After news broke that Tosin Adarabioyo was not going to renew his contract with Fulham, there was little surprise when he was left out of the matchday squad for Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace.
Head coach Marco Silva has a full complement of options available, meaning fully fit players have been missing out on the squad altogether. Those without longer-term ties to the club, such as loanees Fode Ballo-Toure and Armando Broja, have felt the sharp end of that.
With three matches of the season left and his deal on course to make him a free agent at the end of June, Tosin may have already made his last appearance for Fulham.
“If we need him to play and if I decide for him to be on the pitch, he is going to be on the pitch,” Silva said after the 1-1 draw with Palace. “It’s not the case that he’s not going to play anymore for Fulham.
“I’m looking at the present. I want to win football matches. I want to be as competitive as we can be. But at the same time, we have to prepare the future of the football club.”
Uncertainty over Tosin’s future has been lingering for the best part of a year.
Last summer, Fulham rejected two offers from Monaco of France’s Ligue 1 after contract talks broke down. Silva wanted to retain the now 26-year-old defender and contract talks did resume during this season, with Fulham offering another new deal. Tosin, though, has decided his future lies elsewhere.
There is not much you can do when one of your players decides to leave, but it is a disappointing development, from a club perspective, to lose a player of Tosin’s calibre for free.
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Fulham need to improve in terms of their player sales as a revenue stream and a profit on Tosin looked likely — he was signed for an initial £1.5million from Manchester City in October 2020, in a deal worth up to £2m with add-ons. But when they could not find a replacement last summer, his potential transfer was blocked and the club will now not benefit financially from his exit.
Tosin has played a big part in Fulham’s resurgence under Silva (Ryan Jenkinson/MB Media/Getty Images)
Tosin has proven to be one of their best signings in recent seasons. Signed when Scott Parker was manager, he was a notable standout during a difficult Premier League relegation season and has become an integral part of the team — a key player for Silva as Fulham returned to the top flight in 2022 and have held their ground at that level in the past two seasons.
His form had taken a dip, but it can be easy for that to mask his importance overall during his four years at Craven Cottage, particularly to Silva. Tosin is a modern, ball-playing centre-back with an excellent passing range. At his best, he can compete with the division’s finest operators on the ball at his position and showing that level consistently was the only thing missing in his game.
For Silva, having a centre-back who is comfortable enough with their defensive work and also capable of arrowing an accurate switch of play, or driving with the ball into the midfield, is essential to the team’s style and attacking play. That is why he often reserved high praise for Tosin.
“The way he can defend the box, but also on the ball, he is a special player, the way I want to play, the way he can build (from the back),” he said in December after Tosin made a notable impact upon returning to the team following the groin injury that had almost totally wiped out his season up to that point. “He is getting better and better.”
Tosin’s partnership with Tim Ream has been the backbone of the Silva era, but now it feels like there is a changing of the guard.
Ream has dropped down the pecking order this season thanks to the form of Calvin Bassey, signed last summer for around £20million ($26m at the current exchange rate) as the long-term replacement for the American, who will turn 37 early next season.
On Saturday, Fulham may have had a glimpse of the future, as Bassey was partnered by the returning Issa Diop.
It was only the second time they have started a league match together — and the first since August’s game against Arsenal.
While Bassey spent time away from the club playing for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations in January and February, Diop has had a particularly disrupted season: a foot injury in October ruled him out for two months after he started Fulham’s opening matches of the season in the absence of an injured Tosin.
Against Palace, Diop made his first start since the 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa on February 17. He has only had nine minutes of game time since then and was always going to be rusty — and he looked it.
Diop returned to partner Bassey against Palace (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
But he improved as the half went on and Silva wants him to take his opportunity.
“The first half was difficult for him, with the pace and intensity of the game and the way we wanted to build,” Silva said of Diop. “I’m pleased (that) in the second half we started to see him at his level again and more confident, brave on the ball.
“Issa was a really important piece in our successful season (last year). This season he has had some very, very good moments already and some ups and downs. In the last two months, he had the moment of Ramadan, but he was out of the squad list because Tosin and Calvin had a good partnership. We have four central defenders with different profiles. It’s a moment now for Issa to step in, like the others have, and show his quality.”
It is a sensible decision to trial the Bassey-Diop partnership in the season’s three remaining games. Going into the summer, though, Fulham will want to return to their full complement of central defensive options by signing a player who can match Tosin’s profile.
That may not be an easy task.
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Fulham’s remaining fixtures: Brentford (a), May 4; Manchester City (h), May 11; Luton Town (a), May 19.
(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
