Fulham boss Chris Coleman believes he may have got his hands on a January bargain in Vincenzo Montella.
The Italian, 32, scored his first goals since arriving on loan from Roma against Leicester to send Fulham into the FA Cup fourth round on Wednesday.
“We know if we can get quality into the box he’s going to get on the end of it and score a goal,” said Coleman.
“Whether we play him with Heidar Helguson or Brian McBride we know he will compliment them.”
Montella scored twice after coming on at the break to set up a thrilling 4-3 win at home to Leicester.
It was Fulham’s first victory in a month after six successive draws and Coleman feels he will have found a much-needed cutting edge in attack once Montella picks up his fitness.
“Goals, that’s what he does,” Coleman said of a player who has found the back of the net 137 times in 263 Serie A games for Roma and Sampdoria.
“He’s the man in the box, not that we don’t expect anything from him outside the box, of course he’s got a part to play there too, but we know if we can get quality into the box he’s going to get on the end of it and score a goal.
“In terms of goalscoring, he’s born with that talent, we’ve just got to get him playing Premier League games.
“The pace of the FA Cup is quite similar to the Premiership but there’s nothing like the Premier League and we’ve got to get him fitter and he’s got to get used to that tempo.
“He’s only here to the end of the season, we’ve got 15 games and we know if he starts 10 he’ll score five because that’s what his record suggests.”
