Fulham was preferred by the bookies to engage Chelsea midfielder, but the deal is unlikely

Bookmakers have made Fulham the favorite to engage Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater in the January transfer window, although an agreement is unlikely.

Claudio Ranieri found his former player, who played a pivotal role in the Italian Leicester City team, who improbably won the Premier League in 2016.

The 28-year-old made just one appearance with the Blues this season and appeared in the Community Shield early in the season. It seems likely that the midfielder could soon leave Stamford Bridge.

According to Oddschecker, it is now 4/7 to move to Craven Cottage with 95% of the bets placed on this market going on Fulham being his next club.

However, cottage owners can not lend it because the club can only borrow two loans from other Premier League clubs. Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Manchester United) and Calum Chabers (Arsenal) have already taken their places.

It is also unlikely that they will sign a permanent contract with Jean-Michael Seri and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa this summer, and Drinkwater will likely cost a lot of money to protect it from Chelsea.

According to reports, Ranieri also wants to sign Danny Simpson, Christian Fuchs, Shinji Okazaki and Robert Huth in January.

Huth is without a club while the other three are fighting for playing time, but again, a change for any of them is highly unlikely due to the club's under-transfer policy. 28 years, which will probably be applied more severely after the two previous ones. Signatures over this age (Ragnar Sigurdsson and Fabri) have failed to impress at Craven Cottage.

As with former boss Slavisa Jokanovic, Ranieri will not be responsible for the signing of the players, but will work within the club's recruiting department, which is headed by the director of football operations, Tony Khan.

Khan, along with James Lovell and Brian Talbot, will give Ranieri a list of players spotted by both data models and scouts from which he can choose.

Speaking at its unveiling, Ranieri said: "I spoke to the president about this.

"There are people working (on recruitment) and then they offer me players.

"They show me the name and then I have to choose who is the right player for us. I'm happy with that.

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