Sergei Rebrov is expected to complete his move to Fulham from Tottenham Hotspur today for an initial transfer fee believed to be about £1 million, which will rise to about £3 million based on appearances and is conditional on Fulham staying in the Barclaycard Premiership.
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| Fulham target Sergei Rebrov |
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The 28-year-old Ukraine forward, who will be offered a 2½-year contract, met Jean Tigana, the Fulham manager, yesterday before he successfully completed a medical. He was finalising personal terms last night.
Sandor Varga, Rebrov’s agent, said that he was confident the deal would be concluded. “They (talks) are going well but I can’t say any more at the moment,” he said.
Rebrov, who has figured in the first-team squad for Tottenham only twice this season without playing, had earlier expressed concerns that he would not be guaranteed a place in the starting XI at Fulham and had been linked with a loan move to Fenerbahçe, of Turkey. The forward is halfway through a five-year contract at Tottenham, and is believed to be on around £25,000 a week. It would have cost Tottenham more than £3 million if the player, who scored 16 goals in 75 appearances for the club, had seen out his contract.
When Tottenham paid £11 million for Rebrov, he was a club-record purchase, eclipsing the £6 million paid to Newcastle United for Les Ferdinand in July 1997. He rose to prominence alongside Andrei Shevchenko for Dynamo Kiev until that partnership was broken when Shevchenko, who scored 121 goals in 248 games for Dynamo, including 26 goals in the Champions League, moved to AC Milan. But to many Dynamo supporters, it was Rebrov who made things happen for Shevchenko by playing passes from deeper positions, prompting George Graham, then the Tottenham manager, to compare him to Dennis Bergkamp.