Fulham's Finest

Zoltan Gera could in fact be running his way back into Craven Cottage with the help of Martin Jol

Get used to that pun. Quick. Because I’m going to use it over and over again. Because I’m a cheesy bastard. Get over it.

Now that the manager situation is solved, we can now look back to the transfer rumors, which look to be flurrying way more now under new management than the old Hughes regime, which was clearly more concerned with his next job than keeping Fulham afloat.

-The appointment of Martin Jol could be exactly what Zoltan Gera needed to stay at Craven Cottage. After reports of Gera headed out for almost 6 months now, the Mark Hughes quitting and replacement with Jol could cause a change in philosophy that would keep Gera around, although his fan favorite buddy Jon Pantsil might not be so lucky.

Now multiple reports are suggesting Jol has shoo’ed away Roy Hodgeson at West Brom in an effort to get Gera to stick around at Fulham. The midfielder and Europa hero was never in Mark Hughes’ plans, but now Jol is suggesting, and rightly so, that Gera would be invaluable to this year’s Europa campaign at the very least, and maybe even work his way into true first team form.

-Jonathan Greening is probably headed the same route as Pantsil, as he looks ready to head to Nottingham Forest.

-As I tweeted last night, Spurs bid £10 million for Moussa Dembele, but it was rejected by Fulham management.  The bid predated the Martin Jol appointment, so it wasn’t his decision.  But now they are reportedly still trying to make moves for Dembele by trying to woo Jol with his former player Robbie Keane.  Dembele is still incredibly young, but Jol could be tempted by getting Keane in return. I know this would go over really badly with the fans.

-talkSport is reporting that Jol is looking to bring a player or two to Fulham from his old Ajax squad, with his top target being striker Mounir El Hamdaoui.  The Dutch-born Moroccan international is rated around £7 or £8 million according to transfermarkt.co.uk (where I get most of my monetary values from, pretty accurate).  El Hamdaoui has 19 goals in 38 matches this season in all competitions, a pretty darn good ratio.  That includes 13 goals in 26 Dutch League matches.  However, El Hamdaoui was signed by Jol at Tottenham but failed to make it into any Premier League matches. He went on loan to Derby before again being signed by Jol at Ajax.

Edit: Reports are saying El Hamdaoui is going to sign at Fulham for around £4.5 million