Agent: Pavel Pogrebnyak always dreamed of playing in England

Pavel Pogrebnyak’s agent Oleg Artyomov exclusively told Sports.ru correspondents Denis Romantsov and Vladislav Voronin about his clients transfer to Premier League side Fulham.

«Pavel – Pasha – is one of my favourites, one of my first clients. When we first me, I asked him: what do you want out of football? He said: ‘I want to play in England.’ So when he asked me this time round – what should he do and where should he go, I replied: ‘You had a dream. So if you give up on it now, what are you going to tell your kids? That you had your chance and you blew it?’ Still, I can understand that it is tough to change your lifestyle after three years in the same place and move to a completely new city.»

«The contract with the Cottagers is for six months. Were you offered a longer-term deal?»

«No, that was our condition, to give him a choice at the end of the season – to stay, or to go. Maybe he’ll play so well that Manchester United will come in for him.»

«Did you have offers from other clubs?»

«Stuttgart was asking for a lot of money, even though his contract was running out. But I spoke to scouts at other Bundesliga clubs and I can tell you that they regard him very highly. Many clubs could have signed him, but Fulham was the most persistent, they even sent their medical team to Germany to speed up the process. And now they are doing all in their power to get him the British visa as soon as possible, because Martin Jol wants to see Pogo in action as soon as he arrives in London.»

«There were rumours the deal was close to collapse due to the Russian’s knee problems, allegedly revealed during the medical...»

«That is complete nonsense, it’s just another game, tough I am not sure who is behind it. I called Pavel and asked him if there was any truth in those reports and he said everything was fine. If there were any issues, the deal wouldn’t have gone ahead.»

«Who came up with the idea of his move to London?»

«It was [Fulham manager – Sports.ru] Martin Jol. The Dutchman’s personal chat with Pavel influenced his decision: Pavel spoke to him sometime ago, while Jol was still the Hamburg coach, so his continued interest was flattering.