Martin Jol insists he's happy as Fulham secure permanent signing of Sascha Riether

The Dutchman is targeting new signings at Craven Cottage

Sascha Riether (GETTY IMAGES)

Fulham manager Martin Jol has dismissed speculation that he will leave this summer, insisting he is very happy at Craven Cottage.

Having led the west Londoners to a ninth-placed finish last term, the Dutchman's side have only narrowly avoided relegation this season and head into Sunday's finale at Swansea on a run of five successive defeats.

That poor form has resulted in reports that Jol's position will be reviewed this summer, with Brighton's suspended manager Gus Poyet linked with the job.

The former Tottenham boss has himself been linked with the vacant Everton post and speculation has been mounting that he is becoming frustrated at Fulham.

But Jol rejected such talk today and insists he is happy at the club with whom he signed a one-year contract extension earlier in the campaign.

"I signed an option and that is a long time ago, ages ago," he said.

"For me, there is no difference. It is not something from the last 48 hours as [the speculation] happened before.

"If people make up a little story and I speak about new players coming in, of course you need a little bit of money.

"They associate us with the chairman and he has to give us the funds, but we are healthy club.

"We will try to get some players in so there is no story.

"I am very happy. It is 10 minutes from my house, my girl is going to school and she loves it there.

"She had her first competitive match yesterday against another school and they beat them.

"She was happy, I am happy, the missus is happy and hopefully I can make the fans happy again as well."

Jol talking about future plans also goes some way to dismissing talk of a potential departure.

Wolves' Bakary Sako, Athletic Bilbao defender Fernando Amorebieta and Roma's Maarten Stekelenburg have all been linked with Fulham and the Dutchman revealed he has a deal in place with one of that trio.

"It is not easy," Jol said. "We have to pay a lot of money for these players.

"Of course if you have got players on loan you won't generate a lot of money. They go back, you don't get any money for them.

"We have to be creative again but from the names you named, there is already one on the board. But I will talk to the press next weekend and we will confirm everything."

Asked if Amorebieta was the player in question, he added: "That is one of the pieces of speculation, but you will have to wait and see for next week. You are not hot or cold, you are warm."

One player definitely at Fulham next season is right-back Sascha Riether after German club Cologne yesterday confirmed he had made his loan spell permanent.

"We agreed a deal with Cologne so he will stay here," Jol said. "We took the option, we spoke to them.

"Of course we had that option last year and we took it before May 15 so he will be our player next year."

While Riether's future is sorted, Jol is still speaking to Fulham chief executive officer Alistair Mackintosh about others whose contracts soon expire.

One such player is veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who last week claimed there had been no offer on the table to extend his stay past the summer.

"We made an offer to them and he did not accept that," Jol said. "We will hope to talk with him as well. There is no deadline with him."

PA