Fulham sign Fabri

Among the more sustainable transfer rumors this summer for Fulham has been the addition of Spanish goalkeeper Frabri. With David Button leaving for Brighton and Hove Albion, the club was in need of a back up that had top flight European Football experience, at worst. Enter the 30-year old from Besiktas who will be arriving on a £5 million transfer fee and is on a three-year contract with a one-year club option.

Fabri has certainly had an eventful footballing career. With Besiktas being usual contenders for the Turkish Super Lig crown, he has gone on to make 11 appearances over the past two seasons in the Champions League and six appearances in the Europa League. The highlight of such feats includes playing in the Round of 16 last campaign, where the club were just no match to the superpower that is Bayern Munich.

Beforehand, Fabri has also played for Deportivo La Coruña, Recreotivo de Huelva, Real Betis and Real Valladoid during his decade long journey playing professionally in his native country, Spain. That being said, he’s only been able to be the true number one keeper for two full seasons before moving to Besiktas and has only made 201 total club appearances as a result. Fabri also dealt with a lingering tibia fracture and a possible career threatening shoulder injury that made him miss the 2015/16 La Liga season.

However, his career has seemed to always be under the watch of Jose Sambade Correira, who has been the goalkeeping coach at both Deportivo and at Besiktas during his tenure. Now Correira is the main man coaching the goalkeepers at Fulham and it is of no surprise if he had an influence suggesting Slavisa Jokanovic to sign Fabri.

So who how do Fabri’s stats look? For one, he’s a fantastic shot stopper with a save percentage over 71% in his two previous seasons with Besiktas and his 2014/15 season at Deportivo. Along with that, his long ball passing is up there with Marcus Bettinelli’s with a 40.8% success rate since 2012/13. However, that category has improved massively since Fabri has been at Besiktas with a two-year success rate of 46.2%. He will have to adjust playing the ball short more often under Jokanovic’s system, as he has never been able to pass it to the back four more than half the time in any of his seasons in goal. But with plenty of experience in Turkey and Spain, there’s no denying that Fabri will be a welcome addition to the club.

¡Bienvinido Fabri!