When many think of legendary Fulham defenders in the Premier League era, the names Zat Knight, Brede Hangeland or Aaron Hughes may spring to mind. On this occasion however, we highlight a man, who spent five years with the Cottagers and achieved cult status amongst fans. That man is Moritz Volz.

'Volzy' made a move to West London, in August 2003 when he moved on loan to Fulham from Arsenal before making the move permanent in January 2004. Volz joined Fulham at the same time as some other club legends. In that January transfer window, Fulham signed the two American legends; Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride and Dutch winger Collins John.

The then Fulham manager Chris Coleman made this comment to Fulham's official site when Volz' move was made permanent: "I am very glad that we have secured a permanent deal with Moritz. He has been a great asset to us this season and is a quality defender.

He is still very young but shows great maturity on the pitch and I know that he will continue to work hard to develop as a player during his time here."

'The Hoff', 'The Electrician' and 'Mr Resistor'

In his early years with the club, Volz collected a number of nicknames by the Fulham faithful. The simple choice was Volzy but the more elaborate ones included: The Electrician; Mr Resistor; The Lightbulb and 220 Volz. The last one was a play on the voltage of plug sockets in Europe.

Volz also earned the nickname of the Hoff, due to his adulation of David Hasselhoff. Volz also bucked the trend of footballers turning up in very expensive cars by riding his bike to every single home game at both the temporary home of Loftus Road and Craven Cottage.

Volz' love for David Hasselhoff lead to a very fortunate stroke of good luck when, he had 'The Hoff's' written into his boots for the fixture against Aston Villa in October 2006, Volz scored his first goal in over three years.

Volz etches name in Premier League history

Volz was rewarded for his time at Craven Cottage with a contract extension in December 2006 which would see him stay at the club till 2009.

In the same month Volz would leave his permanent mark on the Premier League when on 30th December 2006, Volz scored the 15,000th goal of the Premier League era in the West London Derby at Stamford Bridge. The game may have ended in a 2-2 draw with Volz' goal opening the scoring. A Liam Roseiner own goal and Didier Drogba strike put Chelsea ahead before Bocanegra equalised to earn Fulham a deserved point.

At the time there was a little bit of controversy whether or not Volz should be awarded the goal, as his shot did take a deflection off of Paulo Ferriera. Volz told Evening Standard then: "I got a bit of stick from the lads because it took a deflection off Ferriera, but they don't seem to understand that I did that on purpose just to wrong foot the keeper"

People were asked to text into Sky Sports saying who they think would score the goal and only one person said Volz. That person was presented with a special award prior to the game against Watford.

Volz asked the Premier League sponsor Barclays to donate £15,000 to three charities: Kick 4 Life, The Prince's Trust and Fulham Football Club's Community charity.

Volz's switch to Suffolk

In August 2008, Volz left Fulham for Ipswich Town on a season long loan to help the Tractor Boys' promotion push that season.

A year later, Fulham released Volz and he gave a farewell message to fans on the clubs website.

Volz would have to wait nearly a year to find another club, which turned out to be FC St Pauli.

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