Roy Hodgson says Fulham are still working to bring in reinforcements during the January window, although he appeared to dismiss the rumours linking James Beattie with a loan move to Craven Cottage.
Beattie is just one of those names that you get associated with. I am not really in a position to say anything about our transfer targets, or the players we are being associated with, because there are so many.
Occasionally there may be someone in there with whom there is some interest, amongst all the ones we have not even thought about, but I do not want to get involved in discussing individual cases. Alistair [Mackintosh] is working along certain lines and with certain targets, but I would rather keep those to myself at the moment, rather than having to admit or deny to every name which is thrown at me because there are so many.
We seem to be a popular club for linking names with. We have had injuries in certain areas, so it is no surprise when a front player or full-back is available at any time, we are one of the clubs who are going to be linked.
We are looking to maybe strengthen in those two areas, because we have lost Clint Dempsey and Paul Konchesky for a considerable amount of time. But it will be a question of what players are available and whether or not we think in this transfer market it is a good thing to go for it, or to hope the injuries are not too serious and we will get the players back.
Hodgson again reiterated that he has heard nothing from Arsenal to suggest that the Gunners are interested in signing Chris Smalling.
If Arsenal are interested, then I guess they better get in touch with us. I have not spoken to Arsene at all. It has never been mentioned, and our chief executive has not spoken to their chief executive, so presumably that means they have got no interest, or the interest is being generated by someone else in the club or outside the club.
Arsene made it clear to me with Brede Hangeland, he said to me: ”If I had been interested in signing Brede Hangeland, the first person I would have contacted would have been you’. I believe that, and fully expect when he wants to sign a Fulham player, I will be the first one to hear.
So nice to have a manager who is discreet in his transfer dealings. Unlike a certain manager up in North London….
I had no idea that Konchesky’s injury was as bad as that. Not entirely convinced about Kallio – maybe shift Kelly to left-back and play Stoor? Or get a loan signing in? We do need to strengthen the squad, certainly on a temporary basis until our injuries all clear up. Especially if the speculation in the media regarding Zamora and Smalling are correct – although the media are usually wider off the mark than Bobby was last season (sorry).
On a final note, it’s nice to get some confirmation that the “done deal” that was Hangeland to Arsenal was never even close!
I can’t imagine which manager you could possibly be referring to there, Nick 😉 …
I doubt Roy would want to move Kelly across as he’s settled in as the back-up right back to Pantsil. Imagine Kallio will play there on Saturday and he might be looking for a left back.
We definitely need another decent left back. Think Roy might look for someone who can press Konch for the first team slot though so it might not happen this window.
In need of a strong left back – and have been for ages. Would like to see someone who Hodgson could bring through.