Welsh international Chris Coleman has become Fulham’s club record signing after dropping down two divisions to move to Craven Cottage from Blackburn Rovers for £2.1m.
The centre-back had been in talks with the Whites over the past fortnight, with reports from Lancashire claiming that a proposed deal had fallen through over his wage demands. Coleman, who has seen his first-team opportunities at Ewood Park limited since Roy Hodgson took over, has returned to London in search of regular first-team football having recovered from an achilles injury.
The ball-playing centre half made 33 appearances in his eighteen months with Rovers having joined the Premier League champions from Crystal Palace in a £2.8m deal in December 1995. Coleman, who moved to Selhurst Park in 1991 after playing 196 first-team games for his hometown club Swansea, made 188 appearances in his four years with the Eagles helping Steve Coppell’s side win promotion back to the Premier League in 1994 as well as reaching the semi-finals of both the League Cup and the FA Cup.
Coleman is the latest big-money signing of the Mohamed Al-Fayed era at Fulham, who previously broke their transfer record when buying Paul Peschisolido from West Bromwich Albion for £1.1m in October. He is expected to go straight into the side for Fulham’s local derby against Brentford, managed by Micky Adams, tomorrow.
