Carlos Bocanegra

Fulham have denied circulating rumors that Carlos Bocanegra is set to leave Craven Cottage despite having two years left on his contract.

English reports were claiming the US international defender had been told he could leave the Premiership club in order to gain more first-team action in the run-up to the World Cup.

"There is no truth in the story," Fulham press officer Sarah Brookes told YA. "Carlos is very much part of Chris Coleman’s squad for the forthcoming season."

The denial echoed comments from boss Chris Coleman at the recent MLS All-Star Game.

The manager told YA that Bocanegra would remain in contention with Alain Goma and Zat Knight for the two central defender slots over the coming season.

"I think Carlos is a better centerback," said Coleman. "He had a good season and a half for us at fullback, becasue we didn't have a fullback."

"He's a better centerback, I brought him as a centerback and that's really where I see him unless we're really stretched in an emergency and he has to play as fullback." But I told him I would be looking at him as the centerback."

"I definitely feel more comfortable in the middle," Bocanegra told YA. "We talked about that at the end of last season. We both think that it's my strongest position."

"He knows I was playing out of position on the left-hand side, ya know I can do it out there but I feel I can just contribute more to the team in the middle, so does he -- so that's what we gonna do this year."

The coach added that no individual player could be guaranteed to play every game and he will still require back-ups for key positions such as central defense, which implies a continued presence for Bocanegra in Fulham’s first-team squad.

"(The game is) physically demanding," added Coleman. "They obviously are not going to play every game, none of my players are. So we have a good mixture fighting for playing time."