Gray heads to Fulham

Fulham have signed Coventry midfielder Julian Gray on a season-long loan, the club have announced on their website.

The Cottagers also revealed they had cancelled the contract of former Chelsea midfielder Alexei Smertin by mutual consent.

Gray, 28, started his career at Arsenal before moving to Crystal Palace where he spent four years, including a loan spell at Cardiff, and was part of the Eagles’ promotion-winning squad in 2004.

The Londoner then moved to Birmingham that summer but he became sidelined from the first team and moved on to Coventry last summer on a two-year deal.

Smertin joined the west London club in January 2007 from Dynamo Moscow but the midfielder made less than 20 starts and will now leave Craven Cottage.