© EuroFootball.com
The London club of the English Premier League has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with former Moscow and Russian national team defender Alexei Smertin.
The 31-year-old player already has a lot of Premier League experience, as he has played for London's Chelsea, Portsmouth, and Charlton teams. After spending a year in his native Russia, the defender has returned to England and this time will represent Fulham until 2009.
Chelsea acquired A. Smertin in August 2003 from the French team Bordeaux and paid £3.45 million for the Russian.
"I am happy that I finally settled everything with Moscow's Dynamo, which allowed me to return to the Premier League," said A. Smertin. "I have a lot of Premier League experience that I gained earlier, and I believe that the English championship is the most challenging league in the world, so I am very pleased to have the opportunity to play in it again."
Fulham's head coach Chris Coleman revealed that the club was able to take advantage of A. Smertin's "contract problems" with Dynamo and in the battle for the Russian national team defender's signature, they surpassed six Premier League teams.
"This January, we successfully worked in the player market and now I hope to raise the team higher in the standings as soon as possible. I have no doubt that the new players who have joined the club will be able to help the team," said C. Coleman.
This winter, Fulham lost their team captain Luis Boa Morte, who moved to West Ham in London, but Fulham managed to fill this gap as they added defender Simon Davies from Everton and midfielder Clint Dempsey from the New England Revolution in the U.S. The club also loaned former Italian national team striker Vincenzo Montella from Roma.
Currently, under C. Coleman's guidance, Fulham in the English Premier League after 24 rounds has 29 points and is in 15th place.
