Fulham swoop for £3.5m Harley

13 April 2012

Chelsea full-back Jon Harley has signed for Fulham for £3.5million, subject to a medical, as Jean Tigana continued his pre-season spending spree.

After making his first-team breakthrough a couple of seasons ago, Harley, 21, last season found it hard to win a regular starting place due to the competition posed by Graeme Le Saux and Celestine Babayaro.

With Chelsea having snapped up another left-sided player, Boudewijn Zenden, last week, they have allowed Harley to move to West London rivals Fulham, who have recently also signed Edwin van der Sar, Abdeslam Ouaddou and Steed Malbranque.

The Chelsea official website confirmed: "Jon Harley has joined Fulham for £3.5million, dependant on a medical."

England Under-21 international Harley came through the Chelsea ranks alongside close friend John Terry and made his first-team debut as far back as April 1998 against Derby, setting up Mark Hughes to score the only goal of the game.

He continued to make progress under Gianluca Vialli but while the arrival of Claudio Ranieri last September led to centre-back Terry becoming a first-team regular, Harley found his opportunities more limited from then on.

Indeed, he made just eight starts last season and Zenden's arrival meant that he was even less likely to feature in the first team this season on a regular basis.

Having spent £32.2million on Zenden, Frank Lampard, Emmanuel Petit and William Gallas, Chelsea were looking to recoup some of that money, with the sales of Dennis Wise, Gustavo Poyet and Frank Leboeuf having raised just under £5million.

Fulham, meanwhile, had promised last week, when they made the significant capture of Dutch international van der Sar, that at least another couple of signings were likely before the start of the season.

Their early summer moves into the transfer market may have proved unsuccessful as the likes of Jan Koller and John Arne Riise escaped their clutches.

However, Harley's arrival, providing that he passes a medical, means that Tigana's outfield options are further strengthened as the Premiership newcomers look to make their mark on the top-flight this season.

He offers Tigana's side home-grown pace and promise either at full-back, wing-back or on the left side of midfield, as well as hoping that the move across West London to Craven Cottage can reignite his career.

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