Fulham Transfer News: Cottagers Sign Petric and Reunite Him with Martin Jol

While Italy was busy advancing to the Euro 2012 final on Thursday, Fulham were busy securing the signature of Croatian forward Mladen Petric.

Petric previously played for Hamburg in the German Bundesliga for four seasons, with his first season being played under current Fulham manager Martin Jol.

This ESPN story gives all the information on the transfer, which was a free one, as Petric was let go by Hamburg at the end of the season.

This will be the first time playing in England for the 31-year-old Croatian international, who has also spent time with FC Grasshopper and FC Basel in Switzerland as well as Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

However, it will not be the first time that Petric will be playing at Craven Cottage as he did so during the 2009-10 Europa League semifinals, in which Hamburg lost to Fulham and Petric scored the only goal for his former club.

Petric will be an addition to Fulham's attack that already includes Moussa Dembele, Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz.

The good news for Jol and Fulham is that Petric has played under Jol in the past, and although he will not be able to just walk in and feel comfortable, it should take him a shorter amount of time than other transfers to fit into Jol's model of play.

The signing of Petric also helps cover up the loss of Pavel Pogrebnyak, who Fulham failed to sign permanently this week. The Russian who spent time on loan at Craven Cottage last season signed with Reading.

As for Petric's statistics, he has earned 44 caps for Croatia since 2001 and played 98 games for Hamburg in four seasons, scoring 38 Bundesliga goals.