Fulham have made a late bid to snatch Alexei Smertin from under
the noses of London rivals West Ham and look set to seal his
signature, skysports.com can reveal.
The Russian international was made available by his club Dinamo
Moscow last week and a move back to the Premiership became his top
priority.
West Ham, Charlton and Fulham all made moves and it was The Hammers
who looked to have won the race to land him.
Smertin had talks and underwent a medical at Upton Park, but the
deal stalled as West Ham worked on other targets.
Now skysports.com understands that Fulham have taken advantage of
West Ham's hesitation to strike a deal with Smertin.
It is now believed The Cottagers are hopeful of announcing a deal
within the next few days.
Smertin's agent Paulo Barbosa admitted to the Russian media earlier
this week that talks were on-going with teams from the
Premiership.
"We had a meeting with Dinamo president and manager last week and
they allowed us to start searching of new team," said
Barbosa.
"At the moment we have a few offers from teams from English Premier
League.
"I can't say their names until the end of negotiations or until we
have terminated the contract with Dinamo.
"Alexei has already started training to become match fit."