Michael Hector set to join Fulham in January after deadline day deal collapses — reports

Michael Hector’s most unlikely four-year tenure on Chelsea’s books was set to end on Transfer Deadline Day, with a move to either Sheffield Wednesday, where he spent last season already, or to Fulham, just down the road from Stamford Bridge.

Alas, it would appear that neither of those options in England’s second division, whose transfer window is now also done, panned out on Thursday.

Sheffield Wednesday had been in pursuit all summer, but could never quiet agree a transfer fee with Chelsea for the 27-year-old midfielder/defender despite having just one year left on his Chelsea contract.

But Hector had also been on the radar of Fulham, and in fact, it sounds like he was much closer to joining the Whites, going even as far as hanging out at their training ground to facilitate a speedy resolution before the deadline at 5pm or the extended deadline before 7pm local time. But that deal collapsed as well in the final hour.

So what happened?

It would appear that Fulham were waiting — had to wait due to the EFL’s FFP considerations — for Ryan Sessegnon’s move to Spurs to clear before being able to turn around those funds for Hector. But because Spurs dragged their feet, Fulham were unable to submit all the paperwork on Hector in time.

Or some such.

And so, the transfer is now expected to go through in January. It’s unclear if Hector will stay and train with Fulham (a la Adrien Silva with Leicester a couple years ago), or if he’ll be sent back to Chelsea or if he’ll go on loan somewhere else for the first half of the season.

Either way, best of luck, Michael Hector, The Fresh Prince of East Ham!