This article is part of Football League World's 'The Verdict' series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
Fulham manager Scott Parker has kept it in the family with the addition of Bournemouth midfielder and Parker's brother-in-law Harry Arter, on a season-long loan from Bournemouth, in a deal that could become permanent next summer, as confirmed on the club website.
But will the arrival of Arter call into question the first-team opportunities for current Cottagers midfielder Kevin McDonald?
Do you expect Arter to replace McDonald in the Fulham starting XI?
We discuss........
Chris Gallagher
"I'm pretty sure that he will start but it doesn't have to be ahead of McDonald.
"The former Wolves man sits in front of the back four and it's his job to build play with clever passing and he needs to position himself well to prevent counter attacks.
"That's not really where Arter excels, with the Ireland international better as a box-to-box midfielder, so I could see him getting the nod ahead of Stefan Johansen.
"The good thing for Scott Parker is that those three midfielders are all versatile in that they can do different roles if needed. But, there's no doubt that Arter has made the move to play regularly and after the midfield struggled at Barnsley on Saturday I think he will be thrown straight into the XI this weekend."
Alfie Burns
“I’m not entirely sure, he will have come to play, but we know how good the balance of McDonald, Stefan Johansen and Tom Cairney can be in the midfield.
“Arter has a lot of traits that will mean he’s a success at Fulham – mainly his experience – but I’m not sure I’d class him as a guaranteed starter.
“McDonald did an excellent job shielding the defence in the Championship before, with Johansen and Cairney given more of a license to support the attack.
“I can see Parker sticking with that as Fulham try to get going this season; the trio know each other’s game, which is always a plus.”
[ad_pod ]
Toby Wilding
"I think he will do.
"Arter was a player who stood out during his time at Bournemouth, and given the lack of expectation there was around the Cherries when they first stepped into the Premier League, that is an indication of the size of the contribution made by the midfielder at the south coast club.
"You therefore imagine that there will be an expectation on Arter to make that same sort of impact during his time at Craven Cottage, and that is something that can only happen if Arter is on the pitch, which obviously means that someone else will have to drop out.
"With the likes of Tom Cairney, Anthony Knockaert and Ivan Cavaleiro all surely set to play big roles in Fulham's push for promotion this season - having previously done so either for the Cottagers or other clubs - it does make McDonald one of the more obvious choices to drop out of the Fulham midfield in order to make way for Arter."