Hodgson adds Stoor to Fulham revamp

Published on Wednesday 30 July 2008 23:08

FULHAM manager Roy Hodgson made Sweden right-back Fredrik Stoor his eighth signing of the summer as the Cottagers waited to welcome striker Andrew Johnson as their next arrival.

After last season's last-gasp escape from relegation – clinching a vital win at Portsmouth on the final day – Hodgson is determined to ensure there are no further close calls for the club he joined last December when demotion looked inevitable.

Fulham paid 6.3million to bring in Bobby Zamora and John Pantsil from West Ham, and landed goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from Middlesbrough, Zoltan Gera from West Brom and Andranik Teymourian from Bolton on attractive free transfer contracts.

They also paid nominal fees to secure youngsters David Stockdale, the former Darlington goalkeeper, and versatile midfielder Toni Kallio who was previously on loan from Swiss club Young Boys Berne.

Now Stoor becomes the eighth new face at Craven Cottage – although the terms of his transfer from Norway's Rosenborg have not been divulged apart from the fact it is a four-year deal for the 24-year-old.

The anticipated signing of England forward Johnson from Everton is seen as the jewel in the crown for Fulham's summer.

He arrived for a medical after the two clubs agreed terms on Monday, but there has been no further news.

Fulham had stated the medical was expected to be concluded yesterday, but since then the only addition from sources at the club has been to suggest the tests could conceivably take 48 hours to complete. Providing there are no fitness concerns, the deal should be completed shortly.

Johnson has been largely fit during his time at Everton although he did need an Achilles operation at the end of his first campaign and missed some of last term with ankle and groin problems.

Hodgson was delighted to complete the signing of Stoor, who has only recently broken into Sweden's international side, winning three of his eight caps at the Euro 2008 finals.

Hodgson said: "He is a player I have followed for some time through my contacts with the Swedish national team. I watched him closely with his club side and we did a lot of research on him.

"I had the opportunity to see him at close hand in the three matches Sweden played in Euro 2008, and we decided he was the player for us at right-back."