At Fulham since joining from KRC Genk in 2016, Neeskens Kebano has never quite managed to pave his way into becoming a first-team regular at Craven Cottage.
His best seasons came during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns in the Championship, while making 16 appearances last year and scoring two goals in the play-offs, but as soon as the team returned to the Premier League, Scott Parker turned his attention elsewhere.
Five small features in the first half made that abundantly clear, and a move away from Fulham was organised in January, with the DR Congo international loaned to Middlesbrough for until June.
While the transfer won’t have surprised anyone, it wasn’t something that was planned long in advance, as the player, speaking to SudInfo, explained it was actually very last-minute.
He said: “I managed to scrape a few games at the beginning of the season, then came on for a bit, but I wanted to play far more than that. At the start, Fulham didn’t want to let me leave and it’s only in the last three hours of the transfer window that the club contacted my agent to tell him they wouldn’t block my exit if I wanted to leave. In less than three hours, we found a solution when that same morning I thought I was staying”.
An interesting turn of events that has benefitted the forward, who has already made as many appearances with Middlesbrough at Riverside as he did at Fulham in the Premier League.
He’s managed to score one goal and pick up an assist in his five games under Neil Warnock so far.
