The Craven Cottage manager had looked at the Italy Under-21 international for some time before bringing him to the club before the transfer window closed.

He made his debut for the Cottagers in their 1-0 win over Portsmouth in the Barclays Premier League on Wednesday night, a result which brought to an end a five-match losing streak for Hodgson's side.

The 20-year-old's power and pace caused the Pompey defence some problems but Hodgson knows it will take time for him to fully adapt to English football.

"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 coach 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.

"We're not saying don't worry if Andy Johnson's not around because we have Stefano Okaka, that would be placing far too much responsibility on his shoulders."

Okaka missed a golden opportunity to mark his debut with a goal in the first half after he glanced a header wide from five yards out.

Despite the glaring miss, the Fulham fans gave Okaka a standing ovation when he was replaced by Nevland with 20 minutes left.

Hodgson, who takes his side to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, believes the Italian will be able to get over the miss sooner rather than later.

"I told him not to worry about it," the 62-year-old said.

"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."