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| Fulham target
Gabriel Batistuta |
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| Position |
Attacker |
| DOB |
01/02/69 |
| P.O.B. |
Argentina |
| Height |
6' 1" |
| Club |
Al Arabi Sports Club |
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GABRIEL BATISTUTA’S agent claims the striker is on the verge of a move to Fulham.
The Argentinian veteran, 35, reckons he could be lured away from the final year of his deal with Qatari club Al-Arabi if the offer is right.
Agent Settimio Aloisio said: “We’ve been speaking to the directors at Fulham for several months.
“They’ve always wanted Gabriel and he has always wanted to play in the Premiership.
“The football in England is quick and the kind of competitive challenge we want. Gabriel knows he could do a job there — but it has to be a project that interests him.
“He wants to spend the last few years of his career with a team going places. Fulham could be the ideal side — if he is persuaded by the financial offer and the sporting project. It is up to them.”
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Batistuta began his career at Newell's Old Boys before a move to one of Argentina's 'big two', River Plate. After getting little first team action with River, he moved to their arch-rivals Boca in 1991 and his career took off.
He scored six goals to help Argentina win the 1991 Copa America, the South American championship, in Chile and was then transferred to Fiorentina for whom he scored 168 goals in 269 league appearances in nine seasons.
Batistuta retained the Copa America with Argentina in Ecuador in 1993 but he failed in three attempts to win soccer's biggest prize, the World Cup.
He helped Argentina reach the second round of the 1994 World Cup in the United States and the quarter-finals in France four years later.
But last year's tournament in Japan and South Korea, which Argentina started as favourites, was a huge disappointment for Batistuta when they failed to qualify from the first round group stage.
However, Batistuta, who confirmed his retirement from the international game after Argentina's elimination in Japan, took his tally to 10 as his country's leading World Cup scorer. The total includes hat-tricks in 1994 and 1998.
Batistuta was loyal to Fiorentina for nine years, including a season relegated to Serie B, but starved of Serie A success which he achieved at Roma when he helped them win the title in 2001. He won the Italian Cup with Fiorentina in 1996.
source: soccernet
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