Earnshaw to Fill Saha's Boots at Fulham?

Robert Earnshaw has been linked with a move to fill the vacant strikers role at Fulham, with the rumours suggesting Mohammad Al Fayed would be willing to pay up to £5million for the prospect.

The Premiership outfit have been forced into selling prize asset Louis Saha to Manchester United, with the £10.5million deal set to be completed in the coming days. With Fulham looking to qualify for Europe this season, Cottagers boss Chris Coleman will be looking to bring someone in to replace Saha, and Earnshaw is one of a couple of names linked.

Irish international Robbie Keane is also rumoured to be a target for the former Wales defender, but with Keane finding his form at White Hart Lane it would be unlikely he would be willing to move to a different London club.

Earnshaw spent time on trial at Fulham when the club were not in the Premiership. Kevin Keegan had a good look at the Zambian-born forward but decided not to sign the pint-size player. The club he is now in charge of, Manchester City, have been linked with Earnshaw recently too.

Chris Coleman will have played with and worked with Earnshaw before in the Welsh international set-up, so will probably know a little more about the flamboyant forward than most other Premiership managers. With the departure of Saha, there is little doubt Coleman will go out onto to the transfer market to try and find a new striker, but I have my doubts over whether he would be willing to risk so much money on a player who is largely unproven.

Despite a recent dip in form, Fulham have surprised everyone this season and the club are still harbouring ambitions of qualifying for the European Cup via a fourth place Premiership finish. The club has moved forward one hell of a lot since Al Fayed took over at the helm, and the Harrods owner may well invest more money into the club following the sale of Saha. It’s amazing to think the City played Fulham in a third division game little more than a few seasons ago!

City owner Sam Hammam has previously stated that he would not sell Earnshaw unless one of the country’s biggest clubs approached him. Whether or not Fulham would now come under that bracket is unknown, but if a bid came in from Al Fayed in the region of £5million, it would be almost impossible for the club to reject it, especially taking into account the reported debt City are in.

Our owner may well have shot himself in the foot here! Only days a go he claimed he didn’t think the current squad was good enough to gain promotion, and with little money available to invest could the club not let Earnshaw have a crack at the Premiership should the opportunity arise?

Still, at the moment it is nothing more than a rumour and Fulham have not commented on their reported interest in the 22-year-old.
Watch this space…

Contact the Author