Fulham attempt to hijack Southampton’s bid for Kyle Walker-Peters

Imagine you’re Daniel Levy for a minute. In between being a Bald Ninja Jedi and simply existing to make Sir Alex Ferguson’s hip start to ache, there may not be better news to your ears than having a second club bid for a player you own the rights to.

Kyle Walker-Peters is almost certainly heading to Southampton....or so we assume. We’re pumping the brakes on that because Dan Kilpatrick of the Evening Standard is coming in hot with a possible gazumping from freshly promoted Fulham.

Saints and Spurs are close to agreeing a £12million fee for the defender , with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg set to move the other way in a separate deal worth around £15m.

However, Fulham are considering entering the bidding for Walker-Peters following their promotion to the Premier League via a 2-1 win over rivals Brentford in the Championship play-off final.

Fulham missed out to Saints on a loan deal for Walker-Peters in January but the Cottagers remain in the market for a right-back, with manager Scott Parker and his assistant Matt Wells both admirers of the 23-year-old, having worked with him in Spurs’ academy.

First off, congrats to former Spurs midfielder and current Fulham boss Scott Parker and Fulham for winning promotion yesterday, 2-1, over Brentford. We look forward to playing against them in the upcoming season.

Parker now has the task of keeping his club up, which means strengthening positions of need. Currently, Fulham have three right backs on their roster but 32-year-old Denis Odoi shouldered the bulk of the load at 2600 minutes. Cyrus Christie and Steven Sessegnon combined for the remaining ~2200 minutes. Odoi, however, is out of contract with Fulham who do have the option of a one year extension, but as it stands they’re going to let him walk.

Kilpatrick, who is as in-tune with Tottenham Hotspur as any beat writer in London, makes the mention that Fulham inquired about Walker-Peters back in January but the loan to Southampton made more sense as it meant EPL minutes for the 23-year-old fullback. Fulham want a second crack at his services, and while I’d still put money on KWP being a part of this kinda-sorta swap deal for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, don’t discount what Fulham bring the to the table with ample playing time and being in London.

Levy has to be licking his chops at this. Walker-Peters value at £12m is pretty good, but all it takes is one Fulham bid and Levy ends up possibly getting Hojbjerg for nothing. It will come down to what Walker-Peters values the most. It’s clear Hassenhuttl likes him enough where he’ll start on the south coast, but playing for a former England International and a familiar face in Parker might be enough to consider Fulham. Remember that Parker was involved with Spurs for over a year in the academy before moving to Fulham to take a first team coaching position. We’ll see how this shakes out but Spurs might come out of this better than expected.