| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Jean
Tigana still looking for new signings
picture |
|
Fulham manager Jean Tigana, who has splashed
out £13.5million on three foreign stars already this week, hopes to
unveil another "three or four" new signings before the new season
kicks off.
Tigana introduced Holland goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, a £7million
buy from Juventus, to the media and then announced yet more transfer swoops
are in progress.
Moroccan international Abdeslam Ouaddou joined for £2million from
Nancy on Wednesday and French defender Steed Malbranque's £4.5million
switch from Lyon is almost complete.
And there appears to be no end to the cashflow from Chairman Mohamed Al
Fayed as Tigana beefs up his squad with the Premiership kick-off against
Manchester United just over a fortnight away.
"I hope next week to buy three or four new players," Tigana said.
"I need them for the squad. We need a minimum of four new players,
in the defensive area, midfield and one striker. "I have taken only
one week's holiday and I've tried many times to buy players, but it is very,
very difficult because the market is very high. I am working very hard with
my team to try (to buy players)."
Giant keeper van der Sar, 30, used
his first appearance before the British media, at Motspur Park Sports Club,
south London, to slam Juve over their attitude to him this summer.
The Turin club, after finishing runners-up last season, forked out more
than £30million to sign Parma's Italian international keeper Gianluigi
Buffon. Former Ajax man van der Sar claimed he knew nothing of the move
for Buffon, which led to string of rows with the Italian giants.
| |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Edwin
van der Sar happy to be at Fulham
picture |
|
"I've got some bad feelings towards Juventus,"
he said. "It wasn't a nice ending of my playing there. We had some
arguments and it was a difficult period for me. "We had a meeting a
few weeks before the end of the competition (the league) and they didn't
give any sign of signing another goalkeeper.
"Sometimes people decide something and, if it's coming from a higher
level, it's impossible to fight against something like that. "They
didn't say anything about the signing of the new goalkeeper, so I had to
look for another club. There were some possibilities and I got this possibility
to play for Fulham."
The Dutch international said his passion for the game forced him to look
for a new challenge, rather than just picking up a hefty wage packet to
sit on Juve's substitutes' bench.
"Nowadays, some big teams have 24 or 25 players in their squad, and
some players who are not playing think 'I'm going to stay here because I'm
earning a lot of money'," he added. "My decision was I want to
play. I have to play - I don't want to be six months on the bench.
"Of course everybody wants to play for the Champions League, but not
everybody can. "Sometimes you have to make a decision, not only looking
at the established clubs, and I've made a decision to go to a club that
is in development in a rather fast way."
Van der Sar has been reassured that his number one status in the Holland
camp is not threatened by his move to Craven Cottage.
He added: "I talked twice in these past weeks with our coach Louis
van Gaal, and he said to me: 'The Premier League is one of the biggest and
best competitions in the world'.
"I said to him they (Fulham) are not playing European football. That's
not the issue - if you can play 38 games in England and international games,
I play my matches on the highest level, so for the coach it's no problem."
Tigana spoke of his belief in van der Sar's ability, while reiterating his
transfer hopes and hinting that the aim for this season is consolidation
in the top flight.
"He has the habit of playing at the top level and that is very important,"
said Tigana. "I need the players with bigger experience. "My vision
for this season is to stay at the top level and to progress together. I
have many players who have never played at the top level, and I need three
or four players at the top level." |