NATIONAL striker Ricardo Fuller has asked for an extra week of absence from pre-season training with English club Stoke City to rebuild his grandmother’s house which was gutted by fire during the security forces’ recent incursion of Tivoli Gardens.

The security forces were on the hunt for Tivoli Gardens strongman-turned-fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, resulting in at least 73 deaths in West Kingston.

Fuller, who is in the island following the English Premier League where his club finished 11th, told the Observer the home where he grew up in Tivoli was destroyed by fire.

Said Fuller: “I’m trying to get some extra days because my grandmother’s house got burned down and all the expenses are coming out of my pocket, so I have to deal with all of that.”

He added: “My uncle only came out with his underpants because he was held in the jail that they set up down there and no one was there to out the fire, so he lost everything. That’s a big problem for me; we’ll have to rebuild it because we lost everything in it.”

Fuller, a former Camperdown Manning Cup star, came to prominence while leading Tivoli Gardens to the Premier League title in 1999.

In 2001 he made a £1million-move to English club Crystal Palace before returning to Jamaica. He then went on loan to Scottish club Hearts.

The striker returned to England with Preston North End where he scored 27 goals in 58 league games, which prompted Portsmouth to shell out £1million for his services.

Fuller never really settled at Portsmouth and joined Southampton in 2005, before Stoke signed him for £500,000 in 2007. He has become an influential member of the first team and his goals helped Stoke gain promotion to the Premier League in 2008.

But with two years left on his current contract, Fuller said negotiations are ongoing and that could be finalised as soon as he returns to England.

“That won’t continue until I go back up. I have two more years left on my contract and if they want keep me, no problem. If they want to sell me, then its up to them,” he pointed out.

Fuller, 30, who donated £1,000 to his adopted school, the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School in Stony Hill, said he was not too pleased with his personal performance last season.

“Personally it was a bit underachieving because last year I had 11 goals and this year I have eight goals. But the positive… is that my performance… is more consistent. I’ve managed to up my performance and keep it at a high level,” he told the Observer.

Fuller has so far scored some 98 club goals, with 39 coming for Stoke from 141 appearances. The wily player has so far scored 11 goals in 60 appearances for Jamaica.