Regular place is incentive for Fülöp

Oct 29 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

MÁRTON Fülöp has been assured he can become Sunderland’s first-choice goalkeeper if he makes the most of Craig Gordon’s absence with an unfortunate ankle injury.

Fülöp is expected to retain his place in the starting line-up against Stoke City tonight, the club he nearly joined in the summer, as Gordon is still struggling with the injury which kept him out of the 2-1 Wear-Tyne derby victory over Newcastle last weekend.

And, while most people expect Gordon to return to the side as soon as he has regained full fitness, Keane denied the Scotland international was guaranteed that luxury even though he is the club’s most expensive player.

“Márton can make the first-team goalkeeper spot his own,” said Keane, who has warned his players not to waste the derby triumph by losing at newly-promoted Stoke. “He knows that and Craig will know that too.

“Márton had his chance on Saturday and I thought he handled it very well. He’s a very popular player in the dressing room, and I like people like Márton Fülöp. He’s a bit of a character and I like goalkeepers who are a bit like that.

“Just because Craig is our record signing, it doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed a place in the team. Craig knows that anyway. There’s no player guaranteed anything at this football club. They have to work their socks off to get it.

“Craig’s been outstanding for us. I keep saying he’s going to get better and better, but he’s picked up an injury. Apparently it’s the first injury he’s had in eight years, which is an unbelievable record to have. Márton got his chance, and Craig is 50-50 for the Stoke game anyway. We’ll see.” Fülöp has only started two

Premier League matches since he joined the Wearsiders for £500,000 from Tottenham Hotspur in 2007 and has spent much of his time on loan at Championship clubs in order to gain more first-team experience.

But Keane has always been impressed with his ability and is reluctant to lose him, which explains his relief at seeing Fülöp’s move to Stoke collapse in the summer when the Potters pulled out of the deal at the last minute.

Keane said: “He could have been a Stoke player, but then he could have had a few clubs. I’ve never received as many phone calls from different clubs as I have about Márton Fülöp. Managers were speaking to me about him all the time. Márton has had a testing time over the last few years. There have been times when he didn’t really know if he was coming or going, and I know he put his house up for sale a couple of times.

“He’s had a difficult time in that sense. We agreed a fee with Stoke – we all know about that – but it wasn’t to be. I’m delighted about that because he’s a very good goalkeeper.”

One of the main reasons for Fülöp’s frustration at the Stadium of Light – he is still likely to leave during the January transfer window because of a lack of first-team football – is the harm it does to his international fortunes with Hungary. And Keane conceded he understood how he felt. He added: “Márton was left out of the international team recently because some international managers seem to think that you can’t play for them if you’re not playing at club level. I can understand that.

“Márton’s been number two at international level up to the last couple of games, but the other keeper got injured and he played in the last two games for Hungary and kept two clean sheets. I think, mentally, that helped him going in to the game on Saturday.

“He went into the game on a bit of a high, and has trained extremely well. Craig got injured last Wednesday so he was always touch and go for the game on Saturday, but I didn’t lose any sleep about it. As much as we rate Craig, we also know Márton’s a very good goalkeeper.”