Martin Jol is banking on the lure of a regular starting place next season being enough to convince Pavel Pogrebnyak that he should stay at Craven Cottage.
The Fulham striker joined on a short-term deal and having put himself firmly in the shop window with his six goals so far – he scored in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Wigan – he is open to offers in the summer.
But the Whites boss does not believe a move to a top five team would hold as much appeal as prolonging his stay by the Thames.
“We are talking to him,” Jol said. “We have made him a very good offer and he likes it over here and hopefully my people can agree on a good contract with him.
“I’m confident, because if you look at the top five, he will have the same situation as he had before [in Germany] – like Jermain Defoe at Spurs or other players at other big clubs like Fernando Torres at Chelsea, who’s not always playing. That is what you get when you are playing for a team in the top five.
“With me, he knows that he starts if he does 100 per cent. He knows that. I told him. There is not a lot of rivalry up front and that is a good feeling for him.”
Jol also believes Fulham have given the striker a chance to stake his claim for this summer’s Euros, which could count in his favour.
“That was important for him as well,” said the Dutchman. “Of course he’s fighting for a place [in the Russian squad] with his friend from Spurs [Roman Pavlyuchenko] who’s not playing a lot of games.”