Fulham turned heads with the loan-acquisition of Ivan Cavaleiro in the summer, but has he lived up to the hype?

Signging from Wolves for on a season-long loan deal, Fulham fans couldn’t wait to see Portuguese winger Ivan Cavaleiro in action.

The 26-year-old is as decorated as they come in the Championship - a domestic treble winner with Benfica in the 2013/14 season, a Europa League runner-up the same year and capped by his national side having played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

It’s fair to say that Cavaleiro brought with him a lot of hype in the summer and with three goals in his first four appearances in the Championship, the hype looked to be real.

It was a run where Scott Parker’s side won three of their opening four league games, and the Cottagers looked likely for Championship promotion once again.

But results have since slowed down and Fulham have only won three games since that three-long winning streak in August, and dropping down with results has been Cavaleiro’s proficiency in-front of goal.

He’s an ever-present in Parker’s side, featuring in all but one of Fulham’s Championship games this season on the left of a front-three with Aleksandar Mitrovic in the middle, and usually Anthony Knockaert on the right.

With one goal in his last ten appearances though, Cavaleiro’s confidence will a bit shot heading into the run-up to New Year - capable of the spectacular, Cavaleiro needs to solidify the goal-scoring form that he and everyone knows he’s capable of.

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He scored nine Championship goals in Wolves’ promotion-winning campaign the season before last and given his Premier League experience with them, he could easily better that return this time round and then some.

With four assists to add to his four goals, the numbers reflect fairly well on Cavaleiro. But he set the bar so high for himself with his early form that fans are expecting more.

Cavaleiro is a genuinely world-class footballer but like so many before him, inconsistency proves to the pitfall. There's been many a talent before him who could've gone on to achieve so much more but failed to do so, because they couldn't maintain a level.

Parker will be desperate to get the best out of him this year, and he can be the one who makes the difference for Fulham. On his day a world beater, but too often it’s not Cavaleiro’s day.