The lightning-fast £10m winger who could take Fulham's attack to a whole new level next season

Although it has been a very positive season, by and large, for Fulham, it’s still clear that a fair amount of work remains if they are to become genuine, long-term European contenders – and while that starts with keeping hold of manager Marco Silva amid interest from other sides, it certainly doesn’t end there.

Silva himself gently critiqued Fulham’s transfer policy earlier in the season, noting the need for the club to work harder to keep hold of their better players more often, but they also need to continue recruiting well, too, and in particular could do with a little bit of extra firepower up front. With six games left, no team in the top half of the Premier League table has scored fewer goals.

The return of reports which link the Cottagers with a bid for AC Milan’s Samuel Chukwueze could, therefore, be of significant interest – but would the Nigeria international really be the right man for the job as Fulham look for ways to improve this summer?

Will Fulham sign Samuel Chukwueze this summer?

It was widely reported over the winter transfer window that Fulham were interested in – or had even made an offer for – Chukwueze, who has struggled to nail down a place in AC Milan’s starting line-up since moving to the San Siro from Villarreal in 2023.

The move never materialised and the 25-year-old continued his career in Milan, scoring a winner against Parma and again against Lazio at the second half of the season wore on but never winning a regular starting place. Indeed, Chukwueze hasn’t started a single match in 2025 for his club and has played a full 90 minutes just twice all season.

In short, speculation that Chukwueze could move on hasn’t quietened down, and now there are fresh reports from Italy which suggest that Fulham and Milan may be back in contact over a move in the next transfer window, which would likely be worth something in the region of €12-15m (roughly £10-13m).

There is alleged interest from other sides, especially in Spain, where he has previously thrived, and rivals Sevilla and Real Betis are both alleged to be monitoring his progress, but the consistency with which Fulham have been linked with Chukwueze implies genuine interest on their part.

In short, it’s entirely plausible that a deal will be struck between Fulham and Milan, and at a price which would probably suit Fulham. But given that Milan seem to have determined that he isn’t quite what they need, is he good enough to help Fulham take that next step towards establishing themselves in the top half of the table?

Why Chukwueze would be a risk worth taking

Milan fans and Italian pundits have some entirely valid criticisms of Chukwueze, and there are limitations to his game which have, perhaps, prevented him from making the most of his talent in Serie A. In particular, he is a very one-footed player, who is dependent on his left foot while playing as an inside forward down the Milan right. The result of that lopsidedness is that he can be very predictable for defenders, always looking to cut back inside. A savvy defender knows what he will be doing next and can respond accordingly.

It doesn’t help that Chukwueze is more effective in behind the defence than he is playing in front of it. He’s a relatively modest goal threat who managed 21 goals in six league seasons as a starter for Villarreal and has managed just four Serie A strikes since moving to Milan, and is at his best when storming into space behind the back line rather than when he’s forced to cut back into traffic with defenders ahead of him.

In some regards, that makes Chukwueze a somewhat limited winger, really only capable of one role and with one way of unlocking defences. Fortunately, he’s also extremely effective at doing what he does best – getting in behind and wreaking havoc. He’s both quick enough to feast on the space in behind high lines and clever enough with the ball at his feet to take a man on one-on-one, where he wins more often than not – and while he may be predictable in cutting back inside for his next move, that matters rather less if most of the opposition’s defenders are left trailing behind you.

Chukwueze may not score in especially high volume but he does create a healthy number of chances – this season, in his relatively limited playing time, he has on average generated over five shooting opportunities for his team-mates every 90 minutes. That’s a very respectable rate of return. He also uses his speed to good effect off the ball, and the combination of ability to work as part of an effective pressing unit and his capacity to hit hard on the counter-attack and make the most of direct balls means that he should suit Marco Silva’s relatively direct playing style.

It’s possible that Silva’s current 3-4-3 system, which generally asks the wingers to play tighter to the number nine, wouldn’t suit Chukwueze as well as one which spreads its wide forwards further apart, but then again Alex Iwobi has often played much wider when deployed on the left than Silva’s template might suggest, so there is clearly some flexibility in the role under the current manager. Silva tends to tweak his tactics to adjust to the strengths and weaknesses of the 11 players on the pitch, rather than trying to hammer square pegs into round holes.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Silva stays and thus few assurances that the system Fulham use next season will suit Chukwueze. It may also be that his limitations prevent him for living up to the hype his work in Spain generated a couple of years ago. But for a price tag which may not come to much more than £10m, it seems to be worth a punt.