Fulham boss pleased with Schwarzer decision
Fulham manager Mark Hughes has said that he is very pleased goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer decided to stay at the club.
There had been stories all summer linking the goalkeeper with a move to another top club in the Premier League, with Arsenal considered the favourites to sign him.
However, Schwarzer agreed with the club that he would stay at Fulham and not seek a move to another team as the transfer window closed yesterday. This now allows Fulham to build a team under Mark Hughes, starting with Schwarzer at the back.
There are many reasons why getting Schwarzer to stay is very beneficial for the club as he is one of the better goalkeepers in the Premier League. Fulham can now start working towards making future positive signings and protecting their key asset.
Benefits of staying
When stories started to emerge over Schwarzer's future, it became very obvious very quickly that he was one of the most respected and valued players at the football club. This is something that he would have struggled to find at another club.
He is Fulham's number one and is only out of the side at the moment because of injury. It's very likely that he will get back into the side as soon as he reaches full fitness because Fulham don't have another goalkeeper that can match his quality and consistency.
The goalkeeper will be experienced in all things Fulham and won't have to move home or endure the settling down process that often comes when joining a new club. This means Schwarzer can focus entirely on his fitness and not have to worry about anything else.
Hughes said: "We talked about Mark's situation on a number of occasions and ideally we wanted him to stay. We understood that there was an interest from Arsenal but given our current goalkeeping situation there was no chance of him leaving. There were two real strong enquiries but there was never a bid."
Fulham can build
Fulham can now focus as a football club on allowing Mark Hughes to build the team that he feels he needs to bring success to the West London team. This meant first of all hanging onto the club's best players and now the side have done that, they can build from the back.
Hughes will already have a list of players in his mind that he will want to try and focus on getting when the next transfer window opens up. Had the club allowed Schwarzer to leave then that list would have already been complicated.
He added: "I think there are always enquiries about good players, but very quickly we dismissed any interest anybody had in Bobby [Zamora] because he's key to what we're trying to do. There were a number of targets we hoped to bring to the club. We feel we have had a decent window, we have brought some good players to the club."
Betting advice
Fulham seem to have maintained the momentum that they built up under Roy Hodgson under the management of Mark Hughes. This is vital for any club trying to win football matches. This bodes very well for the club's season and they are well worth a punt in any of the domestic cup competitions the club will play in this year.
Fulham look very strong for a top of the table finish. The recent performance against Manchester United showed they are a very organised side and they are a strong bet to land a European place by next may. The area of sixth to tenth is probably where they will eventually end up.
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