Swap Deal Rubbished

Glenn Roeder has made it clear that the arrival of David James is in no way part of a package deal that would involve Fredi Kanoute going to Aston Villa.

And the new manager has indicated that he will imminently be talking positively to the French striker about his Upton Park future after Fulham's recent bid for last season's leading scorer was rejected.

Says Glenn: "All managers have to deal with the dailly speculation about players, and it is no different here to anywhere else.

"Funnily enough, I met John Gregory at the end of last season on a Eurostar train going to France to watch a game at Paris St Germain. He spoke about Fredi then - I think he had been hugely impressed with him during our 2-2 draw up at Villa Park in April.

"He obviously spotted the enormous potential talent that Fredi Kanoute is, but I will repeat what I said earlier - he is not for sale.

"We have done our selling - UNLESS I want to sell a player. If I don't want to trim the squad I don't have to. I'm not under any pressure to sell.

"Apart from Shaka Hislop, I haven't had a chance to talk to players individually yet since we returned to pre-season training, but I've always had a good working relationship with Fredi and I will be sitting down with him soon.

"I am confident that I will be getting a positive reponse from him once he hears what I have to say about my plans for next season."