Fulham boss Mark Hughes has no intention of allowing Mark Schwarzer to join Premier League rivals Arsenal.
Cottagers have no plans to part with keeper
Fulham boss Mark Hughes has no intention of allowing Mark Schwarzer to join Premier League rivals Arsenal.
The Gunners are in the market for a new goalkeeper and have indentified the Cottagers' No.1 as their top target.
Australia international Schwarzer has openly admitted that he would welcome such a switch, claiming the chance to turn out for the Gunners would be
'an amazing opportunity that I want to take'.
However, Fulham are reluctant to sell, especially on the terms currently being offered by Arsenal, and Hughes insists no deal will be done unless it benefits his team.
He said: "From our point of view the situation has not changed. There was interest from Arsenal in May.
"Their bid was refused. We have not had any more bids and we wouldn't encourage any."
Hughes added: "Mark sees it as an opportunity with the current stage that he is at in his career.
Outstanding
"I can appreciate that but he has to understand that we have to protect Fulham too.
"At the moment it wouldn't be right for Fulham football club.
"He is an outstanding goalkeeper. It's only when you work with players that you realise how good they are.
"It would be difficult to replace him. It's difficult to get the right quality into your football club. We have a top-class keeper in our squad and we would like to keep him."
Meanwhile, Hughes has confirmed that he hopes to have a deal for AZ Alkmaar striker Moussa Dembele wrapped up by Friday evening.
"We have made some progress with Moussa," said the Welshman.
"We hope that he will be in London by the close of play to do a medical, although it hasn't been fully signed off by his club yet."
