Monday Fulham Stuff (30/07/12)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham star 'wanted by Spurs for £10m'

Moussa Dembele is Tottenham's top target to replace Luka Modric, the Sunday Mirror say.

With Modric looking set to leave White Hart Lane, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is said to be aiming to sign Dembele for around £10m.

It is suggested that Fulham would ask for £15m but Spurs are banking on the 25-year-old pushing for a switch across London.

The Sunday Express report Fulham's apparent interest in Chelsea's Yossi Benayoun and Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin.

Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson is seriously considering making a shock bid to take Ashley Cole to Manchester United, according to The People.

It is claimed the Old Trafford boss is desperate to sign a left-back and has made enquires about the 31-year-old England star.

There has been speculation about Cole's future given that he is now in the final year of his Chelsea contract.



http://www.westlondonsport.com/paper-talk/fulham-star-wanted-by-spurs-for-10m

[WhiteJC]

 
Creating Chances

Alex Kacaniklic declared himself pleased with Fulham's 3-0 pre-season win over Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

The young Swede played for 60 minutes as goals from Mladen Petric, Bryan Ruiz and Steve Sidwell sealed victory for the Whites against League Two Wycombe.

"It was a 3-0 win and I think we played pretty well," said Kacaniklic afterwards. "Our fitness is getting better and better. It was a good game."

Fulham dominated proceedings from the outset, spreading the ball superbly as well as playing some neat one-touch football.

"We kept the ball well, we had some good combinations and created lots of chances as well," stated Kacaniklic.

While Petric's strike was excellent, Ruiz grabbed the goal of the game with a stunning free-kick, before substitute Sidwell tapped in the third at the back post.

"There were three good goals, particularly the second one," said Kacaniklic. "It was a great free-kick. Bryan had a really good game and he looked like he enjoyed himself. I thought the whole team played well."

After a loan spell at Watford last term, Kacaniklic returned to Craven Cottage to feature in four First Team games.

And the starlet believes his continued exposure to First Team football with the Whites bodes well for the future.

"I'm learning a lot from my team mates," he added. "I enjoy it. This is where I want to be."



http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/July/CreatingChances.aspx?

[WhiteJC]

 
Spurs After Dembele!
   
The furore over Clint Dempsey going to Liverpool appears to have died down.

Unfortunately, transfer speculation about the possible loss of another of our big-name players has reared its ugly head again.

The inference this time being that Moussa Dembele is wanted by Spurs.

The North London club are on the verge of saying cheerio to Luka Modric and Andre Villas-Boas views Dembele as the ideal replacement for the Croatian.

Let`s hope it doesn`t happen as Dembele would be a difficult player to replace.


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=288422#ixzz224h4UwRX

[WhiteJC]

 
Jol hoping for Dempsey stay

Fulham manager Martin Jol insists he wants to keep hold of star forward Clint Dempsey amid interest from Premier League rivals Liverpool.

The USA international has expressed to desire to leave Craven Cottage during the current transfer window as he wants a decent crack at UEFA Champions League football before calling time on his career.

The Reds have made their interest in Dempsey known, but have yet to approach the Cottagers with an offer for the versatile 29-year-old, who has entered the final year of his contract at the west London outfit.

However, Jol is a big admirer of the American and is hoping he will stick around for a while longer following an impressive 2011/12 season in which he scored 23 goals in 46 appearances for the club.

When quizzed on the subject, he told the Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle: "I don't want to talk about that. I love Clint, he scored a lot of goals and I want to keep him."

The Dutch tactician did admit he is in the market for another striker, despite the recent arrivals of Hugo Rodallega and Mladen Petric.

Jol lost three members of the strike-force last term, having allowed Bobby Zamora to leave for QPR in January, while Andy Johnson and Pavel Pogrebnyak both moved on during the off-season.

"We're still looking to strengthen because we lost three strikers," he said. "Bobby in January and Andy and Pogrebnyak.

"We've got Rodallega and Petric and maybe we're still on the lookout for another one."



http://www.football411.com/story/0,22162,14287_7947700,00.html?

[WhiteJC]

 
FULHAM EYE UP ARSENAL OUTCAST

Reports suggest Fulham are weighing up a surprise move for Andrey Arshavin.

The 31-year-old forward hasn't had the best of times at Arsenal since joining from Zenit St Petersburg back in 2009, and has fallen out-of-favour at The Emirates in the past year or so.

The Russian international was loaned back to Zenit during the second half of last season, where he scored one goal in five appearances.

Zenit appear keen to sign their former playmaker, but the Daily Mail claim that Arshavin would like to stay in London.

Arshavin, who just has one year left on his contract, has not travelled with the squad to Asia for their pre-season games, which suggests that he has become surplus to requirements at the club, and could be sold for as little as £1 million.

Fulham have now entered the race for his signature, but haven't approached Arsenal about the player yet.

The only stumbling block Fulham could face is Arshavin's wages (reportedly £80k-a-week).

However, if the club manage to offload some deadwood and loosen the wage bill in the upcoming weeks then a move for the Russian could ensue.


http://gunnersphere.com/2012/07/tabloid-talk/fulham-eye-up-arsenal-outcast?

[WhiteJC]

 
Clint Dempsey | Statistically Compared to Top Strikers / Wide Forwards

The story of Liverpool and Clint Dempsey has already become a bit of a saga and to be honest it's not even really been that long since they were linked with him. With NESN (a channel/site that is also owned by those that are in charge at Liverpool) last week stating that Liverpool had signed Clint Dempsey and a rebuttal from Fulham stating no deal had been done the transfer has already been propelled to the back pages before there was anything really to report! That same day Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers then released the following statement confirming interest in Fulham's Clint Dempsey:

"Clint is a player we've enquired about, it is as simple as that, Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with the club to see what the position is. That is where we're at. He's a very talented player but we don't like to talk about other clubs' players."

Never before have Liverpool commented like this on a player – more over this was to paper over NESN's errors earlier in the day. So that's where we are at the moment – it looks as though this deal is dependant on player swaps (or even sales) with Charlie Adam mooted to be going over to Fulham in a cash plus player deal for Dempsey. The fact that there is proven interest in Clint Dempsey justifies a bit of analysis on the most high-profile American International in the Premier League (all the Premier League stats are from this website which you can subscribe to here!)

We've asked our Twitter followers on the @AnfieldIndex twitter account once again and they've asked to compare Dempsey to the top strikers in the league (Dempsey came fourth in the top scoring ranks) plus Liverpool's own Luis Suarez. They've also asked, especially @mihail_v, that we compare to the wide forwards Gervinho, Sturridge, Sinclair and we've added Dirk Kuyt for the Liverpool comparison side. A lot of people will ask why players like Walcott or Nasri etc are not compared also but @mihail_v (a member of this website and tactical expert at the brilliant Tomkins Times website) explains it best on Twitter when discussing the value of adding Gervinho over Walcott:

Walcott is mainly heading down the line, providing width and running on the balls. Gervinho (playing on the left) is aiming to roam infield and act as additional attacking player between the lines/in the last third. (Same as Dempsey)

On Nasri, Silva, Mata & co:

...from a pure tactical point of view they are wide ball-players/playmakers/creators, not pure wide forwards.

Clint Dempsey compared to Top Premier League Strikers
The first table below compares Clint Dempsey to strikers:



As you can see in terms of comparing the shooting and chance conversion statistics there was really no way that Clint would be better than van Persie, Aguero or Rooney last season. However even though he comes off worst in three metrics overall – he betters Luis Suarez in four of them. His shooting accuracy, conversion rate and clear-cut conversion rate was far better than Luis's.

We cannot ignore the fact that Clint played the majority of the season on the left side of midfield and taking that into consideration Clint Dempsey's stats here are very, very impressive as he's got very close to matching most of the strikers whilst playing in this position. Our positional chart later will show how impressive Clint is when he starts as a striker. If you don't like viewing stats in tables here are the stats in line charts:



The line chart above shows how impressive the top three strikers were last season (the lower value is better here) but it was only the mins per goal metric that caused Clint Dempsey and Luis Suarez to lag behind these three players. Luis started all of his games as a striker but had issues converting his chances. Clint Dempsey's 195 mins per goal is better than ANY Liverpool player last season. He also did this playing the majority as left-sided midfielder/forward. From a mins per shot and shot on target perspective there is not too much between all five players.



Chart 2 is the opposite – the higher value is better and Dempsey's accuracy is better here and Suarez's stats fall sharply in contrast to all others. Rooney out-performs all of his rivals in this whilst Suarez has the worst stats out of those compared. Clint Dempsey is very close to van Persie and Aguero in these metrics in apart from chance conversion.

Clint Dempsey compared to Premier League Wide Forwards

The following table displays the stats for Clint Dempsey in comparison to Sturridge, Sinclair, Gervinho and Dirk Kuyt:



Clint Dempsey pretty much clears up here and tops five out of the seven statistics on display whilst Gervinho tops the other two. Whilst not being top in creativity he scored most often, shot most often, hit the target most often and his conversion of both regular and clear-cut chances was also the best. Dirk Kuyt didn't do very well in comparison and if Dempsey does join he'd be taking up the slot that Dirk has vacated and looking at these stats he'd definitely be an upgrade for Liverpool.

Dirk's chance conversion and clear-cut chance conversion stats were very poor last season. Gervinho was most creative and most accurate at shooting whereas Sturridge was neither the best or worst in any of the statistics. Scott Sinclair didn't look too good in these statistics as a wide forward either – and with age on his side he can only get better but Clint Dempsey would be the right option for Liverpool at the moment.

These stats are also reflected in the following line charts:


Dempsey compared wide forwards mins per shot goal

Dirk Kuyt's stats are so poor that his mins per goal doesn't even appear on the chart – it's off the charts so to speak – in a bad way!



Clint Dempsey out-shines the other wide forwards in both line charts above whilst in comparison Dirk Kuyt did well – erm – a word that would probably be edited out on this site when this article gets reviewed!

Clint Dempsey's Positional Flexibility

One of Clint Dempsey's qualities is his ability to play anywhere in the forward positions and be able to deliver results. He's scored in five of the six positions he started for Fulham last season (all five displayed below). The illustration I've put together shows this below (stats via WhoScored.com):



Impressively, in five starts as a centre forward Clint Dempsey scored five and combined with the attacking mid role he achieved eight goals in ten starts (certainly very impressive when broken down like this). Starting in the left midfield position Dempsey achieved seven goals and five assists in 23 starts which translates to him contributing towards a goal for Fulham just over a goal every two games whilst he only played two games at centre-midfield (one goal) and the solitary game at right-midfield (a goal and an assist). The stats are impressive – Liverpool would take the 7 goals and five assists at left midfield as it's – err - seven goals and five assists more than a certain Stewart Downing!

If Clint Dempsey was to sign you'd be able to inter-change Borini, Suarez and Dempsey in any of the front three positions with ease creating a fluent strike force. We think it would be a very interesting addition to the side as he's able to play in so many positions and last season he was very, very impressive for Fulham. It's definitely a signing we'd like to see at Anfield.

Clint Dempsey's Off-Pitch Attraction

Clint Dempsey is impressive statistically as an attacking force but that is not the only place where he would help Liverpool Football Club. Off the field he would raise the awareness of the club in the United States which is a market that Liverpool FC would want to really take advantage of.

Shirt sales and advertising revenue options would open up across the pond for Liverpool if they signed Clint Dempsey as he's the most recognisable/impressive player in the national team right now – especially after his performances for Fulham last season.

Should Liverpool acquire Clint Dempsey?

AnfieldIndex would say "Yes". Clint Dempsey, even at 29 years of age, would be an exciting addition to Liverpool FC and as we've stated he'd add a lot to the club on and off the pitch. He was also name dropped by the owners at the end of the season so maybe he's been sounded out? Rumours of Arsenal also being in for him have also dried up putting Liverpool in the driving seat however with one year left on his contract it seems as though the £10m fee Fulham are asking for is a problem. Once Liverpool conclude some sales, rumours of Aquilani being sold and with Carroll looking likely to leave, this transfer may be one of those to go through and we'd welcome it.



http://www.eplindex.com/16925/clint-dempsey-statistically-compared-top-strikers-wide-forwards.html?

[WhiteJC]

 
TOTTENHAM SET SIGHTS ON FULHAM STAR DEMBELE AS MODRIC REPLACEMENT


Top target: Dembele is wanted by Spurs but Fulham will be reluctant to sell.

Tottenham have reportedly made Fulham forward Moussa Dembele their top target as the replacement for Croatian playmaker Luka Modric.

Despite the drawn-out saga regarding Modric's Spurs future, the 26-year-old is expected to leave White Hart Lane this summer for Real Madrid.

And Tottenham are wasting little time in sounding out potential replacements for Modric.

Porto star Joao Moutinho was thought to be Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas' preferred option, but the Portuguese champions are refusing to budge on their £24million asking price.

Therefore, Villas-Boas has reportedly switched his attention to more realistic targets and according to the Sunday Mirror, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has made enquiries into the availability of Dembele.

The 25-year-old Belgium international has been a revelation since arriving in the Premier League in 2010, and his high level of consistency last season has resulted in the inevitable media reports linking him with a move to a bigger club.

However, Tottenham will have a fight on their hands if they want to sign Dembele after Fulham boss Martin Jol, who was in charge of Spurs between 2004 and 2007, insisted he is not for sale.

"We have had no bids and they are not for sale," said the Dutchman in reference to Dembele and teammate Clint Dempsey, who is attracting interest from Liverpool.

"They are some of our best players and we want them here."

Likewise, Dembele appears in no rush to leave Craven Cottage after he maintained he was happy at Fulham and delighted to be working with Jol.

"I'm very happy to stay at Fulham, especially because of the boss. I think it's very important to have the backing of the manager and he's a coach who gives me a lot of confidence – that's why I feel I owe it to the gaffer as well," he said in June.

"I think every player needs that and I'm no different. I go to training every day and work with joy. It's a fantastic club and I'm not in a hurry to move anywhere."


http://www.sport360.com/article/tottenham-set-sights-fulham-star-dembele-modric-replacement?

[WhiteJC]

 
Analysis: Clinical finishing and defensive tenacity have been the secrets of Fulham's success

At the start of their season, way back in July, few would have expected that Fulham would be England's most successful team in Europe in 2009/10. However, under the auspices of Roy Hodgson the Cottagers have completed a gruelling 18-match marathon to reach Wednesday's Europa League final.

Though some of their matches have been the most exciting in England this season, coming from behind to beat both Juventus and Hamburg in the last two rounds, Fulham have actually been one of the least attacking sides in the Europa League this season:

Europa League 2009/10: Fewest Shots Per Game

Rank   Team   Games Played   Total Shots   Shots Per Game
1   Unirea Urziceni   2   12   6.00
2   Levski Sofia   6   42   7.00
3   Fulham   14   108   7.71
4   Everton   8   62   7.75
5   FC Twente   8   62   7.75
6   Toulouse   6   47   7.83

Only two sides, Unirea and Levski Sofia, have averaged fewer shots per game in the Europa League this season. However, what the Cottagers have lacked in quantity, they have more than made up for in quality of efforts, managing the third-highest shot conversion rate in 2009/10:

Europa League 2009/10: Highest Goals To Shots Ratio

Rank   Team   Games Played   Goals To Shots Ratio
1   Marseille   4   24.24%
2   RSC Anderlecht   10   21.35%
3   Galatasaray   8   20.59%
4   Liverpool   8   19.44%
5   Fulham   14   19.44%
6   Hapoel Tel Aviv   8   19.40%

Fulham have had the fifth-highest goals-to-shots ratio in the Europa League this season, 19.44%, well above the competition average of 12.98%, and are almost twice as effective in front of goal as Wednesday's opponents Atletico, who have a ratio of 10.23%.

If Roy Hodgson's men have not been the most attacking team in Europe this season, they have more than made it up with their defensive displays. The Cottagers have made over 100 more clearances (442) than any other Europa League side this season, have blocked the most shots (53), have made the most interceptions (285) and have made the second-most tackles (295).

Though they have admittedly played more games than most teams in the competition, this does perhaps show that Roy Hodgson has taught his players how to break up opposition attacks effectively, especially given that they have found themselves on occasions under more pressure than some other sides.



http://www.itv.com/sport/football/news/uefacup/manualstories/clinicalfinishinganddefensivetenacityhavebeenfulhamsroutetothefinal2745/default.html?

[WhiteJC]

 
Neither Joe Allen nor Moussa Dembele are likely of interest to Tottenham

The Mirror went all hot and heavy this morning on their story about Andre Villas-Boas being interested in Swansea's Joe Allen and Fulham's Moussa Dembele.

And our survey says?

Bollocks.

The article is the usual suggestive rhetoric that dominates the transfer window; no facts, no quotes, no sources. Nothing unusual there, obviously, but there's not even a decent logic to be had here.

The crux is that with Luka Modric's transfer to Real Madrid all but complete, Villas-Boas and Tottenham will need to replace the Croatian – and The Mirror believe they'll do that with one player who is vastly inferior, and another who performs a completely different midfield function.

Regarding Joe Allen, yes, there are similarities to be drawn between his and Modric's style of play, but there's no comparison to be made in terms of actual ability – the thought of the Welshman trying to fill the gap left by Modric is flatly horrifying. Allen's a good player, but that's all he is – a technically-proficient ball-player who has had his reputation inflated by being British. Liverpool fans, just as they did with Jordan Henderson, have convinced themselves that he's a world-beater, whereas in reality he's had one reasonable year in the Premier League and has very little else on his CV – he's decent, but limited.

With Moussa Dembele, again, we're discussing a very good player, but not one who can occupy the part of the pitch in which Modric thrived – and if Villas-Boas really intended to play him in a more advanced role, then that would clearly clash with what Rafael Van der Vaart already brings to the side. Mix that in with Fulham's determination to resist offers for the Belgian, and it's a non-starter.

No chance of either of these happening, and The Mirror know that – it's just speculation for the sake of content.

As and when Daniel Levy receives the large BACS payment from Real Madrid, the only realistic target he and Villas-Boas should be pursuing is Joao Moutinho. Calibre, suitability, technique, and the ability to read a game and dictate its temperament; the Portuguese has all the qualities that will soon need to be replaced in Tottenham's midfield.

Liverpool have the market covered in over-priced home-grown players, and don't expect Spurs to challenge that monopoly over Allen – or to make any approach for a player who they really don't need like Dembele.



http://thepremierleagueowl.com/neither-joe-allen-or-moussa-dembele-are-likely-of-interest-to-tottenham/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=neither-joe-allen-or-moussa-dembele-are-likely-of-interest-to-tottenham

[WhiteJC]

 
Kasami hoping to win Fulham place with Olympic form
The Switzerland midfielder was left disappointed with his country's 2-1 loss to South Korea and slammed the performance of the referee after being booked in the first minute


Getty Images

Fulham midfielder Pajtim Kasami has admitted to enduring a difficult first season in England but hopes to win the confidence of manager Martin Jol by impressing at the Olympic Games.

The 20-year-old played all 90 minutes as Switzerland fell to a 2-1 defeat to South Korea at the City of Coventry Stadium on Sunday, leaving their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-final of the tournament in tatters.

Kasami was pleased with his own performance and revealed that he was aiming to win a first-team place with the Cottagers during the coming campaign.

"Hopefully yes [I can play in Fulham's first team]," he told reporters. "I am pleased with my performance today. Now we have the Olympics and after the Olympics I'm going to see what the situation will be.

"It was quite difficult for me, the first season is always difficult. When you're young you need to get the confidence of the coach and if you don't catch the confidence of the coach it can be difficult in your first season in England.

"I think the coach has given a few players chances and hopefully this season I can break through and be a regular and hopefully play every game. But now I have to concentrate on the Olympics."

Kasami was booked in the first minute of the match against the Taegeuk Warriors after jumping for a header with South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng.

The Celtic star left the pitch on a stretcher but soon returned to the fray and Kasami was angered by what he felt were unbalanced decisions throughout the match.

"I'm not happy with the referee," he said. "I've never seen that in football, a yellow card in the first minute.

"I had about 10 fouls against me and he didn't give them one yellow card [for those fouls]. In the first half, all the time I was on the floor.

"I was very careful [after being booked] because as I said before, the referee was very hard. The first half he gave more fouls to them than to us. It was very difficult.

"I am professional, so I was quite disciplined and I just played my game."

The former Palermo player felt Switzerland were unfortunate to lose the game, and punished by bad luck and excellent finishing.

"I'm not happy with the result," he added. "I thought we played well and had quite good chances.

"We stayed very compact, we were very hard [to break down]. I think the second goal was just stupid, a little bit of luck and it went in."



http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2012/07/29/3274334/kasami-hoping-to-win-fulham-place-with-olympic-form?

[WhiteJC]

 
Kasami Watch

Fulham's Pajtim Kasami was handed a starting role but Switzerland went down to a 2-1 defeat to South Korea in their second Group B fixture of the 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday.

A second-half substitute in Switzerland's 1-1 draw with Gabon in their opening game, Kasami was in from the start against South Korea at the City of Coventry Stadium.

The midfielder was booked inside the first 30 seconds after an aerial clash with Ki Sung-yueng, with South Korea going in front early in the second half.

Innocent Emeghara levelled minutes later for the Swiss but the game was eventually settled by a magnificent volley from Bo-Kyung Kim.

Arguably Switzerland's best player of the afternoon, Pajtim came close to scoring on two occasions.

Firstly, his powerful strike from a tight angle was beaten away by the South Korean goalkeeper, before his decent effort from range went narrowly wide.

The Swiss now need to convincingly beat Mexico at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday (5pm) in order to stand any chance of qualification.

Mexico defeated Gabon 2-0 in the group's other match.


http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2012/July/KasamiWatch.aspx?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham Get Green Light For Stadium Redevelopment Plans



Fulham Football Club have been granted planning permission to redevelop the Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage Stadium following a planning hearing at London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

The plans will include extensive refurbishment to the Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage with the addition of 4300 seats to increase the ground's capacity to 30,000, and enhance the matchday facilities for fans. A major benefit to the community will be the opening of the riverside walk from Putney to Hammersmith for the first time in recent history.

Alistair Mackintosh, CEO of Fulham Football Club said: "This is extremely exciting news and we are all delighted with this outcome.

"Craven Cottage is synonymous with Fulham FC and it is vital that the club is given every opportunity to develop the facilities available to ensure that it can continue to prosper and compete, and remain at its home for the long term.

"I am confident that an increased capacity and major improvements to the facilities can help us deliver the Chairman's vision of long term growth and self sustainability for this football club."

As well as increasing the stadium's capacity, the planning consent will allow for the partial demolition and rebuild of the western ends of the Putney and Hammersmith stands, including installation of new seats and the removal of two floodlight masts.

Cllr Nicholas Botterill, Hammersmith & Fulham Council Leader, said: "Craven Cottage is the historic home of Fulham Football Club and this modest expansion, which will be carried out in a sensitive and sensible way, will allow the club to remain competitive in the top tier of English football while removing the existing, rather ugly, Riverside Stand. Our residents will also enjoy a series of community benefits such as an opened up river walk and improvements at Bishops Park.

"We are the only borough in Britain to be the home to three top-flight football clubs and we are keen to work with all of them to get the best deal for our residents."

The council said it received 600 representations to its consultation on the proposals with 453 in support of the development, 145 against and 2 with no comments.



http://www.fcbusiness.co.uk/news/article/newsitem=1937/title=fulham+get+green+light+for+stadium+redevelopment+plans?

[WhiteJC]

 
Jol makes signings admission

Martin Jol has confirmed that he is looking to bring at least two more new faces into Fulham before the transfer deadline in a month.


The Cottagers' chief has bolstered his depleted forward line with the free transfer signings of Mladen Petric and Hugo Rodallega, while right-back Sascha Riether has been drafted in on loan from Cologne.

However, Jol is looking to replace outgoing skipper and midfielder Danny Murphy following his departure to Championship side Blackburn, while another forward could be targeted after he lost out to Reading for last season's loan striker Pavel Pogrebnyak.

"I'm very happy with the players we've brought in," he told the Fulham Chronicle.

"Rodallega is fit now. He had an ankle injury but trained for the first time on Friday. Petric is looking pretty good as well. Rodallega is similar to Andy Johnson.

"He's got a lot of pace to stretch defences and can also play on the left.

"Petric is a number nine but can play off a big man as well. He's really versatile. I know him from Hamburg and he was a very talented boy.

"We're still looking to strengthen because we lost three strikers; Bobby [Zamora] in January and Andy and Pogrebnyak.

"We've got Rodallega and Petric and maybe we're still on the lookout for another one.

"I was sad that Danny went," added Jol. "We agreed terms then Blackburn offered him two years. That happened within one or two hours so I was not happy with that.

"I wish him all the best because he was a great servant for this club and I wanted to keep him.

"(Mahamadou) Diarra can play that role and Dickson (Etuhu) is still here, but we're certainly looking for one midfield player."



http://www.setanta.com/ie/Articles/2012/07/30/Jol-makes-signings-admission/gnid-149208/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Will Mladen Petric be this year's Demba Ba?

Can the Fulham ace emulate the Newcastle United striker by being next season's best freebie signing?

In the first half of last season at least, Demba Ba was nigh on unstoppable.

His pace, power, and unpredictability made him a nightmare for defences, and he scored 15 of his 16 goals prior to departing for the African Nations Cup.


Had he continued his form he would have pushed Robin van Persie all the way for the Golden Boot, but his departure, combined with transfer speculation and the arrival of Papiss Cisse saw him fail to recapture it.

Even so, for a player acquired on a free transfer, he was one of the signings of the season, in fact it is difficult to come up with a better free acquisition from last summer.

Who will emulate him this season? Let us nominate Mladen Petric, signed by Martin Jol's Fulham, who appears as though he has the potential to take the Premier League by storm.

After his pre-season performances so far, Fulham fans will have high hopes for him. It is not our intention to falsely raise them even higher, more an indication of just how excellent we believe Petric can be.

He has bagged four goals to far in four pre-season games, and looks at home already leading the Fulham attack.

Even last season's expensive signing Bryan Ruiz, who failed to glisten as frequently as he would have hoped, is sparkling so far, and the pair could strike up a dangerous partnership going into 2012-13.

Another free signing Fulham have bagged in attack is Hugo Rodallega, who may defy relatively low expectations after a poor last season at Wigan, but right now Petric is showing himself as the one to watch.

The Croatian is to play for the second time under new boss Martin Jol, who managed him at Hamburg - getting 17 goals out of him in 2008/09.

He scored just the seven times last year, but Hamburg were a struggling team, finishing just 15th in the Bundesliga, and he will fancy his chances of notching up double figures in the Premier League next season.

He is a striker who has the ability to drop deep, and likes to shoot from distance. He is also a free-kick specialist, as Fulham found out for themselves when they met Hamburg in the Europa League in 2010. Petric curled in a stunning free-kick at Craven Cottage which lives on in the memory for Fulham fans, even though they were able to overcome the Germans and reach the final.

Other notable highlights on Petric's CV are winning the Golden Boot in Switzerland with Basel, and scoring the goal which proved to be the winner for Croatia against England at Wembley in the 3-2 win which meant Steve McClaren's side did not qualify for Euro 2008.

He may be 31, but he appears to be in tip-top condition and raring to go. Of course pre-season counts for little when the real season kicks off, but Fulham should be confident they have signed a gem.

Whether they lose Clint Dempsey or not, fans should be confident that Martin Jol has pulled off a coup in the transfer market already, and be confident there are plenty of goals in their side ahead of next season.



http://hereisthecity.com/2012/07/29/will-mladen-petric-be-this-years-demba-ba/?

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Fiorentina rival Fulham for ex-Bolton Wanderers midfielder Reo-Coker

According to reports Fiorentina have joined the battle for former Bolton Wanderers midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker.

The free agent, released from Wanderers after the club's relegation at the end of last season, is also interesting Fulham.

However, the Cottagers are believed to face stiff competition from Fiorentina and Wolfsburg.



Read more at http://www.clicklancashire.com/sport/bolton-wanderers-fc/1213064-fiorentina-rival-fulham-for-ex-bolton-wanderers-midfielder-reo-coker.html?#9DKXzH8qxvRqPYDy.99