Cottagers open Hangeland talks

04 March 2009 08:34
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed the club have opened talks with Norwegian star Brede Hangeland. The central defender has earned rave reviews at Craven Cottage under Hodgson, and a host of rival clubs are said to be keeping tabs on the 27-year-old. However, Hodgson is determined to keep hold the Norwegian captain - who has 14 months left on his current contract. "We have had plans for a while to talk to him - a) about an extension and b) about improving his contract. That's in hand," he confirmed. Hodgson admits that there is little Fulham can do if other clubs want to bid for Hangeland. "If it happens, it happens and we will deal with it the best we can but in the meantime Brede and other players who might interest other clubs are still here and we will do our best to keep them," he said. Meanwhile, speaking ahead of his side's clash with Hull City on Wednesday - Hodgson admitted he was concerned by the size of his squad. "The size of the squad bothers me. We lost a few men in the transfer window and didn't have a big squad anyway," he admitted. "We had as many as six or seven go, with only two or three in. Since then we've had a couple of injuries. "If I knew we could keep the same team every week, I'd be confident. But we're on that knife-edge that if we lost a couple of players, we don't have quite the same capacity to replace them as other teams."

Source: SKY_Sports