The last ditch £10m Premier League raid that could help Fulham forget all about Callum Hudson-Odoi

It was the deal that was, until it wasn’t. For the longest while, it had seemed as if Callum Hudson-Odoi would be leaving Chelsea for Fulham this summer. You can almost imagine the furniture removal men of West London waiting on tenterhooks, breath bated, for his call.

But alas, the men with their vans (ven?) can stand down, for it would appear that an agreement between the Blues and the Cottagers, nailed on as it supposedly was, has disintegrated. According to various sources, Fulham have pulled out of an £8 million swoop for the winger, and now he finds himself stuck in something of a limbo.

Alongside Marco Silva’s side, Everton had been widely credited with an interest in recent days, but as per the Liverpool Echo, they too have decided against making a move for Hudson-Odoi, and instead are focusing their attentions on pursuits for Southampton’s Che Adams and Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto. (Both Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest are understood to be monitoring the 22-year-old’s future at Stamford Bridge, but as things stand, neither have made any kind of concrete attempt to sign him.)

In short, the whole situation is a messy one, and still stranded there, sans winger and without any clue as to where one might be coming from, are Fulham. Already this summer, the Cottagers have moved to bring in free agent Adama Traore, while the recapture of Willian could prove to be another masterstroke of frugal recruitment.

But evidently, Silva would like another, and in that regard, he could do far worse than prising an exit-bound talent away from the aforementioned Everton. As if this saga wasn’t complex enough.

Demarai Gray, like Hudson-Odoi, has been linked with a transfer for weeks now. And like Hudson-Odoi, he has also been touted as a potential target for Fulham. In fact, Football Insider have gone as far as to report that the player has already agreed personal terms with the Cottagers once - albeit at the start of August.

Since then, there has been little movement from West London, although transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has suggested that a verbal agreement has been reached between Everton and Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Shabbab that would take Gray to the Middle East in the coming days, should he settle on personal terms with the club.

But there is still time for Fulham to hijack the deal, and if they are serious about signing a wide attacker before the end of the window, hijack they should. At 27, Gray is a well-established Premier League talent in the prime of his career, and who could offer exactly the kind of directness and creative flair that Silva is seeking.

According to the number crunchers at Whoscored, the Jamaican international ranked among the top three in Everton’s squad for shots per game, successful dribbles, and completed key passes last season, and nobody in a blue jersey was fouled more frequently. In other words, he is a defender’s nightmare - a well-rounded, fleet-footed headache.

Of course, it should go without saying that if Al-Shabbab offer him the kind of big money deal that we have seen other Saudi clubs conjure up this summer, then Fulham will face an uphill battle to thwart their bid. Even if they can derail, it has been suggested previously that Everton could demand as much as £10 million to sell him to an English rival.

But if the player himself would rather stay in the Premier League and join a project that has the potential to really solidify its top flight status in the coming years, rather than shuffling off into well-paid obscurity, then the Cottagers might just have a chance to convince him.

At the present moment in time, the likelihood is that Gray will be playing his football in distant climes by the end of the month, but nothing is set in stone just yet, and if Fulham really want to move on and forget about Hudson-Odoi, then a late swoop for the Everton man could be the ideal way to do exactly that.