Fulham signed former Real and Lyon defensive midfielder M.Diarra. It's been a while since he has been a key player for anyone, but if he is anywhere near to his Real days I think he could help out. He's another option as someone to anchor the midfield next to Murphy and behind that attacking midfield trio.
Any idea if he was a relatively cheap signing? He has amazing pedigree winning a ton of hardware at Lyon and Real but he's also 30 and only played 9 games in the past 13 months with Monaco.
How disappointing would that be to Deuce if he actually got a statue at Fulham. He's there at the unveiling with his statue next to the Michael Jackson statue and possibly a Whitney Houston statue.
Great to see Dempsey getting some love. USSF need to definitely pimp him out as the "face of US SOCCER". He would draw lots of attention and respect.
I guess they thought that given the fact that they were reporting on Great Britain's number one sport, they could also slide by with that nation's standards for journalistic fact checking.
Even more technically, it was only true for an instant. After he joined McBride as the only Americans to score in 2 world cups, he and McBride persisted for 6 days as "TOATSI2WC" after which they were joined by Donovan as "TOATSI2WC". But don't worry, for that whole time Donovan maintained the lead as having the most vocal fans reacting to every imagined slight of his glory
So . . . let the "Dempsey to every club in Italy" rumors start now. I wonder if he's tactically disciplined enough for that league. The pace of play would suit him.
Milan reportedly inquired about him this past summer, but found the price to be too high. Imagine if we had MB and Dempsey running around in Milan's midfield next season
get this man out of Fulham. Isn't he out of contract either this season or next? There's a reasonably selling price to be had
The next. Look at it from Fulham pov. They have a choice to make. Keep their top and most consistent scorer or get $15 million for him.
after his golazo against Juve last year and now a match winner against the Azzurri, I think it's reasonable to expect a couple of sincere poach efforts from Serie A clubs. Probably not the glory teams, but I could see offers from perennial high mid-tablers like Udinese, Palermo, Catania, or Napoli... maybe even Roma or Lazio, given their slightly disappointing 2012 seasons Next to Spain, Italy is the toughest of leagues for an American attacker to to break into but Clint has the track record now to deflect negative reactions from fans and press. FWIW, Rossi and MB's performances also have to be contributing factors to ease the psychological resistance to bringing in un attacante Americano to Italy's highest stage.
Udinese are a team that buy young players with a high resale probability. Palermo are a similar team, they bring in young South Americans and cash out after a few years. Napoli might have potential, but frankly the only way that is happening is if Cavani, Lavezzi or Hamsik are sold and if they are, Napoli are no longer a top Serie A team. Honestly if he's going to leave Fulham it should be for a team like Juventus, Milan, Inter of Roma. I suppose moving to Serie A would be easier on the body in his later years, but since he's very comfortable in London I think he'd need a real step up to relocate the family.
I know it's not a popular topic here because people aren't Italian football fans but if he can get with top Italian side I say do it. Like you say it will add a few years of top class football onto his career. The pace of the game in Italy seems would be great for Dempsey. You get a bit more time on the ball and flashy players like Demspey do well. There's no room for him at Roma with Totti, Lamela, Bojan, Borini, Osvaldo and we might go after Eriksen (who's a Roma fan). So I would say Inter but they have issues. I'm not sure Juve need him. Maybe Milan, I think they need one or two midfielders to really be a top top class side. It doesn't look like De Laurentiis is going to fold on Hamsik. I don't think wants to sell any of the Big 3 to Italian clubs, Milan in particular. So you never know.
It would be tres interesting to see Clint in Italy or Spain. He would definitely find an even greater challenge there. Star Trek territory, but if we have anyone who can do it, it's him. though a part of me wants him to stay in the PL, but head to either Liverpool or Arsenal.
I wouldn't mind him at Liverpool. Seriously I think he and Suarez would get along well. Just put Carroll up top and tell him to knock it down to both lads, his goals might increase.
Juve and Buffon should remember him well enough, looking good for them for UCL as well. Still hoping for Valencia personally.
Article positing why Dempsey has not attracted more big club interest? http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/01/just-how-good-is-clint-dempsey/