Scott Parker pleased with Josh Maja signing as Fulham miss out on Josh King

Scott Parker was pleased to bring in Josh Maja on transfer deadline day but admitted Fulham lost out to Everton in the race to sign Josh King from Bournemouth.

Striker Maja, who spent time in the Cottagers’ youth set-up before joining Sunderland, has joined Fulham on loan from Bordeaux for the remainder of the season.

The 22-year-old scored 16 times in 41 games for the Black Cats before his move to France in January 2019, and Parker will be hoping he can boost his forward line after seven draws in their last nine league games.

“I think, like all deadline days, they do bring a little bit of drama and I’m certainly very pleased with the signing of Josh. I think he probably falls into the sort of business we’ve done this year in terms of young talent, big potential, someone we can develop.

“He’s a very good finisher and I think it’s clear we need to try and strengthen in that area. We’ve got Aleks (Mitrovic) in our squad but other than that, no real recognised centre-forwards, so I’m very pleased with that.

“Hopefully Josh comes in and we can really push him on. He scored a lot of goals at Sunderland, so that’s the main thing.

“We tried to do some other bits. Josh King was one that was documented and we tried, we pushed and obviously competing with Everton was a challenge and he decided to go there and we understand that.”

Maja is unlikely to make his debut against Leicester on Wednesday having not played since January 9.

King was announced as an Everton player in the early hours of Tuesday morning, but Parker insists he is more than happy with his squad.

“(I’m) not really emotional (about missing out on King) because I think I realised the way that transfers work,” Parker added.

“We were trying for both players and we got one and we’ve got a squad here now which I’m more than happy with.

“That’s my fourth transfer window and I’ve realised that it’s a lot of back and forth and a bit of disappointment until it’s closed.

“There’s an element that I like when it’s closed because for four weeks you have the uncertainty, you have players in the squad – are they going to be there, are they not? But we know where we are now and we’ll push on.”