No offers to drive away Van

Stuart James|Wayne Veysey|Evening Standard

14 April 2012

Edwin van der Sar has not received any offers from clubs either at home or abroad despite weeks of speculation that he is on the verge of quitting Fulham.

The Holland goalkeeper, who has been linked with Arsenal and Manchester United, has been offered a new contract at Fulham but his agent says no negotiations have taken place between the two parties.

"The reality is that no club have contacted me or my agent yet," said Van der Sar, whose current deal expires in the summer. "Because of that we are keeping all options open, also a return to Holland, though there hasn't been any offers over there, either.

"I'm using the next weeks to decide where we are going. My family is also important in my decision. Do we stay in England or are we returning too Holland? We have to decide together what we do want and what we don't want. Soon things must be more clear because I don't want to wait until May or June."

Meanwhile, Chris Coleman takes his players to Watford tomorrow for an FA Cup tie that should provide a welcome distraction from the relegation battle in which Fulham have been embroiled for much of the season.

The Fulham manager's main concern will be the fitness of Tomasz Radzinski, who tweaked a hamstring at Southampton on Wednesday and could be forced to miss out. Ray Lewington's plans for Watford's two high-profile cup games in four days have been badly affected by a growing injury list.

The Watford boss has "no idea" who will line up against Fulham or on Tuesday for the Carling Cup semi-final first leg at Liverpool.

Captain Sean Dyche is out for up to three weeks with a groin strain, while another six first-choice players are struggling with injury and striker Danny Webber is still taking his first tentative steps as he recovers from a dislocated shoulder.

With Tottenham refusing to allow on-loan Johnnie Jackson to play tomorrow and confusion over the availability of on-loan Wolves goalkeeper Paul Jones, Lewington is struggling to field 11 fit players.

" My players are bare ly training," he said. "They are just resting. The Christmas period was a real killer for us. It was hard to cope because the games came so thick and fast.

"We went into the Christmas period with injuries to several players, which then got worse and I ended up playing players who weren't 100 per cent fit. Then they end up being out for a couple of weeks."

Lewington, who will find out later today if Wolves will allow Jones to play in goal, will wait until the last minute before choosing his line-up.

Despite his injury concerns, Lewington is looking forward to the cup games. "I wouldn't do without them," he said. "They are great games. Outside the club, no one talks about the league, they just talk about the cup.

"No one says, 'it's a great league game you've got coming up'. Once we're out there and the adrenaline is flowing, we will be fine."

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