Will 'old flame' Willian ignite European push?
They say never go back, but it does not feel like Willian ever really left.It was an uncharacteristically quiet deadline day, with the only news being that Fulham are set to re-sign the Brazilian winger on a deal until the end of the season.The January window is often a damp squib. Any value in this period has long gone and most deals are based on necessity.That is exactly the situation we found ourselves in. Injuries to right-back Kenny Tete and winger Harry Wilson left us light in both areas.Willian is a plaster for our Wilson situation. The latter has featured regularly since he turned our derby with Brentford on its head in November, scoring five and adding an assist, but a stress fracture to his foot means his season is effectively over.On the face of it, the Willian deal makes total sense; he is well known to Marco Silva and we know he can contribute. He scored 10 and racked up seven assists in two seasons at Craven Cottage.On the other hand, it always felt like the Brazilian had one foot out of the door. You would be forgiven for hoping that our recruitment team might have had other targets in their stats pack.Fans will be disappointed we did not get any cover at right-back.Timothy Castagne has been filling in for the injured Tete, but Saturday's game against Newcastle United showed how tough the Belgian has found it compared to the assured performances that kept Tete out of the first XI last season.We are just four points off the European places, so each of the 14 games we have left this season are crucial. Time will tell if we have the strength in numbers it takes to qualify, let alone to mount a challenge on two fronts next term.Who knows? Perhaps our old flame can help us get there.Find more from Drew Heatley at Fulhamish, external
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