Alvaro Arbeloa has given high praise of teenager Josh King, telling Fulham they have an “unbelievable player” on their hands.
King scored a fine goal in Fulham’s first game of the Premier League season but it was not enough as the Cottagers fell to a 3-2 home defeat to west London rivals Chelsea.
The midfielder was Fulham’s brightest spark, starting the season well after last term ended on a high as he was one of five young English players called up by England manager Thomas Tuchel for the national team’s pre-World Cup training camp in Florida.
In an interview with Standard Sport in April, King opened up on his career ambitions to represent England, and spoke of his feeling of “loyalty” to Fulham, where he is an academy graduate.
King scored the first of Fulham’s goals on Monday night, with the second scored on debut by new signing Gonzalo Garcia.
“Every team needs goals, and not just from Gonzalo,” Arbeloa said after the match.
“I have been talking all summer with Josh King. What a player you have here. Amazing. What a player. Unbelievable.
“I knew his talent. But with talent and with quality for these types of players, it is not enough. They need to make numbers.
“Like Josh, like Oscar [Bobb], like Cesar [Palacios], like Kevin. We have lots of players with a lot of talent, but they need to score goals.”
Arbeloa said he was encouraged by the number of chances created by his side, despite defeat.
“For sure. I saw tonight the energy that I want to see and the high-press that we want to make. We are going to try to play in this way, no matter which team is in front of us.”
