Fulham have emerged as genuine rivals to Bundesliga side Hamburg in the race sign Swedish goal machine Marcus Berg from Dutch club FC Groningen.

As ExtraFootie told you yesterday, the 22-year-old had seemed set for a move to the AOL Arena after the German club were said to have agreed a €10million (£8m) fee with the Eredivisie outfit for the former IFK Gothenburg ace.

However, Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson has stepped up his interest in the hitman, who hit the headlines after scoring an impressive seven goals in this summer's Under-21 European Championship's including a brace against England in the semi-finals.

Hodgson is keen to bring a proven goalscorer to Craven Cottage ahead of next season's Europa League campaign and Berg appears to have become his top target after been linked with moves for Portsmouth's England striker Peter Crouch and Polish Player of the Year Pawel Brozek from Wisla Krakow.

Groningen director Hans Nijland was yesterday quoted as saying that Hamburg was Berg's preferred destination but the Dutch club's manager Henk Veldmate has now revealed that Fulham have entered the race and have held talks regarding the prolific striker.

"Those two clubs Fulham and Hamburg are the only ones left who are now in conversation with us when it comes to Marcus Berg," he told The Sun.

"We have had some meetings with both clubs. We will see what happens in the next couple of days.

"But I can say both these clubs have been concrete in their interest and we know Marcus wants to leave us for a bigger club."