Kieran McKenna Emerges as Fulham's Top Candidate to Replace Marco Silva
Kieran McKenna has emerged as Fulham’s leading candidate to replace Marco Silva, with the newly promoted Ipswich Town manager understood to be keen on the role despite a hefty release clause.
Silva’s departure for Benfica has left a sizeable hole at Craven Cottage. Fulham’s hierarchy have moved quickly and identified McKenna as their number one target, but the cost of prising him away from Portman Road has risen sharply. Promotion to the Premier League triggered an increase in his buyout clause to around £8million, a figure that will test just how determined the Cottagers are to land him.
They are not alone in their admiration. Several Premier League clubs have already sounded out McKenna ahead of next season, attracted by his sharp rise and modern, front-foot style. Celtic have also been linked with the 40-year-old in recent months, adding another layer of competition for his signature.
Fulham do have alternatives. One is Thomas Frank, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager. The Dane is currently out of work after his dismissal by Spurs in February, which makes him a cheaper and more straightforward appointment. His reputation in English football rests on his seven-year spell at Brentford, where he masterminded the Bees’ historic promotion to the Premier League and established them as a serious top-flight outfit.
McKenna’s stock, though, is soaring.
McKenna’s rapid rise
The Northern Irishman is fresh from securing his third promotion as Ipswich manager. The Tractor Boys finished second behind Coventry City in the Championship, clinching an immediate return to the Premier League.
It capped a remarkable run. McKenna delivered back-to-back promotions with Ipswich, hauling them from League One to the Premier League before their relegation in 2025, and then driving them straight back up again. That body of work has turned him into one of the most coveted young coaches in the British game.
He signed his current contract at Portman Road in May 2024, a deal that still has two years to run. Ipswich therefore hold a strong hand. Any club wanting him will have to pay, and then persuade a manager who has built something substantial in Suffolk to walk away just as his team returns to the big stage.
Crystal Palace tested the waters in recent weeks as they searched for a new manager, underlining the level of interest around him. Their focus now appears to be shifting, with the Conference League winners exploring a move for Lens boss Pierre Sage instead. Bournemouth also circled before opting for Marco Rose as Andoni Iraola’s successor.
So the path is not entirely clear for Fulham, but it is less crowded than it might have been.
Fulham at a crossroads
Silva leaves behind a stable, competitive side. Since guiding Fulham back to the Premier League in 2022, he has kept them comfortably clear of relegation danger. They have not finished lower than 13th in that time.
Last season brought a second consecutive 11th-place finish, a platform that guaranteed a fifth straight year of top-flight football. At one stage Fulham were pushing hard for Europe, only to fall agonisingly short. They ended the campaign a single point behind eighth-placed Brighton, missing what would have been the club’s first European adventure in 14 years and just their fourth in history.
That is the context into which the next manager will walk: a club no longer fighting simply to survive, but straining for the next step.
McKenna fits that brief. So does Frank, in a different way. One offers the excitement of a rising tactician fresh from a promotion charge; the other, a proven organiser with deep Premier League experience and a history of building projects on sensible budgets.
Fulham must now decide how bold they want to be – and how much they are willing to pay – to turn sustained stability into something more ambitious.
