Fulham manager Roy Hodgson will be dipping into the transfer market this summer in an attempt to maintain his side’s renaissance.
Hodgson wants to beef up his squad for next season and has already been linked with moves for Tottenham’s Tom Huddlestone and Garth Bale and Aron Gunnarsson of Coventry.
The Cottagers, who narrowly avoided relegation from the Barclays Premier League last term, are now on the brink of the European places with seven games remaining.
Their upturn in fortunes is all the more remarkable as Hodgson has one of the smallest squads in the league.
The 61-year-old brought in the likes of Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora and Mark Schwarzer last summer and insists he needs further reinforcements to keep his side challenging at the right end of the table.
”Your ambitions should always be high,” said Hodgson.
”Let’s say we finish in the top half of the table this year, are we going to again?
”That would be our goal, but I would hope during the summer months we make certain we have the squad of players capable of getting us there.
”With such a small group of players, we’ve been extremely fortunate with injuries and I don’t think you could expect a similar group to go and do the same thing again. We would have to make some adjustments.”
“If you over-achieve, unfortunately people don’t accept what a good job you’ve done and expect that every year,” said Hodgson.
“I got to Europe when I was at Blackburn. And it didn’t do me much good. I took a team that survived in the Premier League by a point and, with exactly the same players, took them to a European spot the following year and it got me the sack!
“Expectations there rose enormously, so they got someone else in and got relegated!
“Unfortunately, when you do over-achieve, people expect you to over over-achieve.
“And, yes, I think we have over-achieved here.
“We can’t expect this same squad to do it all over again next year.
“Some adjustments will have to be made in the summer.”
