like my big brother here, he helped me a lot since he arrived here and I feel happy for him.
“I know he worked a lot every day and he’s a top guy, a top father, top husband for his family and I just want to say thank you for playing with him because he had an amazing career, what he did with his old clubs was good and he is a top guy.”