Marco Silva intends to give Jay Stansfield an opportunity in the Premier League after his superb loan spell at Birmingham City.
Stansfield returned to parent club Fulham this week after collecting all five gongs at Blues' end-of-season awards dinner. The 13-goal forward won Blues' Players' Player of the Season and Supporters' Player of the Season awards to cap an excellent first campaign in the Championship.
Having starred in League One for boyhood club Exeter City in 2022/23, Stansfield seamlessly stepped up a level and Silva plans to use him in the top flight next term. “He’s going to be back with us”, Silva told the Evening Standard.
“Everything we planned, apart from the collective goal of Birmingham which was not what we wanted, was a box [ticked]. He played the season before in League One, and to be able to give a step forward in the Championship and be an important piece in the attack-line and score important goals [was pleasing]. Jay achieved all the important things. Now is the moment for him to come back and be one of the players in our attacking line for next season.”
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Stansfield will compete for a place in Fulham's forward line with Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz next season. The 21-year-old has three Premier League appearances under his belt already.
Speaking to BirminghamLive at Sunday's awards dinner, Stansfield said: “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, I’ve only had one season in the Championship, but (playing in the Premier League) is something I dream of. Hopefully it will come to that one day but I’m just going to take it step-by-step and keep developing and learning.”
