Marco Silva tipped to leave Fulham and join ‘bigger club’ by his own player in remarkable admission

Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno has backed his manager Marco Silva to get a job with a ‘big club’.

talkSPORT understands Fulham have been weighing up Silva’s future as tensions mount behind the scenes at Craven Cottage.

Getty

The Portuguese has been reluctant to sign a new deal at Craven Cottage and, as it stands, he will be a free agent at the end of the season.

The 48-year-old has been Fulham boss since 2021 and last season led them to their highest ever Premier League points tally with 54 – which saw them finish the campaign in 11th place.

Speculation grew over his future in the summer and he even held talks with Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal, who wanted him in charge for the Club World Cup.

Silva was also linked to Tottenham when Ange Postecoglou was sacked, and then to Nottingham Forest when the Australian lost his job again.

Speaking ahead of Fulham’s clash with Man City, which is live on talkSPORT 2 on Tuesday evening, Leno seemingly hinted that Silva will leave.

Leno told talkSPORT: “What he’s done to Fulham has been absolutely brilliant and I think everyone has to appreciate him like every fan.

“You can see the hunger, the fire he has every day here because whenever you switch off or you relax a little bit he’s in your neck. 

“I think that shows his mentality, his ambition and all that stuff.

“He’s a fantastic manager and unfortunately at some point he will leave because I’m pretty sure that he will be in one of the biggest clubs in the world because he deserves it. 

“But as I said, everyone in Fulham Football Club is so happy that he’s here and hopefully he will be here for even longer.”

Getty

Fulham’s view

The Cottagers would prefer Silva to extend his contract, allowing them to move forward in the 2026 markets.

Owner Shahid Khan insisted he was part of the club’s long-term plans in an interview with talkSPORT in October.

Khan said: “He’s been great.

“I really like him, not only as a person, (but) as a football manager, head coach. Definitely, I think he’s in our long-term plans.”

Silva’s transfer window frustration

The Fulham boss made no secret of his frustrations in the summer transfer market, with the club bringing in three players on deadline day.

Club-record signing Kevin, Samuel Chukwueze and Jonah Kusi-Asare have all taken time to get up to speed.

Silva spoke about his January transfer plans before Tuesday’s visit of Man City and insisted he wants their business wrapped up early.

“I don’t want to put a number on it,” Silva said in his pre-match press conference.

“These three, four months created a different scenario for us. Of course, we had one or two things last summer that were not possible for us to do, because we had some players in the last days of the market.

“We are working together, myself, staff and the board to see if we can do it and if we can do it quick in the first days of the market.”

Fulham are currently 15th in the Premier League after 13 games.

All 10 Premier League matches this week will be live across the talkSPORT network.