Antonee Robinson has been a regular for Fulham since joining them from Wigan Athletic in 2020.
In his first season, the left-back made 28 Premier League appearances for Fulham. They were in the Championship during the 2021/22 season and returned to the top division the following season.
Robinson has been the first choice left-back for Fulham over the past few years and has been regularly impressing for the London club.
AS had a chat with former Fulham assistant director Javi Pereira and he played a role in the American’s arrival at the club from Wigan Athletic.
Marco Silva’s side then had the 27-year-old in their list. Pereira was pleased with the reports gathered by the Fulham scouts on Robinson and he then started taking an interest in him.
“The signing of Antonee Robinson came during my last stage at Fulham, when I was the assistant director,” he said.
“During the pandemic, the scouts had put him on our database. At the time, Antonee was playing for Wigan.
“We’re not talking about him playing in a great team, but physically he was a bull, as he’s now, doing both sides of the game, attack and defence. I started to look into the Fulham scouting database, who have been watching him in different games in different months.”
These reports didn’t seem enough for Fulham to make an approach for the fullback. The Spaniard was pleased with the data gathered by the national team on Robinson. He also had with former United States assistant manager Nico Estévez.
These factors were instrumental for Javi Pereira in convincing Fulham to bet on the player. He’s of the belief only a small group of clubs could currently afford to buy Robinson.
“The impression they leave is positive and then I went deeper, because he played for the US U21, U23 and senior teams,” Javi Pereira explained.
“Within the USMNT’s organisational structure I saw there was Nico Estévez, a Spanish coach who is Greg Berhalter’s assistant. I get in touch with him to ask him about the boy’s day-to-day life, what potential he has, what level of professionalism he has, etc.
“From there I make a positive report to Fulham, and they sign him. I think they signed him for about £2m. If we look at the value of Antonee Robinson in the Premier League right now, only a Big Six could afford him.”
