Fulham Opinion: Britt Assombalonga would be a cheaper and more affordable alternative to Dwight Gayle
According to London Evening Standard, Fulham are on the lookout for a new striker to replace Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has attracted interest from Premier League clubs West Ham, Crystal Palace and Southampton.
Evening Standard claims that the Cottagers have set a £30 million price tag for the towering Serbian centre-forward, with Dwight Gayle and Britt Assombalonga being identified as the potential replacements.
The same source claims that Newcastle United are likely to hold out for at least £20 million for Gayle, who scored 24 goals on loan at West Brom in the Championship this season.
Assombalonga, on the other hand, netted 15 times for Middlesbrough in second-tier this term and the Teessiders are looking to recoup the £15 million that they paid to Nottingham Forest to secure his services back in 2017.
Mitrovic scored 11 goals in the Premier League, as Fulham finished second last in the standings and headed back to the Championship after just a single season in the top-flight. The Cottagers are under pressure to cut down their expenses and balance the books, meaning that they have to let go of several of their first-team stars this summer, including Mitrovic.
The Cottagers are set for a massive squad clear-out in the summer transfer window, as they look to trim their wage bill and change their recruitment policy after having spent a fortune last time around. They will be hopeful of securing promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and a prolific No.9 should be high on manager Scott Parker’s recruitment list.
To put things into perspective, both the aforementioned strikers fit the bill perfectly, although it remains to be seen how much Fulham are willing to spend this summer. Gayle has established himself as one of the most lethal strikers in the Championship over the last few years, while Assombalonga has also progressed by leaps and bounds.
Gayle,28, boasts of a jaw-dropping strike rate in the second tier, having scored 59 goals in 100 appearances for the likes of Newcastle United, West Brom and Peterborough United. Assombalonga’s scoring record, though not as eye-catching as Gayle’s, is still quite good enough, with the Congolese international netting 59 times in 155 appearances.
Now, it doesn’t require a rocket scientist to figure out that Gayle is more prolific and, undoubtedly, a much better natural finisher as compared to Assombalonga, who has a habit of blowing hot and cold. There are very few strikers in the Championship who are as lethal as Gayle but Fulham need to understand that forking out £20 million for the 28-year-old won’t be the best idea, especially with the club under pressure to cut down their expenses.
Gayle, though prolific in the Championship, only has a modest record in the Premier League, while Assombalonga hasn’t shown anything to convince that he is capable of delivering the goods in the top-flight. Hence, it is clear that Fulham should look at either of the above-mentioned strikers as only a short-term fix in the Championship to fire them to promotion.
With that being said, Britt Assombalonga presents a cheaper and more affordable alternative to Gayle and given that he is a couple of years younger than the Newcastle man, Fulham might be able to get a better resale value by offloading him once they make it back to the Premier League.
Assombalonga has been hovering around that 15-goal mark in the Championship over the past four or five seasons and there is every chance that a move to Fulham could help him raise his game to the next level.
The Cottagers are likely to have a good chance of making it back to the Premier League at the first time of asking if the 26-year-old manages to deliver 15-20 goals next season, which is very much possible given that he has shown a lot of promise in the recent past.
The Congolese hitman is capable of operating as the focal point of the attack and has a nice turn of pace to go with his above-average dribbling skills. An instinctive and opportunistic striker with good physical attributes, Assombalonga is very strong in the air and has a tendency of popping up at the right place and at the right time to find the net.
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To conclude, Dwight Gayle is undoubtedly a class above Assombalonga, but if Fulham are reluctant to shell out £20 million for the Newcastle man, the latter certainly presents a good alternative for a more reasonable price.
