Slavisa Jokanovic believes he will persuade Moussa Dembele to stay one more season at Fulham.
The teenage sensation was on the cusp of joining Tottenham in January until negotiations broke down, and has expressed ambitions for the future.
But Fulham’s head coach insists he can talk the one half of Whites scoring act into extending his contract when the current one runs out in June.
Dembele has hit 16 of the 39 goals shared with Ross McCormack - 62 per cent of the club’s total, and after convincing Mac the Attack to commit to Fulham’s future, Joka wants to get the same promise from the Frenchman.
Jokanovic said: “I believe there is a possibility to get Moussa to stay.
“I know it’s his decision; his agent’s and his family around him. He’s a very clever guy; he’s very young, and 100 per cent he has a future in front of him.
In pictures: Moussa Dembele's magnificent season for Fulham
“What Fulham can offer him can be the best way for him.
“He has a career which is 16 years more, and he has to make a choice as to how he travels these 16 years. He needs to be very clever and choose what’s best for him.”
The head coach hopes a reminder of what the club has already done for Dembele since he joined as nothing more than a promising 14-year-old, and how he can protect the France U20 international from a frustrating time on the bench of a Premier League club, will do the trick.
“What’s best for him, is best for us too, and so he can play a season more in the club,” Jokanovic added. “Moussa is a Fulham boy and Fulham gave him many things.
“I’m not so sentimental about this. But he can decide to give us something and we will give him something back. It’s still better here for him here in the future.”
