Martin Jol has revealed he hopes to get the signature of prolific goal scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak on a long-term contract by telling the Russian he will play more for Fulham than any other top side.
Pogrebnyak’s short-term deal at Craven Cottage runs out at the end of the season and Jol is aware that top-drawer clubs want the 28-year-old, who has made a storming start to his Premier League career, scoring six goals in eight games since moving from VfB Stuttgart of the Bundesliga at the end of January.
The striker’s value will increase even more over the summer if he has a successful European Championship campaign with Russia, so Jol is now employing his powers of persuasion to convince Pogrebnyak that his best future lies with Fulham.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game at Everton, where victory could see Fulham rise to seventh in the table, Jol explained how he believes he has history on his side.
Pogrebnyak’s two-and-a-half seasons at Stuttgart proved frustrating for the player as he struggled with injury and competition for places.
Jol said: “We have made him a very good offer. He likes it here so hopefully my people can agree a good contract with him. I’m confident because if you look at the top five [in the Premier League], if he went to one of them he would be in the same situation as he was before.
“It would be like, for example, the situation Jermain Defoe has got at Spurs. And there are other players at big clubs, like Fernando Torres, who are not playing all the time. That is what you get if you are playing in the top five.
“With me, Pavel knows that, if he gives 100 per cent, he starts. He knows that, I’ve told him. There is not a lot of rivalry up front here, so that should be a good feeling for him.”
There is a lot of good feeling at Fulham at the moment, with Jol’s mini-revolution reaping results ahead of schedule. He points out that in recent seasons the west London club have not reached the sanctuary of mid-table until four or five games from the end. “We were probably safe six weeks ago,” he said. “That is different, it is good, especially if you recognise the fact that we changed the formation with five or six new players. That has not been easy, so I’m very pleased that, with four games to go, we’ve already got almost as many points as last year.”
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Fulham ended Mark Hughes’s sole season in charge with 49 points. A win at Goodison Park will see Jol match that total with games against Liverpool, Sunderland and Spurs to come. Three points gained against David Moyes’s men would also see Fulham leapfrog their hosts to seventh, which they could hold into next week if Liverpool lose at Norwich.
A bullish Jol said: “If we beat Everton — although it is an away game so it won’t be easy — we go above them. And everybody tells me week in, week out that Everton are fantastic. If that is true, we are pretty good as well.”
Pogrebnyak is again set to start alone up front, being fed by a rotating five-man midfield which proved so successful in last Saturday’s win over Wigan. Jol’s one selection dilemma will come if Stephen Kelly is fit to return at right-back.
The manager must then decide whether to move Aaron Hughes back into his more familiar central defensive role alongside Brede Hangeland at the expense of Philippe Senderos, whose match-winner against Wigan was his first ever goal for the club.
