Martin Jol isn’t panicking over Bryan Ruiz’s introduction to English football and has asked Fulham’s supporters to be patient with their new signing.
Ruiz played 120 minutes of Wednesday’s Carling Cup defeat to Chelsea and showed glimpses of his quality before struggling with a groin problem and fatigue as the match went on. Jol believes the Costa Rican winger’s class will tell eventually.
When he signed I said ‘give him three weeks’ which was of course a joke. I feel 50% of the foreigners will not do well, it is very difficult when you come to this country.
There is a group of players who need a couple of months, or even a year. Bryan Ruiz is a quality player – don’t forget Moussa Dembele needed seven or eight months to be the player he is now.
Of course I have to be patient with him and so do the fans – you have to have the same attitude with all the foreigners. We have got four good offensive players and Bryan can get all the time in the world if everybody is fine.
It is not about Ruiz, it is about the team. If you look at all the good teams, they have six or eight offensive players. In a year’s time, it is important for me that you can look at his statistics, his productivity and then you will see Bryan Ruiz will be up there with our best players.
