Fulham have confirmed that they have completed the signing of Norwegian midfielder Bjørn Helge Riise from Lillestrøm.
Riise has signed a three-year contract and is delighted to have finalised his move to Craven Cottage. He told the offal:
It is a dream come true for me to have signed for Fulham and I am looking forward to joining the team for pre-season training now the agreement is complete. Obviously I know Brede and Erik very well from the National team and they have only good things to say about the Club.
Fulham had a fantastic season last year under Roy Hodgson who is a Manager I admire very much, his record in Scandanavia speaks for itself and I am very excited about working with him over the coming months and to being part of Fulham Football Club at such an exciting time.
The fee, not commented on in Fulham’s statement, is believed to be between £1.5m and £2m. Riise could make his debut in the friendly at Peterborough on Saturday.
Its the best move we’ve made thus far. I must admit, I know little of him as I don’t follow the Norwegian National team very closely. But, if he’s even half as good as his brother, Its all good.
BTW..I’m going to be starting a Private Fantasy League for football bloggers. I figure we can have fun and maybe talk a little trash via our blogs (perhaps even involve the readers with certain selections…who knows). I did this as a rugby blogger for the Lions Tour (and beat out all my European/South African Rugby Blogging brothers…I’m the man!) and found it to be pretty fun.
Anyways, if you’re interested, I’ll shoot you an invite once I get it set up.
From what I’ve seen of him (and I can’t say that I’ve watched every game he’s played), he looks a great signing. Not because he’s brilliant because he’s got a great engine and terrific work ethic – two things that will have really endeared him to Roy. According to people who know him, he’s far less obnoxious than his brother, which is good.
Yeah, mate, get me involved in the fantasy football. Always good fun. Give me a shout if you want me to contribute to your podcast as well. I’d be really up for that.
Yeah I’m still looking for a good way to set up the podcast. I was going to use BlogTalkRadio.com but now I’m not sure. I’ll search around. I would love for you to contribute.