New Fulham boss Claudio Ranieri has only just got his foot through the door at Craven Cottage but has already got to work in an attempt to fix Fulham’s leaky defence, the worst in the league. The Cottagers have conceded a whopping 31 goals in their 12 games so far, a defensive showing that has seen them plummet to the foot of the league table.
It is also this woeful defensive record that has led to the sacking of Slavisa Jokanovic as the club felt things were not improving in that sense, despite a respectable 2-0 defeat to Liverpool last time out.
Now Fulham are targeting a player left in the cold at Anfield in an attempt to plug the giant holes in their defense. Joel Matip has emerged as a January signing for Ranieri who is keen on the out of favour Liverpool centre-half.
Matip has dropped down the pecking order at Anfield with the emergence of Joe Gomez alongside Virgil Van Dijk as the first choice pairing. World Cup finalist Dejan Lovren is struggling to get back into the team after his time out of the side leaving Matip as the fourth-choice central defender at the club.
Ranieri is keen to pick up the Cameroon international on the cheap despite Matip being under contract for the next two years. Fulham may face competition from Turkey however as Fenerbahce have repeatedly stated their interest in Matip, with Liverpool’s former director of football, Damien Comolli, trying to convince the centre-back to join him in the Turkish capital.
Fulham are in desperate need of defensive reinforcements in January and the Tinkerman might just have this gem up his sleeve.
