Fulham have reportedly told the defender Jon Arne Riise that he is free to leave the club after falling out of favour under the manager Martin Jol. The 32-year-old defender is regarded as one of the best in the Premier league due to his wealth of experience.
However, he has not been at his best in recent months for the club, which has led to the manager looking at other alternatives. He has reportedly identified the Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock as a replacement for the Norwegian. Warnock is currently out of favour at Aston Villa and spent the first half of the season on loan at a championship club.
The Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert recently revealed that the club had received no offers for the former Blackburn Rovers defender, who came extremely close to making an international appearance. His experience and quality will certainly appeal to Jol, who has come under pressure of late due to a poor run of results. After starting the season extremely well following the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov, the club have struggled to get results on a consistent basis. As a result, they are close to the relegation zone and are just six points above it.
Along with Stephen Warnock, the defender Alan Hutton has also been deemed unwanted and surplus to the squad by the manager Paul Lambert, who has come under intense criticism recent weeks. Following a poor run of results, Aston Villa recently slipped into the relegation zone.
Lambert has been criticised for his stance on the two players, who have a lot of experience of playing in the Premier league. The lack of experience within the Villa squad has been one of the main reasons for their low league positions. Meanwhile, Fulham have also been linked with the 18-year-old Barnsley defender Stones.