Fulham boss Martin Jol hopes Pavel Pogrebnyak does the right thing and signs long-term with them.

He's out of contract in the summer and a string of clubs are on his trail. But Jol will remind Pog, 28, that before he joined ­Fulham, he had scored just once in 14 games for Stuttgart.

And he thinks Pogrebnyak can be the first Russian to succeed here since Andrei Kanchelskis - if he stays with Fulham. "It was a ­gamble for him and for us," said Jol, who will unleash Pog at ­Manchester ­United tomorrow.

"They told me Russians haven't got a good record in England. But I thought, 'You never know'. In Germany he was up against four ­players in his position.

"Here, I've got one No.9 and Orlando Sa, a back-up.

"For Pavel there is not this nervousness or insecurity and players gain from this. It's about confidence."