Fulham want £12m Prem captain who won a trophy under Marco Silva

Fulham could sign a Premier League captain this summer with Luka Milivojevic potentially set to leave Crystal Palace for Craven Cottage, as reported by The Athletic.

Marco Silva also knows the veteran midfielder well.

Milivojevic was one of the most important cogs in the Olympiakos side that won the Greek Super League title under Silva in 2015/16.

“In my opinion (Crystal Palace) have a very high quality in their attacking line with a player who is the key player who I know very well,” the current Fulham boss said in 2019, ahead of a clash of high flight between The Eagles and his Everton team.

“Luka will play in midfield and can support his forward line very well.”

Is Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojevic heading to Fulham?

At 31, Milivojevic is no longer the irrepressible force of old. He started just nine Premier League games in Patrick Vieira’s first season at Selhurst Park, with some ‘supporters’ unfairly criticizing their longtime skipper at Crystal Palace’s end-of-season awards recently (The Athletic) .

A move to Fulham would give Milivojevic the chance to silence his doubters alongside a familiar face in Silva.

Reports from Greece earlier in May suggested the giant midfielder, who cost Palace £12million in 2017, had agreed a cut-price return to Olympiakos. The Eagles would only want £3million, with 12 months remaining on his contract.

Milivojevic, however, would have to take a substantial pay cut if he wants to join his former employers. Fulham should be able to beat Olympiakos without too much difficulty, at least financially.

Silva appears to be prioritizing a physically imposing and deep midfield as the Cottagers prepare for life in the Premier League. Talks are also underway regarding Braga’s 6ft 4in enforcer Al-Musrati.

‘Exceptional’

“He’s been absolutely excellent in every way,” former Palace and Fulham boss Roy Hodgson told the Daily Mail a few years ago. “Exceptional.

“As a football manager, the greatest compliment you can give a player is that you go out on the pitch and do your job every week and do it well. And then when the game is over , you go back to training on Monday and prepare for the next one.These players are the ones I’m looking for.

“Reliability and consistency of performance are two factors in a football player that I commend incredibly.

“The reader might say; “Shouldn’t all players be like that? Shouldn’t they all be consistent and have the ability to recover from injury and return to the field? But not all of them can do that. Luka can.

In other news, ‘Must be’: Liverpool told to sell centre-back for £20m