Fulham Transfer News: Lewis Holtby and Kostas Mitroglou Deals Completed

Fulham have signed Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby on loan and snapped up the permanent services of Olympiacos striker Kostas Mitroglou as the club bid to escape relegation from the Premier League.

Update from Friday, Jan. 31

The official Fulham website confirmed news of Mitroglou's arrival:

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Fulham Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Greece international Konstantinos Mitroglou on a four-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee, seeing the player at Craven Cottage until the summer of 2018. 

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Rio Ferdinand quickly reacted to the news by pointing out the additional benefit to Manchester United:

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Fulham had earlier confirmed Holtby's move via their official Twitter account:

Sky Sports tweeted a video of Holtby training with the West London club on Friday:

Fulham have won just three times in nine games since Rene Meulensteen was promoted to replace Martin Jol, and they currently sit 19th in the Premier League table on 19 points.

A 6-0 defeat at Hull and a 4-1 home loss against Sunderland have left the Cottagers looking like relegation candidates, but Meulensteen has decided to do something about it by leaping into action in the transfer market.

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

The addition of 23-year-old Holtby adds some energy to a midfield that currently consists of Scott Parker, 33, and Steve Sidwell, 31.

On the official club website, Fulham confirmed he will wear the No. 10 shirt, and he will be expected to add some more creativity to the side along with Clint Dempsey who also joined on loan this month.

Former Arsenal target Holtby arrived at Tottenham last January from Schalke with a big reputation, but he has failed to make the expected impact and has fallen out of favour under new head coach Tim Sherwood.

Tottenham's midfield looks overstocked, meaning Holtby could be available for a permanent move in the summer. That means Fulham should benefit from the arrival of the Germany international, and Holtby will feel he has something to prove in order to put his career back on track.

Mitroglou, meanwhile, will arrive at Craven Cottage with a lot of expectation after scoring 21 goals in 23 games for club and country this season, per Soccerbase.

Bryan Ruiz has been allowed to leave the club and Dimitar Berbatov could also be headed for the exit, while Darren Bent and Hugo Rodallega have failed to take their chances.

With so many out-of-sorts strikers in his ranks, Meulensteen is gambling on the unproven Mitroglou to provide the firepower to shoot Fulham to safety.

But given their sticky situation at the foot of the table, the club have little choice but to take a chance in order to stay in the top flight.