Arriving from SC Bastia in July 2016, Floyd Ayité, despite a good first season at Fulham, has seen his time on the pitch at Craven Cottage reduced considerably for the current campaign.
Hindered by a few injury niggles last year, the 30-year-old started the season on the sidelines, and has only made seven appearances in the Premier League so far, all from the bench.
Speaking to Sud-Ouest in France, Ayité, who came through Bordeaux’s academy, was asked about his situation at Craven Cottage, which wasn’t helped by the arrival of André Schürrle over the summer.
He said: “I can’t blame the fact I’m playing less on a player arriving. It’s not appropriate. It’s a different level, a different league, players arrive, others leave, the manager makes his choices. I’m a part of the squad, I work while waiting for my chance.
“If I want to be on the pitch, I need to be better than the ones already on it, knowing the manager makes his choices based on how he wants to play against the next team and that we some fit his philosophy more than others”.
With Fulham currently 19th in the Premier League, there’s a lot of hard work ahead for Claudio Ranieri’s men to turn things around, but Ayité believes the club is close to doing so.
He continued: “We’re not playing badly, but we’re lacking that little bit of luck that we need to go find, and to do that, we can’t give up, we need to fight. We’re on the right path, it’ll change”.
Since arriving at Fulham, Ayité has made 73 appearances in all competitions, scored 13 goals and picked up 11 assists.
His only start this season came in a 3-1 win over Millwall in the Carabao Cup, which the Cottagers won 3-1, during which he also produced an assist for the second goal, setting up Luca de la Torre.
