Marco Silva wants assurances over Fulham ambition before discussing new deal

Marco Silva said he will seek assurance that Fulham share his ambition before entering into talks over a new contract, with his current deal set to expire at the end of next season.

The Cottagers remain on track for a highest-ever top-flight points tally this campaign, with two wins needed from their final three games to make it a record-breaking year.

Silva’s stock has risen greatly since taking over at Craven Cottage following the team’s relegation to the Sky Bet Championship in 2021, returning them to the Premier League at the first attempt and ensuring a comfortable mid-table finish.

They had briefly looked like challenging for Europe after a 1-0 win at Brighton in February took them sixth, but have dipped after winning only three times in the league since, a run that has in part coincided with the loss of top-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic to an eight-game ban.

Mitrovic will return for Saturday’s trip to bottom side Southampton as Fulham seek to cap an historic season.

But with a gulf in resources an obstacle to breaking into the top seven, Silva was asked whether he would need to leave the club in order to fulfil his potential, or fight to try and break the league’s glass ceiling.

“Myself as a manager, always if you do something in one season, you should aim to do better the next season, it’s always like that,” said Silva. “I know that sometimes the high expectation plays against you as well, that is clear.

“My way to be in football is always to try to do something different, try to improve in all aspects of the game, to try to perform better. Of course if you perform better you start to achieve different results and try to improve the results as well.

“We have to be realistic, but at the same time we have to be really