Fulham must regret Celtic transfer after shattering Rodrigo Muniz update
Fulham’s start to the season has gone from bad to worse with the news of star striker Rodrigo Muniz’s fresh injury concerns.
Marco Silva‘s side have begun the 2025-26 campaign very slowly, with just three wins from their first 11 games to currently sit 15th in the Premier League.
Their main issue off the pitch right now centres around the manager’s future, with Football Insider recently revealing that Fulham bosses want Silva to sign a new contract despite rumours of a possible sacking soon.
Rodrigo Muniz has also not been at his best so far this term, with just one goal and one assist in nine appearances, and their hopes of a successful campaign hinge on him finding form once more.
A new reveal during the international break has confirmed that he faces a spell on the sidelines, however, and the Cottagers will surely be rueing a surprising transfer call made during the summer window.
Callum Osmand could have been a back-up option for Fulham before Celtic move
Fulham confirmed on X on Friday (14 November) that Muniz is facing a spell on the sidelines with a statement saying: “Rodrigo Muniz underwent scans and the club sought specialist opinion following our game at Everton last weekend.
“He will have surgery to his hamstring over the coming days, and is expected to return to action early in the new year.”
Fulham are already struggling for goals, with just nine in the league scored by their own players so far this term, and news of the Brazilian’s injury comes as a huge blow to their chances of moving up the table despite his lack of form.
That is mainly down to the real lack of other out-and-out striker options, with 34-year-old Raul Jimenez the only other senior centre-forward at Silva’s disposal.
Fulham had a young striker emerging through their youth ranks prior to this season, Callum Osmand, who joined them at age 13 and signed professional terms at 17 in 2023.
He scored 18 goals across all competitions for their under-21 side last season but was never given a first-team opportunity by Silva given the decent form of both Muniz and Jimenez.
Scottish giants Celtic moved to sign Osmand in June after he had rejected the offer of a new Fulham contract due to the lack of clear pathway to the senior side.
The 20-year-old could certainly not be begrudged at wanting to try to break through elsewhere, and the move north of the border has been a pretty successful one so far after a slow start.
Osmand scored against Rangers in the League Cup semi-final on 2 November after he had failed to make a matchday squad under Brendan Rodgers following his arrival, and he earned rave reviews from Hoops fans after a stellar showing.
Martin O’Neill added Osmand to Celtic’s Europa League squad as a result of that performance, but he suffered a bad injury against Midtjylland and is now out for a while like Muniz.
Fulham, though, must regret letting Osmand go right now, as he could have been a genuine option to Silva and clearly has the talent to compete in senior football right now.
Silva has already helped one of their own in Josh King break through this season to great effect, and Osmand could have done similar, yet he was forced to leave for a lack of previous chances.
Shaun Maloney has praised Osmand’s hunger and quality
Fulham’s mistake has allowed Celtic to capitalise on Osmand’s talent, and he is surely set to grow into a key player for the Parkhead club after he has recovered from his current injury.
O’Neill’s assistant, Shaun Maloney, was full of praise for the youngster after his goal against Rangers in an interview with Celtic TV, saying: “He’s definitely ready for this opportunity. I knew (O’Neill) would love Callum.
“He’s the exact type of striker that the manager would like. And yeah, you can sense that sort of bond between the manager and Callum already, that he feels his trust.
“I think to actually then go and produce a massive moment like that in the semi-final against your biggest rivals, not many people are able to do that.
“That one moment of Callum to do that was one of my favourites from the game on Sunday, to make a mistake and just show aggression to win it back.”
To have such glowing praise after one performance is telling, and an experienced boss like O’Neill certainly knows what he is talking about when it comes to identifying talent, which is where Fulham have clearly failed.