Thursday 4 August 2016 07:20, UK
Ahead of Friday’s Championship opener against Newcastle United live on Sky Sports, Fulham forward Sone Aluko discusses his summer move to Craven Cottage and the challenges of the Championship that await Rafael Benitez’s side…
Sone Aluko can hardly keep the smile from his face. Since signing for Fulham on a two-year contract last month, everything is going to plan. "I've enjoyed it," he tells Sky Sports. "The boys have been great with me and very welcoming, so it's so far so good. For me, I couldn't be happier."
Speaking after Fulham's final pre-season friendly, an impressive 3-1 home win over Crystal Palace, Aluko is understandably buoyant having netted the game's opening goal. It was a confident strike too, rounding Julian Speroni with ease before slotting into the vacant net. "It's always nice to get a goal at home quickly," adds Aluko. "It settles you down."
Relaxed and polite, the 27-year-old Nigeria international certainly has the aura of a man comfortable in his new surroundings. Perhaps that's in part because this is a homecoming of sorts. London is the city in which he was born but since moving to Birmingham as a child it's been a long journey back to the capital.
"Aberdeen, Rangers, Hull, now Fulham," he laughs. "It's just how it's happened for me. It's good to be back down south with my family." It's also good to be wanted. Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic is in his first full season at Craven Cottage and is rebuilding a squad that finished only two places above the drop zone in May. Aluko appears central to his plans.
He has been entrusted with the No 10 position by Jokanovic and after a final season with Hull in which 17 of his 25 league appearances came from the bench, Aluko readily admits that the prospect of playing regular football appeals. "It doesn't have to be as a No 10," he says. "I'm sure sometimes I'll play on the left or right. I'm flexible.
He wants to play me in what I think is my natural position and the way he wants to play will, I think, suit my game.
"But it's one of the reasons why I came here, to be honest. He wants to play me in what I think is my natural position and the way he wants to play will, I think, suit my game. That's shown so far. I'm gelling with the strikers and the midfield and we're getting a good understanding going.
"The manager has been very disciplined with us, telling us how to play and getting that point across. It's something we've worked on a lot, the shape, breaking teams down, how to press and how to get the ball back, so that's been good. It's shown in our organisation and it's shown in our results. That's why we've kept so many clean sheets in pre-season.
"For me personally, I just want to play as many games as I can. Last season I didn't play anywhere near as many games as I hoped to play when I was fit." Even so, Aluko was part of the squad that won promotion to the Premier League - the second time he'd achieved that feat under Steve Bruce at Hull.
So do Fulham have what it takes? "The manager is trying to bring players in and I still think we're a bit short," he admits. "It only takes three or four injuries and we're down to 13 or 14 first-team players. I've been in two promotions so I know what it takes to fire at the top end. You need a bigger squad than we've got.
"The first 14 or so are solid. That's what we need to take the club to where we want to go to. But in this league, when you get to November, December, January, the games come thick and fast. There are top youngsters here, there's no doubt about that, but that's not what you're going to rely on to get promoted."
In truth, Friday's opponents Newcastle United are far more fancied for promotion - the 7/4 favourites to claim the Championship title, just as they did in their previous two seasons at this level. Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez has vast experience and a budget to match. But Aluko knows that this division can still throw up surprises.
"It's not easy," he says. "The games come thick and fast and if you have a bad week you can end up losing three games. In the Premier League that doesn't happen so there's definitely some adjustment to that. We're confident. We've played teams in our division and teams in the league above and we've won those games so we're confident going into the game.
"This what it's all been about, this last five weeks or so of work. When I came here I said I wanted to be in a club that competes at the top end of the table. There's no better game to start than here against Newcastle live on TV. They are the big games that players want to play in."
