Fulham boss Roy Hodgson insists he has received no contact from Arsenal with regards his promising defender Chris Smalling.

The 20-year-old has been strongly linked with a move across the capital to the Emirates, with Arsenal said to be readying an offer.

Smalling has only just broken into Hodgson’s first-team plans having been plucked from non-league Maidstone in June 2008.

His progress has been such Arsenal are said to be monitoring his situation at Craven Cottage, but Hodgson is confident Arsene Wenger would ring him if there is genuine interest.

“If Arsenal are interested, then I guess they better get in touch with us,” said Hodgson.

“I have not spoken to Arsene at all. It has never been mentioned, and our chief executive has not spoken to their chief executive, so presumably that means they have got no interest, or the interest is being generated by someone else in the club or outside the club.

“Arsene made it clear to me with Brede Hangeland, he said: ‘If I had been interested in signing Brede Hangeland, the first person I would have contacted would have been you’.

“I believe that, and fully expect when he wants to sign a Fulham player, I will be the first one to hear.”

While Hodgson is keen to keep his squad intact he has also been linked with making market moves his own.