Fulham have had a busy deadline day, having signed Lewis Holtby on loan and beating West Ham United to the signature of Kostas Mitroglou.
Holtby only joined Tottenham Hotspur from Schalke last January, but he has struggled to establish himself in the starting eleven at White Hart Lane. A return to his former club had been mooted all month, but they were reluctant to pay the asking price of around £8million considering they sold him for just £1.25million 12 months ago.
Instead, the midfielder will remain in the Premier League and the English capital, having secured a loan move to Craven Cottage for the remainder of the season. This means he has swapped challenging for a top-four finish for a relegation battle, but it will at least give him the regular first team football which has been hard to come by this term.
“Lewis will stay in London and has joined Fulham on loan until the end of the season,” agent Marcus Noack said. “Fulham has put much effort into Lewis. It is a very well-run club with an excellent manager, René Meulensteen. The system and philosophy how Fulham plays fits well with Lewis. He will have match practice in the second half of the season in his favourite position and then we’ll see how things are going by summer.”
The addition is Holtby is quite a coup for Meulensteen, yet it is not the biggest he has pulled off on deadline day. Because the Dutch coach has also landed Greece international striker Mitroglou for a fee of around £11million, having persuading the Olympiakos ace to snub West Ham. The 25-year-old, who has scored 21 goals in 23 appearances for club and country this season, has signed a four-and-a-half year contract.
Elsewhere, it looks as though Dimitar Berbatov has played his last game for Fulham. The 33-year-old, who was to become a free agent at the end of the season, has been given permission to jet to France to discuss a transfer to Ligue 1 side Monaco.
