Fulham manager Kit Symons has defended the club’s decision to tie down wantaway midfielder Bryan Ruiz to a new deal and expects the player to act professionally.
The Costa Rican featured 32 times for the Cottagers last season and was expected to be released when his contract expires in the summer.
However, the Whites took up the option of extending his deal for another year meaning that clubs would need to buy the player rather than allowing him to walk away for free.
A loan move to La Liga outfit Levante was scuppered by red tape in February, and Ruiz has been monitored by a number of Dutch outfit such as PSV Eindhoven.
Palermo and Valencia also looked the possibility of taking the World Cup star last season.
Symons is playing hardball though and is not prepared to take a £10.6million hit on the man who arrived in west London in August 2011 and expects Ruiz to honour his contract.
“The business and the football side need to come together,” he told the club’s website. “Bryan was an expensive acquisition for us and on a business model we didn’t just want him to walk away for nothing. Bryan didn’t want to be here last season and he doesn’t want to be here now, he’s made that clear, but he’s a very good player for this football club and we can’t afford to let people just walk away. He’s a professional, he’ll come back here and acquit himself well and be another good player for my squad.”
