Scott Parker “not confident” Fulham will sign a striker in January

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Fulham manager Scott Parker has admitted that there’s a good chance that his struggling side will be unable to add any attacking reinforcements in January.

Parker, who became boss in 2019, guided the Cottagers to promotion from the Championship last season, but the team currently sit in 18th place in the Premier League and are facing an immediate return to the second tier.

The main issue recently has been a lack of goals, and with only Burnley and Sheffield United scoring less than their 15 in the league, it’s a problem that Parker needs to fix.

Ivan Cavaleiro has been preferred to Aleksander Mitrovic since the move to a back five, but the Portuguese man has only scored twice in the Premier League, and their top scorer is Bobbby Decordova-Reid with a measly four.

However, their search for a new striker hasn’t been successful and Parker revealed that he is “not confident” that they’ll be able to sign a new striker in the last few days of the window.

Parker added: “We all understand where we may need help with the squad, but whether that happens I’m not confident.

“I think we need that in that area because we’re light in numbers. We have one recognised striker at our football club in Aleks [Mitrovic] and he’s been fantastic for us. [Ivan] Cavaleiro has been playing as a nine for us as well and has done remarkably well.

“I feel for competition to help the team evolve in this division, it is an area we need to look at. At the same time I also understand how difficult it is in this present time.”

The news of no likely new arrivals will come as a huge disappointment to Fulham fans, who desperately want their side to stay up, rather than suffer yet another relegation to the Championship.