For Fulham, the 2019/20 season has a sense of importance about it that is perhaps greater than all other sides in the second-tier.

Having won promotion via the play-offs in 2018, there was a sense that they were heading to the Premier League to stay.

Money was thrown left, right and centre as Slavisa Jokanovic looked to construct a squad of top-flight quality. One that would execute their rise into the upper echelons of the English game.

But, with two months remaining of the season, they were confirmed as a Championship team once again and they will now be desperate to regain that elite status that their fans were teased with for a solitary season.

One player who formed part of that spending spree last summer was Joe Bryan.

The 25-year-old was one of the best left-backs to emerge from the 2017/18 season with Bristol City and was snapped-up by the South West Londoners for a fee of around £6million.

He arrived having just scored five goals and assisted three more for the Robins and was viewed as a very smart signing.

So, judging by his one campaign at the top, can he step-up for Fulham in this important campaign?

With the huge step-up that comes with promotion to the Premier League, it was never fair to expect a similar output from Bryan.

Those five goals and three assists turned into one and none respectively as Fulham, as a whole, failed to show their attacking teeth - succumbing to the pressures of the top-flight.

His dribble success of just over 56% paints a portrait of a frustrated player who struggled to prove his worth in attack and will undoubtedly be determined to do the opposite under Scott Parker over the next year.

A strong pass accuracy of just over 74% at least showed that he had retained a semblance of that attacking ability and is something that should be brought out of him when linking up with, and providing for, an attack consisting of Aleksandr Mitrovic, Ivan Cavaleiro and Anthony Knockaert.

Unlike in the Premier League, they will be one of the strongest units around.

So Bryan will step up. And he will start the 2019/20 campaign as a more rounded player too.

Winning nearly 60% of his Premier League duels and executing 123 interceptions showed a player who had seriously stepped up the defensive aspect of his game.

In what looks like it could be a very exciting Fulham team, Bryan will prove to be an integral part of every aspect that should see them challenging for promotion again.