Fulham fans warned not expect too much from Okaka

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has warned Cottagers fans not to expect too much too soon from new loan signing Stefano Okaka.

Okaka has joined the London club on loan from Serie A giants Roma until the end of the season with a view to a permanent transfer.

The Italy Under-21 international made his debut for the Cottagers in their 1-0 win over Portsmouth and missed a golden opportunity to mark his debut with a goal in the first half after he glanced a header wide from five yards out.

The 20-year-old's power and pace did cause the Pompey defence some problems though and he will get plenty of opportunities to make amends for his miss with Andy Johnson, Clint Dempsey and Zoltan Gera all out with injuries.

"I think Okaka's going to take a lot of time. He's a young raw player and had Erik Nevland not had that toe problem he would not have started," the former Inter Milan boss said.

"He doesn't speak a word of English at the moment and my Italian's nowhere near as good as it used to be.

"I'm sure he will get better and I'm sure he will turn out to be a useful signing for us.

"But he's not a saviour by any stretch of the imagination. He's a player we were able to get in on loan for this period of time and a player who has some interesting characteristics that we might be able to use, but he's not the man who will carry us.

"We're not saying don't worry if Andy Johnson's not around because we have Stefano Okaka, that would be placing far too much responsibility on his shoulders."