Fulham want Ben Whiteman and could launch a move for the Preston North End midfielder this month according to multiple reports.
The rumours first emerged on Saturday afternoon with The Sun claiming that Fulham are looking to pay around £5million for Whiteman.
The Sunday Mirror (22/01, p76) are reporting similar, suggesting that Fulham view Whiteman as a cheaper alternative to Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Whiteman is now into the final 18 months of his North End contract having arrived from Doncaster Rovers in January 2021.
The 26-year-old has racked up just shy of 100 appearances for PNE, bagging seven goals and eight assists.
The rumours of a move to Fulham come after a bizarre week in which social media rumours surrounding a possible switch to Watford ended up causing chaos.
Whiteman missed Saturday’s 2-1 win at Birmingham City even though Ryan Lowe was hoping to have him back from injury.
We could hardly blame Whiteman for fancying a Premier League move; Fulham are having a great season and a move to Craven Cottage may well appeal.
It would be a colossal blow to lose Whiteman, who makes Lowe’s midfield tick just in front of the back three.
Yet we also need to be realistic here; many have slated the club for not getting a decent price for Ben Davies and Ben Pearson, allowing their contracts to run to the last six months.
We can’t go through that with Whiteman again and if £5million is on the table, it may be a price that North End have to take.
In an ideal world, Whiteman would sign a new contract and continue to shine in the PNE midfield for years to come but there has been little news on that front.
The big concern here shouldn’t be losing Whiteman but rather how do we replace him?
PNE fans should be in a position to see a key player move on to the Premier League for a profit whilst having confidence that money will be reinvested to sign the next player to hopefully rake in a good transfer fee.
We haven’t seen that in recent years; the last player PNE sold for over £2million was Callum Robinson in 2019 and whilst the COVID-19 pandemic of course has a role to play in that, North End need assets.
Fans have little faith in those top players being replaced, going back to Jordan Hugill’s huge move to West Ham United in 2018.
The club’s financial situation doesn’t look great and the only realistic way to bring in millions – outside of promotion – is player trading.
That may hurt at times when you lose a key player, but Brentford showed a great model in terms of selling, reinvesting, selling again and reinvesting again, all the way up to the Premier League.
Whiteman is one of those top assets for PNE right now and if he is sold this month, he must be replaced having taken on a huge role under Lowe.