Fulham have had a dream-like return to the Premier League this season and have been performing at a high level since their promotion from the Championship.
Marco Silva has turned them into a genuine top-half side – who are competing strongly with the traditional ‘top-6’ sides and ousting the majority of the bottom-half sides in the league.
The Cottagers are currently seated in sixth place in the Premier League table, over the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea.
While a top-4 challenge is a bit unrealistic at this point, Fulham can’t be blamed for eyeing a potential European spot finish at the end of the season.
They already have a quality no.9 in Aleksandr Mitrovic, who has scored 11 goals in the league for them this season. While the Serbian forward has played a huge role in helping them maintain their charge, Fulham’s summer signings have also proven to be really efficient ones.
Andreas Pereira has been a smart signing from Manchester United – adding more creativity and craft to their midfield line. Joao Palhinha has been a solid addition to add more defensive sturdiness. Willian has been a great free signing, scoring key goals. Bernd Leno has kept 7 clean sheets in 23 league games and Issa Diop has added more power to their backline.
But one particular summer signing that has only recently found the spring in his step for the Cottages is Manor Solomon. The Israeli winger was signed on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer. However, he found his season derailed a bit after suffering a bad knee injury early on – which required surgery.
The 23-year-old missed four months of action because of it and had to work hard to regain his fitness before the season was over. He returned after the turn of the year and has been on fire for the Premier League side in their recent games.
While he’s mostly still being used as an impact substitute, Solomon has been turning heads with his exciting playing style.
The 23-year-old is a menacing winger who mirrors the style of Netherlands legend Arjen Robben. Indeed, the Israeli winger boasts impressive dribbling ability and close control.
Like Robben, he also revolves his playing style around tricking defenders and moving into central positions from the wide areas.
He then proceeds to aim for the top corner with his swerving shots from outside the box, a trait which the ex-Bayern Munich star made his trademark in the 2000s and early 2010s.
Solomon has been unstoppable in the last four games and scored in each one of them for the Cottagers. His two recent-most goals in the 1-1 draw against Wolves in the Premier League and 2-0 win over Leeds United in the FA Cup 5th Round share eerie similarities.
On both occasions, the 23-year-old mimicked Robben in getting the ball into the final third on the left wing before swiftly moving into a central area and hitting a precise shot that powered into the left-hand corner of the opposition goalkeeper.
This skill is absolutely not easy. Anyone who has played football can know how difficult it is to quickly move inwards from the wings and then slot such precise shots past goalkeepers.
Fulham appears to have an underrated gem in their team, who has only been able to showcase his talent in recent games.
Solomon has already turned a lot of eyes this season, but he’ll aim to keep his goal-scoring heroics going to help Fulham end the season with a positive top-half finish and convince them to permanently sign him from Shakhtar in the summer.
