Last season under Steve Cooper, Jay Fulton started 34 league games for Swansea City, fast forward five months and the Scottish midfielder has only 3 starts to his name in the 14 Championship games played to date.
Admittedly, the combative Scot missed the opening three games of the 2021/22 season due to receiving a straight red card during the Championship Play-Off Final defeat to Brentford back in May, but it is some fall from grace for the 27 year old.
Fulton’s lack of game time
Fulton hasn’t kicked a ball for the Swans since the 2-0 League Cup defeat at Brighton in late September, and you’d have to go back to the 3-1 defeat at Preston at the end of August for his last league start under Russell Martin.
His last appearance for the Swans was against Huddersfield at the Swansea dot come stadium on 25 September, when he replaced Olivier Ntcham with 14 minutes of the game remaining.
The 27 year old has been occupying a place on the substitutes bench for some games, the most recent being the 2-1 defeat at Birmingham on the weekend, but Fulton has clearly fallen down the midfield pecking order since Russel Martin’s arrival.
The form of Flynn Downes will not have helped his plight either, along with the other new midfielders at the club, such as Olivier Ntcham, Liam Walsh and Jamie Paterson.
Add Korey Smith, Matty Grimes and youngster Dan Williams into the mix and that is a lot of players vying for the midfield roles available each game.
Naturally, the lack of game time has prompted some fans and media outlets to speculate that Fulton’s time at the Swans is limited and that a move to Nottingham Forest, now managed by former Swans gaffer Steve Cooper, would be the ideal destination for the midfielder in the January transfer window.
Cooper raves about Fulton
Steve Cooper, who up until the weekend, had made an unbeaten start to his Forest tenure, is no doubt a big fan of Fulton.
He praised the Scot several times last season and admitted back in January, that he was determined to see Fulton extend his contract with Swansea City following his impact with the club during last season.
Cooper said of Fulton after his stunning strike in the 2-0 home win over Stoke in October 2020 – “Jay Fulton was excellent and showed what a quality player he is. He is a brilliant professional and team-mate.”
Given that the midfielder played such a key role under Cooper, maybe a move to Forest would make sense and suit the player as well as both clubs.
Although Forest do have a lot of midfielders in their squad already, Cooper – and his assistant Alan Tate – way well want to have a player whom they know extremely well to boost the midfield options at the east Midlands club.
Would the Swans sell Fulton?
With Fulton having signed a contract with the Swans until 2024, the club may not wish to sell, unless of course there is clearly no future for him at the club or an offer too good to miss comes in for him.
Given the way the Swans have used previous transfer windows to balance the books, it may well be a case of seeing where the Swans are in terms of league position and personnel come January, which will ultimately dictate any decision on Fulton’s, or indeed any other players, future.
Fulton’s Swansea Career
Fulton joined Swansea from Falkirk in January 2014 and had loan spells at Oldham Athletic and Wigan Athletic before becoming an established first team player in south Wales, under first Graham Potter and then Steve Cooper.
The 27-year-old has played 139 times for the Swans, scoring eight goals and providing 6 assists.
Whether or not he will get the opportunity to increase those numbers will no doubt depend on what plans Russell Martin has for the Scot.