please log in to view this image "Fulham Football Club is delighted to confirm the signing of Sakari Mattila from Aalesunds FK on a two-year deal, with a Club option for a further 12 months, for an undisclosed fee. The 26-year-old defensive midfielder began his career in his native Finland with HJK Helsinki, and made his professional debut with the club’s reserve side, Klubi 04. He soon progressed to the senior side and was given his first top flight run out in April 2008. He was on the move soon after, though, as he made the switch to Serie A after agreeing a deal with Udinese. During his time in Italy, he went on loan to Ascoli, before taking in a similar spell at Swiss outfit AC Bellinzona, for whom he later signed permanently. Mattila returned to Helsinki on loan in August 2012, before rejoining them on a permanent deal just under a year later. In November 2013, it was announced that he had agreed to sign for Norwegian side Aalesunds on a three-year deal, and he was soon appointed captain. He made the first of his appearances for the Finnish national side in March 2014, having previously represented his country for a variety of age groups. Speaking to fulhamfc.com after putting pen to paper, Mattila said: “Of course I’m very delighted and happy to officially be a member of FFC. From day one when I heard about the interest I was looking forward to this moment, and now that it’s official I’m really happy. I haven’t been training with the team yet but the facilities and the atmosphere that you have here in the Training Ground is very special.” The "undisclosed fee" is being touted as around £150k.
Hadn't heard of him until a few days ago so can't comment on whether he'll be a good signing or not but at least he's the right type of player. Also, the Norwegian league is about half way through at the moment so he should be in good shape but we're not going to get a full season out of him. He'll probably have to be given a few weeks off half way through the season.
We really have splashed the cash on this one, does this mean players like Dunk are no longer in the equasion
At that fee he's either a complete bargain, or a mistake that hasn't cost us very much. It should leave the rest of the transfer kitty for us to go and get a centre-back. I don't see any way that this makes Dunk less likely. Like FulhamIreland, I know nothing about whether he's any good or not, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until we see otherwise for ourselves.
Or Kevin McDonald. Still pinnning my hopes on him coming. Whatever, as the Captain said, let's give the lad a chance. He can't be any worse than Tunnicliffe - and at least he's a good Finnisher please log in to view this image
I hope this doesn't mean we're not in for McDonald any more. I like the fact that we're stocking up Centre Mids. Parker will be phased out and it's a key area that needs cover. Last year all of these players played Centre Mid at some point: Parker Tunnicliffe Zverotic Hoogland Hyndman Christensen Kavanagh Guthrie David Burgess Fotheringham Fofana R. Williams Possibly 1 or 2 others too (not sure if Stafylidis did or if Ruiz or Eisfeld actually played CM) But that's 13 players who played there and I'd consider maybe 4 or 5 actually good enough so stocking up on decent quality players seems like a wise decision.
Against Wolves in the FA Cup, I seem to remember McCormack spent much of the game effectively playing centre-mid. He looked good, too, although it meant we looked a bit toothless up front.
I have sat in the center of the Riverside Stand on occasions and recall that I had more influence on the CM position than Berbatov had on CF duties in all his games. So FI, I believe I deserve a mention too! Joking aside (yes it was a joke), I would like to see McDonald too along with a settled midfield and a new CB around him. I don't see Parker being a key player this season. Is he still club captain?
According to Kit, Mattila's signing was based on his "stats" flagged up by the "stats department". Read 'stats department' as Tony 'Analytics' Khan. Read the comment as "nothing to with me guv".
Possibly easy to have good Stats in a sub-standard league buts it's all relative if his stats are much better than the other 200 players playing in the SAME league surely points to him having something ( though that still doesn't mean he will be good)
I was also thinking that given his position as a defensive midfielder his pass completion rate can look spectacular if all he's doing is 10 yard passes to his defenders. I'd love to know exactly which stats they assessed to come up with this one.
