Hodgson expects easier sale

Hodgson: Looking to strengthen

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Roy Hodgson believes Fulham's impressive season will make it easier to entice fresh faces to the club.

The Cottagers remain on course to land a Europa League place this term, with a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League expected to be good enough to secure a route into Europe.

While the focus must remain on finishing the current campaign as strongly as possible, attentions have already begun to turn towards the summer.

Hodgson, like any manager, is keen to strengthen his squad and hopes the ambition on show at Craven Cottage will prove to be a useful bargaining tool.

"I do now expect it to be easier to attract players here," he said.

"Luckily we've made ourselves a slightly more attractive proposition for new players with the work we've done this season.

Advantage

"We have the great advantage of being in the right part of England - people like to live in London, and in particular South West London.

"The reputation of this club has always been quite high, so in the past people haven't turned their nose up at Fulham.

"One of the things that could have been seen as a disadvantage is people saying Fulham are a nice club but can they really match my ambitions of being a top-class Premiership player?

"But what we've shown this season is that we can offer them that as well.

"I'd be disappointed if people turned their nose at us because they thought we are not worthy of their services."

While hopeful of attracting big names to Fulham during the off season, Hodgson admits he will still be working under the constraints of a tight budget.

Restricted

"We'll be restricted in the number of players we can bring in by the budget we're given and the amount of money we have to spend," he said.

"Numbers per se don't guarantee you anything anyway. I'd rather prepare for the season and deal with Europe rather than put Europe up there as a major factor.

"We're not the sort of club that could ever have a rotation policy in the same way as the top four teams.

"It's very difficult to keep people happy at the level we're going to be working at.

"Our recruitment policy will be the same whether we make Europe or not.

"If we do make Europe it will put a strain on the squad as the size of the squad won't necessarily be geared to it."