Lauri has returned to Premier League side after successful loan spell

The Finnish striker Lauri Dalla Valle has returned to Fulham after his latest loan deal expired after the weekend, but boss Steve Davis has not ruled out re-signing the goal poacher before the end of the window. Dalle Valle scored five goals in his 10 appearances for the club and he became a firm favourite with the Crewe Alexandra supporters due to his incredible work-rate for the team.

Davis was full of praise for the former Liverpool man, but says that he needs to give his own players, AJ Leitch-Smith and Max Clayton a chance to stake their claim for a regular place in the team.

Steve told crewealex.net: “Lauri has returned to Fulham but that is still left open with Fulham. We could revisit that again before the end of January.

“I just felt that we need to give AJ and Max a go. Lauri has done very well for us and scored some really important goals. He has scored a goal every other game which is a decent record.

“We could look at it again in two or three weeks time, if our own don’t produce. They have to live with that pressure and I have had a chat with them about what I expect. All footballers play under pressure and they have to cope with it.”