Last Updated: Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:30
Roy Hodgson has said loan signing Stefano Okaka "does not speak a word of English" and will take "a lot of time" to settle at Fulham.
Okako made his debut in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth on Wednesday and generally underwhelmed with his performance, missing one great chance in the first half when he headed wide with the goal seemingly at his mercy.
Cottagers boss Hodgson has admitted the new boy will need time to adjust to his new surroundings and he has warned fans not to expect too much too soon from the Roma forward.
"I think Okaka's going to take a lot of time. He's a young raw player and had Erik Nevland not had that toe problem he would not have started," the former Inter Milan boss said.
"He doesn't speak a word of English at the moment and my Italian's nowhere near as good as it used to be.
"I'm sure he will get better and I'm sure he will turn out to be a useful signing for us.
"But he's not a saviour by any stretch of the imagination. He's a player we were able to get in on loan for this period of time and a player who has some interesting characteristics that we might be able to use, but he's not the man who will carry us."
On his missed chance against Pompey, Hodgson added: "I told him not to worry about it.
"He's devastated by it because in Italy mistakes are magnified 100 times and I think it would take him years to live it down over there, but it will probably only take a few weeks here.
"If I was him I would put it into perspective by looking at the wonderful back-heeled goal for Roma the other day."