Jol: Zamora had to go

Fulham manager Martin Jol has openly admitted that Bobby Zamora had to leave the club, stating that accepting an offer from Queens Park Rangers, of around £4 million, "was not a difficult decision".

The pair were rumoured to have fallen out earlier in the season, supposedly over tactics and Jol's suspicious decision to leave Zamora at home for some of our away European ties. The England international forward expressed his disappointment at such choices and the rift only widened.

Zamora was reported to have substantial offers from abroad, although nothing has been confirmed, but insisted on staying in England in an attempt to sustain well being for his family.

Despite the disdain that he faced from Fulham fans off the back of Zamora's move across West London, Jol believes it was the best available option for all parties.

"You would have to ask Bobby why he wanted to leave, but I think it was the best that we could do," Jol said.

"It was a decent offer and we decided to accept it. It was not a difficult decision. It was lingering on for months that he wanted that move.

"Of course you always want to keep your players on board, especially in this transfer window, but on the other hand, we had to make a decision and this is not something that happened in the last couple of days. I knew it was always a possibility of Bobby going to QPR and we anticipated that."

In losing one of his few strikers to QPR, however, Jol found sufficient solace in his replacement, Pavel Pogrebnyak, whom he labelled "a good boy who works hard for the team."

"I think the timing [of the deal for Zamora] was probably ideal though, because Bobby left so we could get Pavel [Pogrebnyak], who has got a good record.

"He's had a very good spell at Stuttgart, played 45 times for Russia. His coaches, Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat were complimentary. They said he was a good boy who works hard for the team, so I was really happy to get him in because it's not easy to get players like him.

"Pavel hopefully comes in the next one or two weeks and we will be fine. Andy Johnson has a groin injury, Moussa Dembele dropped out yesterday and Bobby went to QPR, so I lost three main strikers [for west Brom], but for the near future, I'm quite optimistic."