Since leaving Arsenal at the start of the season, Moritz Volz has surprised many observers by making the full-back berth his own at Fulham. And on Saturday, in the quarter-finals of The FA Cup, the young defender is sure to be put to the test by a Manchester United team still smarting from recent criticisms.
Moritz Volz is a young man going places. In fact, he has already been to a few since arriving in this country from German club Schalke in November 2000. Highbury, Selhurst Park and last August, Loftus Road on a six-month loan deal in order to "improve my chances at Arsenal by playing in the Premiership, getting vital experience and progressing as a player."
This Saturday lunchtime, the 21-year-old will be going to Old Trafford hoping to win a place in the semi-finals of The FA Cup, a competition that Volz readily admits to "not knowing just how big it was before I came to this country."
And yet, he could so easily have been travelling in the opposite direction this weekend, down south with the holders to take on Portsmouth, had he not taken the "easy" decision of making his stay with the Cottagers a permanent one during the January transfer window.
The Siegen-born defender was faced with the same dilemma that many an aspiring young player before him has had to contend with at a big club: to play, or not to play, that is the question.
But, for the former Germany Under-20 international, there was only ever one choice to be made. "I could choose between playing and not playing, and as a young footballer, you definitely want to play."
Volz elaborates on his decision-making process. "I had the choice - to stay and sign on at Arsenal, hoping and still having to wait my turn, or joining Fulham and having a great chance of playing regular first-team football.
"And I just decided for myself that I would rather be playing week-in, week-out and have the chance of proving myself in the Premiership week-in, week-out," he continues, "which is very important at my age and I don’t think that it would have helped me sitting on the bench.
"So in the end the decision was quite easy, even though I spent four really great years at Arsenal and I enjoyed every minute of it."
And he knows where his priorities now lie. "I’ve moved on and I’m happy to be with Fulham."
One can sense an understandable degree of frustration, but not bitterness, in this remarkably level-headed young man’s feelings towards his old employers from N5. So revenge is not in the West London air then when they meet up at Fulham’s plush training ground this week?
"I don’t have it on my mind constantly to prove to the people at Arsenal that they made a wrong decision," is his sensible reply to that line of questioning.
No doubt though that Volz will be looking to channel that frustration to good effect by putting in another sound defensive display against United, so "in a few months people will say: ‘Why did Arsenal let him go? What a big mistake.’ Because then I know I’ve done well."
Fulham’s right-back knows that there are "great rewards" on offer if victory is achieved at the aptly named ‘Theatre of Dreams’ this Saturday. In fact, the West Londoners have already been in dreamland at the home of the champions on one occasion already this season, a stunning 3-1 win in the Premiership back in October. So what price a repeat performance this weekend?
"We are confident we can achieve something there," the German says. "We’re not going there thinking we’re going to get beat and there will certainly be more pressure on them to break us down."
But Volz is quick to point out that "even Arsenal were happy with a goalless draw at United (in the now infamous ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ in the Premiership last September) and were celebrating it, so that tells you how hard it is to go and get a result there."
And he quite rightly sees the Red Devils as "favourites" to progress to the last-four, remarkably a stage that Fulham have reached more recently (2002) than Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have (1999).
However, as far as Volz is concerned, there is more than just a chink of light at the end of the Old Trafford tunnel. The German certainly endorses the widely-held view that Fulham’s opponents this Saturday "have problems and haven’t had too many good results lately," before sensibly tagging on a note of caution to that assessment. "But it could go the other way where they say: ‘OK, let’s put in that little extra work and make sure we get back on track with more determination and hunger as well.’"
There can be no doubting that Fulham’s right-back will not only need his wits about him come 12.30GMT this Saturday, but also a clean pair of heels and a sharp pair of eyes as he faces up to a battle royal with either Ryan Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo on United’s left flank. Or, even more taxing, it may be a case of double vision for the German, with both speedsters starting the tie!
For most young defenders that thought would be enough to cause a severe case of the shakes, but not this one, who is the relishing the potential confrontation. "It will be a great test," says Volz. "Obviously it is hard to be playing against these players, but it’s a challenge and as a young player you can learn a lot from these experiences."
And, when cheekily asked to decide which of these two ‘cartoon footballers’ he would rather play against, his answer would bring a smile to the face of all managers who preach the virtues of teamwork over individuality.
"Either one, because I’m not really preparing for the individual player. At the end of the day it’s Fulham against Manchester United and not Volz against Ronaldo or Giggs.
"Obviously I look at the players and try and work out their strengths and how you best defend against them," Volz continues. "But I’m not too worried about each individual and so long as I get my general defensive play right, I think I’ll be fine and I certainly don’t fear anybody."
The perfectionist in Volz rates his performance in Fulham’s 3-1 win at United last year as "quite good", when most observers called it outstanding. However, he was not happy with how he dealt with the assortment of tricks and flicks that emanated from United’s Portuguese winger in last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Loftus Road.
"I was not too pleased with my display," he says of that game. High standards indeed, and perhaps a small clue as to why this young man has made himself so indispensable to Fulham in his first season as former crowd favourite Steve Finnan’s replacement, a campaign in which he freely acknowledges he did not expect to feature regularly.
Volz was amazed that "even the United supporters clapped us off" after Chris Coleman’s young side had deservedly inflicted a first home League defeat of the season on the champions. And he is confident that he and his team-mates will be receiving a similar sort of ovation at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ come Saturday afternoon.