Newly-promoted Fulham are reportedly leading the race to sign Espanyol’s €75 million-rated goal-machine Raul de Tomas.
According to the Daily Mail, as relayed by HITC Sport, Fulham are considered frontrunners to sign Espanyol and Spain striker Raul de Tomas in what would easily be the most surprising move of the deadline day if the Cottagers can pull it off.
Raul de Tomas spent most of his formative years at Real Madrid, having joined the club’s youth ranks in 2004. Despite impressing in Los Blancos’ youth and reserves teams, the Spaniard was never able to establish a footing in the first-team setup.
He had loan spells at three different Spanish clubs with variable success before leaving for Benfica permanently in 2019. And, as it turns out, an ill-fated spell at Benfica remains a rare blot on the striker’s otherwise stellar record since returning to Spain within six months, signing for Espanyol in January 2020.
De Tomas has been in outstanding form with Espanyol in the last two seasons, scoring 23 goals in the 2020/21 season to help them gain promotion from the second tier. Last season, he scored 17 goals in 34 La Liga matches to help his team finish in 14th place, well clear of relegation.
Needless to say, the Spaniard has attracted plenty of attention from Europe’s biggest clubs in the process. Arsenal, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich have all been linked with the forward since the start of 2022.
The Gunners, for one, even contacted the Liga club back in January for De Tomas but were warded off, and were told to activate his €75 million release clause in order to attain his services.
However, fast forward to the deadline day of the summer transfer window, and Espanyol would accept just €30 million to offload him despite having him under a long-term contract until 2026 at RCDE Stadium.
This is because the Spanish international is keen to leave the Catalan outfit after disagreements with new manager Diego Martinez, who has left him out of the matchday squad in each of the opening three La Liga games.
Espanyol are also set to sign Martin Braithwaite on a Bosman transfer after he mutually terminated his contract with Barcelona, which means they are bracing themselves for De Tomas’ exit. So, the 27-year-old needs to move from Espanyol in order to have any chance of making Luis Enrique’s Spain squad for the upcoming World Cup.
Several Premier League clubs, including Everton, Manchester United, and Aston Villa, have considered the 27-year-old this summer, with Fulham now leading contenders. The Cottagers have made a firm approach for the Espanyol star, who is said to be studying the possibility of moving to Craven Cottage but also awaiting offers from bigger clubs.
Fulham are already closing in on the signing of Tottenham flop Carlos Vinicius from Benfica but could make do with a prolific striker like De Tomas, who can form a lethal front-two alongside Aleksandar Mitrovic as he is technically and intelligent enough to exploit the space afforded by the presence of the Serbian striker.
The Whites are used to making shock high-profile moves in summer transfer windows just after their previous promotion, notably Jean Michael Seri and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa. So, can they pull a rabbit out of the hat yet again? That remains to be seen.