Frustrated Silva rules out Kean signing

Fulham boss Marco Silva has ruled out signing former Everton striker Moise Kean as a replacement for Aleksandar Mitrovic and criticised the club’s slow progress in the transfer market.

Mitrovic departed Fulham after five successful years at Craven Cottage to join the Saudi Pro League last weekend and Silva admits with just eight days of the transfer window remaining, the club have left themselves with an uphill task to bring in suitable replacements.

Fulham have signed Calvin Bassey from Ajax in addition to former Wolves pair Juan Jimenez and Adama Trarore this summer and Silva admitted he has been frustrated at the slow progress of bolstering his squad.

“It should have been our priority last month or a month-and-a-half ago, so imagine what it is now?” Silva said.

“Seven players left our football club at the end of the season, we sold Mitrovic and when you sign just three players then you know how many players we need. We are light.

“We have lots of positions to cover. It is not just the striking position, we need many things and this is not the normal thing to do in the last eight days of the market.”

“If we do sign a striker then it has to be the right one to have an impact in our squad. This is really important to me.

“I don’t just want players for the sake of players to be honest.”

Silva signed Italian striker Kean when he was Everton manager in 2019 for £25m but said there would be no reunion with the 23-year-old at Craven Cottage.

“Moise Kean is not the solution for us,” he said.

“I don’t like to speak about players that are not our players.

“He is a Juventus player but I can confirm he is not the player we are looking for.”