Fulham Yourself If You Don't Believe It: Dempsey VI

Dempsey will leave in January. I am calling it. Teams like Villa, Newcastle, and possibly Liverpool will be looking to improve their squads and Dempsey will be looked at as a relatively cheap and productive signing.

 

"pound for pound", I agree. But "Pound Sterling for Pound Sterling", Clint's been one of the best buys in the EPL this decade.

 

That would be rather interesting. I myself see him leaving in the summer. Abroad for a CL team in Spain or France.

 

Agreed. He cost them I believe like $4million and helped get them to the EL final in 2010, two top 8 finishes and I'm pretty sure his jersey sells like hot cakes at CC.

 

You would have to think he's the best bang for the buck for Fulham to sell at this point.

Jol has trouble finding time for all the AM's he's stockpiled. Duff hardly sees any time. Davies is coming back from injury. Ruiz is fighting for time. Kasimi and Frei have impressed. Orlando Sa at forward could use time. And then there are Dembele, Johnson, and Zamora as the other 'starting' attacking players.

Hangeland might be worth more on the market, but he's not as replaceable. Dempsey is cup tied for Europa, I'm not sure about CL. I was a little surprised to see him still at Fulham at the end of the summer. I thought Jol would need to raise some funds, but apparently not.

 

yes, that part of my post was overlooked. Sometimes IAD just needs to spread his wings a bit.

Without Clint, under sparky fulham are without 12 to 15 points going into the xmas break and in serious danger.

At any rate, Young was part of a team that had a top 7 team salary level, Fulham was probably 17th or 18th.

The point was if you want to look at context: team dynamics, expectations and responsibility, no one carries more on his shoulders and produces more every week than Deuce.

Young had Ibangawhore, bent, heskey, carew etc. Dempsey had himself, um, duff? Dontcallmeinstant Kamara?

C'mon guys, let daddy have the big piece of chicken...

 

No it wasn't Sam, you said Bale was the only player who could come close to matching Clint for "better all around player for production" (which was a laughable comment). You didn't start talking about transfer fees until later.

And seriously Sam, can you stop with the shtick that Fulham's squad is made up of a bunch of cast offs and rejects (except for poor old Clint, of course). With the exception of lack of depth at the striker position this is a very, very good side, full of senior international players. Clint carries far less of the load than you'd like to admit...

And fyi, Fulham's wage bill is more like the 10th or 11th largest in the PL...

 

I only see Dempsey leaving in the Winter transfer window if Fulham gets knocked out of the group stages of Europa League AND is mid-table at Christmas. Only with the combination of those two scenarios will Fulham be in a position to not "need" Dempsey during the 2nd half of the season.

Of course, a big enough offer and anything can happen, but given Clint's age, I don't see an inflated bid coming for him this Winter.

 

If a decent enough offer comes in (around 10 million, like what was rumored over the summer) then I could see Fulham selling mid-winter. Clint is in the last year of his contract, and if he really wants to play in the CL there should be more than a few teams willing to take him on a free this summer. Could be Fulham's last chance to cash in (and it'll be a shame to not see Clint at the Cottage anymore).

 

He's signed through 2013.

 

Really? I could have sworn this was his last year.

Edit: Just checked Wikipedia, it is through 2013.


Anyway, if we're going to do baseless speculation, I'd like to bring Milan back up . IIRC, his agent said they asked about him over the summer. Now, Milan is without Cassano for at least 5 months, probably longer, Flamini is out for a few more months, Seedorf is really showing his age, Robinho is kinda sucking, and Pato is still made of glass. We'll probably buy a replacement for Cassano over the winter window, and I can't think of many other attacking midfielders at Clint/Cassano's level who would be available for a similar price.

 

Yes.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2009/August/DempseyExtension.aspx

 

I really don't see Fulham at mid-table on cruise control, at any point this year. To me, they are a solid relegation candidate.

While the win against Wigan was big, I didn't really see any signs that this is a team on the rise. First, they gave up a lot of clear chances, and secondly, i think there is a group of guys (Dembele, Johnson, and a few others) who are playing more for themselves than for the team. It was just a feeling i got over the last couple games that players are each trying to make that perfect pass, not digging in to help each other, etc.

Last year they weren't looking so good at this time either, so I hope I'm wrong. But i think they need Dempsey for the whole year, and he only leaves if the team is relegated or pressures them for a transfer in the summer.

 

Meh, Fulham starts shaky but ends up around 7th-9th. They may end up a little worse off but not really.

The thing about Fulham is they have quality it is just either old, young or oft injured or adjusting to the league (Ruiz). If Ruiz can be half of what he was in the
dutch league their attack should be plenty of enough. Compared to some teams like Villa or Newcastle they play some soccer that is easy on the eyes.

 

Fulham always turns it around. Their team isn't good enough that their top players can half-ass games and get results. When Fulham's best players are on top of their games, Fulham is a pretty good team.

 

Recent history shows you guys are right . . . but Wigan looked like the better team by a mile last week, and they are definitely a relegation candidate. Point is, Dempsey is exactly what Fulham needs and there is no way they are going to offload him in Jan.

 

well the wigan game was away right? Fulham are a terrible road team and thats what makes it a great win.

 

Fulham played Spurs off the pitch.... but still lost at home. All due to Friedel and his 13 freakin' saves....

 

Martin Jol is a completely overrated manager

He is a big cause of their problems than anyone else.

Hope Fulham turn it around

 

In slightly related news, Bobby Z gets the start for England.

Pretty happy for him.

 

Another 0-0 match.

 

Dempsey missed a golden chance to grab a late winner but shot wide. He looked a little tired out there today. He's had pretty heavy workload over the last month so I can't blame him.

 

Told you Hughes would kill this team.

 

Agreed. He could use a day off.

 

Dempsey's out for tonight's match.