Josh King OH makes Premier League debut

By James Eggleton

Josh King (OH 2023) made his Premier League debut last month in Fulham’s 3-1 victory over Brighton. Fulham finished strong in their midweek fixture against Brighton to add two late goals and propel Fulham to sixth in the Premier League. King came on in the 80th minute for Rodrigo Muniz as a tactical substitution by Fulham boss Marco Silva with the game firmly in the balance at 2-1.  

Having retaken the lead in 79th minute through an own goal, Silva’s double substitution of King and Raul helped seal the game for the Cottagers.

“It was a moment that I decided already to change, to put Raúl and Josh King in to help our first pressure. And from that moment we started to press higher, better, and we didn’t give many chances for them after the 2-1″ – Marco Silva

Josh King’s footballing career has skyrocketed to new highs in the early stages of this season, making his senior debut in Fulham’s 2-0 win versus Birmingham City in the Carabao Cup this August. Since then, he has been a constant feature on the Fulham bench for their Premier League fixtures. In addition, King, 17, was instrumental in November’s international break, commanding England’s U19s’ midfield in their World Cup qualifier wins against Lithuania and Bulgaria and draw against Belgium.

King’s meteoric rise through the Fulham academy, which he has been a part of since the age of 8, did not go unnoticed by Fulham coach Marco Silva, who first included King on the bench in February of this year. Silva noted on King’s ability in his post-match press conference on Thursday.

“I want to say something on Josh King, he is a 17-year-old boy from our academy with a bright future.” – Marco Silva

King’s footballing talent was clear for all to see during his time at Hampton. Most memorably he scored an electric solo goal to etch Hampton into school football history in their 3-1 ESFA final victory against Shrewsbury School at the Bet365 stadium in Stoke. In a post-match interview with HSC reporter Vishal Saha (OH 2023), King expressed his hopes for the future.

“I am playing with Fulham U18s at the moment, next year hopefully I will play higher, and you never know, maybe you will see me on the TV at some point in the future.”

Whilst King’s hopes may have been fulfilled, his footballing hunger cannot be questioned so make sure to keep a keen eye on Fulham’s fixtures this season as there is definitely more to come from the Old Hamptonian.