Why Tim Ream’s Fulham career may be coming to a close

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Just over six months ago, Fulham triumphed at Wembley in the play-off final, led by an extraordinary defensive stand engineered by Tim Ream. Shortly thereafter, the American was voted Fulham’s player of the season — no small feat in a side full of promotion heroes.

Yet it appears Tim Ream’s Fulham career may be coming to a close, with the defender not in the first team plans of Claudio Ranieri and without an appearance in the last three matches.

The centre-half endured a nightmare start to the Premier League season, with a mysterious back injury ruling Ream out for the Whites’ first six matches.

In his absence, Fulham struggled mightily at the back, and the return of Ream was widely expected to shore up the Cottagers’ leaky defence.

But when Ream came back to the first team fold, the centre-half looked far from his dominating self and Fulham perhaps were even more porous.

A rusty display at Goodison Park, dreadful marking versus Arsenal, a high-profile slip against Cardiff, and poor positioning against Bournemouth categorised Ream’s four league starts to date — in those four matches, Fulham shipped 15 goals.

Slavisa Jokanovic dropped the American for the Huddersfield and Liverpool fixtures, and in Ranieri’s first match in charge, Alfie Mawson and Denis Odoi were the favoured centre-half partnership.

Unfortunately for last season’s player of the year, it appears Tim Ream has fallen down the pecking order at Craven Cottage, possibly indicating his Fulham career may be coming to a close.