Sasa Lukic has told Torino he wants to join Fulham amid the Whites’ push to seal an £8million deal for the Serbia midfielder.
The 26-year-old would relish linking up his compatriot and Serbia teammate Aleksandar Mitrovic at Craven Cottage, Standard Sport understands.
Lukic has been at Torino since 2016, and featured in all of Serbia’s matches at the Qatar World Cup. The versatile midfielder has the work rate to feature in a holding role, but is often deployed further upfield.
Fulham boss Marco Silva still hopes to complete a January loan swoop for Arsenal’s Cedric Soares, with a right-back having been a priority recruitment area in this month’s window.
The Cottagers have also signalled their interest in Fluminense midfielder Andre.
The 21-year-old has caught Fulham’s eye and talks are thought to have been held over a transfer that could rise as high as £16million. But Fluminense are intent on retaining one of their top talents until at least the summer.
Fulham can expect a struggle to prise the highly-rated star away from his home country now, but are thought to be prepared to follow up again at the end of the campaign.
The Londoners will host Sunderland in the FA Cup fourth-round on Saturday, bidding to hit back after Monday’s 1-0 home Premier League loss to Tottenham.
Boss Silva could look to rotate resources for the cup encounter, with the likes of Harry Wilson and Tom Cairney both eyeing starts.
The Portuguese manager was again buoyed by a combative performance against Spurs, but has challenged his players to cut out lapses in concentration and the kinds of minor errors that mount up.
Tomorrow’s lower-league opponents in the shape of Sunderland will afford Silva the chance to hand some fringe players an opportunity to state their case for future selection.
