Coleman dismissed Malbranque fears

Fulham are confident star midfielder Steed Malbranque is fully committed to the club.

It has been reported the Frenchman is considering leaving Craven Cottage at the end of his current contract but boss Chris Coleman is hopeful he will stay.

The 25-year-old, who joined Fulham in a £5m (€7.3m) deal from Lyon four years ago, has 18 months remaining on his existing deal and will be offered new terms in the new year.

Coleman said: “All I know is that we have a talented, highly-committed performer on our hands in Steed.

“We will be having him and his agents in over the next few weeks to, hopefully, start talks aimed at an extension to his contract – although no talks have started just yet.

“But Steed has been in great form this season and we have no intention of selling our best players.

"In fact, I hope it is more likely we will get some more in during the next transfer window.

“There is a little bit of money about. Not much, but enough to do something - although saying that is a different thing from doing it. Some people think four weeks is enough to tie down a deal with a player but it rarely is.”

In terms of recruitment, Fulham are certainly one of the “40-plus clubs” who would be interested in bringing in Roy Keane following the Irishman’s sudden departure from Manchester United.

And Coleman could also be interested in bringing striker Louis Saha back on loan from Old Trafford while the Frenchman completes his recovery from injury.

Coleman reluctantly sanctioned Saha’s £12.8m (€18.7m) move to United in January 2004 but the marksman has made only 26 Premiership appearances since.

Meanwhile, Fulham plan to take last week’s luckless defeat at Middlesbrough out on high-riding Bolton at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

They hope to add their scalp to that of Liverpool and Manchester City for a hat-trick of high-profile home league wins.

Striker Collins John, who scored a superb early goal to put them ahead at the Riverside last week, only for two late goals to bring a 3-2 defeat, said: “We’ve got to keep playing the same way against Bolton.

“It is frustrating we are not getting the results we deserve for the good football we have been playing.”

Coleman, who is adamant Aiyegbeni Yakubu should have been ruled offside for Boro’s second equaliser after Papa Bouba Diop headed home for a 2-1 lead, admitted: “I’m not going to paper over the cracks.

“Some of our defending was questionable but if you score two goals away from home you should get at least a draw.

“We are not doing too much wrong, to be honest, but the last 15 minutes last week really let us down.

“We attacked, we didn’t sit back but in the end we caused problems for ourselves and that’s the way it goes sometimes. We just have to turn it around.”

Coleman has skipper Luis Boa Morte back following a one-match ban to face Bolton and veteran goalkeeper Mark Crossley is also available after four games out with hamstring trouble.

American defender Carlos Bocanegra, who missed the Middlesbrough trip with a tight hamstring, played for the reserves on Wednesday night in a 3-0 win in which Australian World Cup qualifier Ahmad Elrich scored twice.