Mark Schwarzer has agreed to sign a new contract with Fulham, ending season long speculation of him leaving the club. His new contract will see him stay at the Cottager till 2011-12 season with a clause that it can be extended for one more year.
The Australian was in the last year of his contract and it was feared he might leave at the end of the season for free. But the 38-year-old has shown his loyalty towards the club and decided to end his career at Craven Cottage.
Mark moved to the club in 2008 from Middlesbrough where he spent 11 years and made 367 appearances. Since then the 6 ft plus keeper has made 86 appearances for the Lillywhites and even at this age, has been their most consistent performer.
Expressing his delight, the manager Mark Hughes said that the club was eager to keep the Australian. They are happy that the player has decided to extend his contract. These contract talks have been going for a long time as the player wanted to keep his
options open which is also understandable.
Hughes said, “But it was the case that he understood where we want to take the club. We are delighted as a club and, if we are to be successful in the future, we need a quality keeper, which Mark certainly is. It [Arsenal's summer interest] was a situation
I walked into.”
He added, “Obviously, there was lots of talk and there had been contact, I think, between both clubs prior to myself walking through the door. It wasn't a situation that I wanted to develop because I've got a huge admiration for Mark and his ability as a
goalkeeper.”
Manager believes that in order to achieve success they required a solid goalkeeper in the team and Schwarzer is a great keeper.
Due to Arsenal’s constant goalkeeping problems and their interest in the Australian caused Schwarzer to think about his future and wanted to move to the Gunners. Furthermore, looking at the size of London based club who would not have wanted to move there
but Hughes was successful in convincing the player to stay at the Whites.
The Welsh manager and former United forward believes that at Fulham everybody is treated like a family and they provides excellent environment in which club takes special care for its players.
The former Boro now ended all the rumours of Bolton keeper Ali Al Habsi’s loan move to Craven Cottage. But Hughes has not ruled out new January signings by saying that if there is someone they believe can make a difference then the club will not hesitate
to sign him.
Schwarzer has a very good record at this club, last season he kept himself fit and played every second of it and also kept 10 clean sheets.
Fulham will visit Arsenal on Saturday where Schwarzer is expected to start.
Tags: