Time is running short on Clint Dempsey's hopes at moving clubs before Friday's summer transfer deadline, but Fulham manager Martin Jol revealed that potential for a move is there as the club has ongoing talks with others about a transfer for the U.S. national team star.
Jol used Sunderland by name in his latest comments, marking the second club he has specifically identified as a potential landing spot along with Liverpool. Jol did, however, offer the caveat that a move to the Black Cats would be "difficult" to pull off, and it is far from the Champions League-caliber club Dempsey has had in mind.
“There is still nothing on the table but discussions are ongoing with more than one club,” Jol said on Fulham's official website. “I expect a few things to happen soon. We are talking to several clubs, but it is up to him and his desire to go to a Champions League club.
“Maybe that won’t happen, but certainly I expect a few clubs to be in the mix for him. Sunderland is one of them, but I think that will be difficult. There are different clubs with different scenarios and different ideas, but we know exactly what we want, and if other clubs come up with the right deal then we’ll do it.”
What do you think of this development? Where do you see Dempsey winding up? Would you be satisfied with a move to Sunderland?
Share your thoughts below.
I regret using the the word “stupid” (2x even) in my response. Silly thing to do. Sorry.
My entire sporting hope this year, in any sport, is that Fulham get relegated.
Not likely with some of the faces joining up (surprise, surprise…NOW they’re adding talent) but it’d make my year.
Yes, I’m spiteful. Yes, I think Jol is absolute scum.
Awww, did a couple of 14 year olds on a blog scare you off? There is no anti-american feeling among their fanbase, that’s just banter on a message board. I’m fortunate enough that my work takes me to London about 4 times a year. I’ve got dozens of friends among the Fulham fans, and they’ve been supporters for decades, like their fathers, and their fathers before them.
Fulham’s been around for 130 years, and very few of them have been in the top flight. Their fans are just as devoted as any in England. Some American shows for the first time in a USMNT jersey or spouting “Dempsey is their best player ever” and of course they may get some grief, I’d give it to them myself. Clint has been rated highly by the supporters for most of his time there. He’s been player of the year twice and never finished lower than third during his tenure.
If you can ever get to London, go to the Cottage, I promise you’ll have a great time.
Clint IS NOT going to Sunderland unless he agrees to a new contract extension.
“clint, just get back on the field! at this point, it doens’t matter where.”
Sure it does.
That’s what this whole situation was about.
Dempsey move now needed by FFC to pay for Berbie…Maybe Deuce still has the leverage after all. I cant bear this wait.
The only red jersey I want him in is the one that has him slightly behind Podolksi and in front of Arteta and Cazorla.
It’s prolly premature to say this but French strikers need to go home in favor of some Texas.
You do understand it’s this notion that teams should just acquiesce to whatever players want because they’ll inevitably leave that helps make Europe the non-competitive, top-heavy, set of leagues it is? Smaller teams get blackmailed into this all the time, and Fulham is standing up and saying no. Dembele kind of proves my point, they held out, got way more money, and are better off for it. They are in no way obligated to sell Dempsey for less than they want, he signed a contract, he needs to play. HE can leave for free in a year, otherwise suck it up.
Look, did Jol say some stupid stuff? Yes. Is it the most evil thing ever? No. Oh also Liverpool isn’t a bigger challenge.
Not transferring him just because Clint wants out is not ‘classless’. Saying Clint won’t play was wrong, but it is more a function of an incredibly inequitable system than anything else. When you’re Fulham, sometimes you have to play hardball.
CSD, I now award you first place for the absolute stupidest comment up to this point on the Clint Dempsey transfer mess. If Clint still had two or three years to go on his contract and cried and wanted out, then you might have point. But it is common for players in the final year of a contract like Clint who don’t want to sign an extension to be transferred with the Club getting a nice transfer fee return. Most teams will do this, especially for a dedicated loyal player of 5+ years like Clint. But Jol and Fulham from the very beginning have put a massive fight and have treated Clint like sh!+.
Your stupid comment probably is a pretty good reflection of how Martin Jol and Fulham management feels and shows that they have absolutely no respect for Clint as a human being or his young family.
Which is kind of where I’m headed. Fulham probably doesn’t want to let go of him cheap, and Dempsey has his own priorities. Factor into that that some teams may see his plight as their own bit of leverage, “FFC has to sell him somewhere,” which may be used to try to surpress the price. It feels like a situation where something may have to give. FFC may have to be content just getting him out of the team for a decent but not high fee, Dempsey may not get his CL, and the purchasing team may not get a total bargain. Or some mix of those.
Highly possible, but also possible that Martin Jol and Fulham had the brass knuckles out from the very beginning and thought they if they kept beating on Clint he would break down and sign the contract extension. Shows how stupid Jol and Fulham are. Clint didn’t crack.
ha-ha. very good–and so true.
The EPL has never been great for an American, Clint’s the only field player to see this kind of success. Americans are definitely achieving more and more success every season though.
That is a great post, as is Eric K’s up above. I have been baffled by the lack of overwhelming, strong and loud support from USMNT fans on this board for Clint Dempsey in this whole mess and its good to see other’s are as disgusted with Martin Jol and Fulham billionaire owner Mohamed Al-Fayedd and the Fulham fan’s now spewing their hate against Clint on their message boards. Clint has got to get out of that sorry situation at all costs and go to a team that wants him and will treat him better have him playing regularly. I think right now Champions League play is the least of his worries. Everton would be great, and like the guy above says, he could do worse than Sunderland. And maybe getting out of England and the whole controversy would be best. Some teams in Germany would be interesting–Hannover, Gladbach and even Hoffenheim–not to mention Dortmund or Schalke.
And if Fulham does not let him go–I don’t even want to think about that.
It think it would be a drag if he ended up at Sunderland because IMO they lack the talent to push for anything more than Europa. O’Neil is a fantastic coach so it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I just don’t see how Dempsey could mentally continue to push himself on a club that is satisfied with just staying in Premier league.
I think Liverpool isn’t that far talent-wise from a CL spot, certainly closer than Fulham. I wish he would go to Everton or Tottenham but I don’t think it’s in the cards.
Fulham fans are Fulham fans first, not Dempsey fans first. It reminds me a bit of the Packers-Favre problems. Everyone found out who was a Packers fan, and who was a Favre fan.
In the big picture Fulham has been better to Americans than other teams. Dempsey screwed up by telling everyone he was going to Liverpool. Maybe Jol didn’t handle it well as all the facts aren’t out, but Dempsey handled this poorly.
Why would Fulham give a crap about what he did in the past. It’s business man. Don’t get your panties all in a wad about it, I am worried about you. It will be alright wherever he ends up. After his career is over maybe he will let you come visit him on his pimped out farm in Texas that he will be able to buy with the money from his soon to be signed mega-contract.
I beg to differ.
Odds are Dempsey will leave and the funds will be spent on others. So is how the biz works. Dempsey will get his last big contract at another club and the USMNT fans will keep thinking Dempsey was looking for something more than getting crazy money.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/manchester-united-striker-dimitar-berbatov-undergoes-medical-at-fulham-8095695.html
A move to Sunderland would be a disaster. I thought Fulham would be better to Dempsey after all these years of service, but I strongly suspect that the club and Jol don’t care about anything he’s done in the past and are just playing hardball right now. It’s set up for a bitter ending after many good years.
Liverpool would be ok, but I would really like to see Dempsey transferred to Arsenal or AC Milan, both of which are playing in the Champions League and could use a good striker of Dempsey’s caliber.
Oh the Mackems, everytime I hear that I can think only of the Honey Smacks and Dig ‘Em frog.
Here is what will happen;
Murphy left on a free; Dembele leaves to Spurs with a sell on fee when they ship him to Real Madrid in 2 years;
Clint does not leave. The shine on the new season wears off, and Clint gets blamed when Fulham are stuck in a relegation battle for the yeaar.
He leaves on a free at the end of the season because Fulham can’t pay him the same wages in the Championship.
With Bolton down, Aston Villa doing who knows what with Guzan and Lichaj glued to the bench, and nwo Dempsey’s saga with Fulham, I feel that way for the entire EPL.
This situation seems to have been incredibly botched by the Dempsey camp.
A little disappointing but I guess we still have 24 hours to see what happens…
Because professionals often make lateral moves within their careers.
Maybe his relationship with Jol has become untenable and sunderland is the best/only alternative. MON is a well respected manager, there are worse destinations.
+1
Without Dempsey, and the absurdly classless way they treated him this offseason, I won’t be watching any Fulham games this year, unless of course they are playing an opponent I want to see.
“There is still nothing on the table but discussions are ongoing with more than one club,” Jol said on Fulham’s official website. “I expect a few things to happen soon.
Translation: Okay, we lied earlier when we said we wouldn’t sell Dempsey. In fact, with the transfer window ending at the end of the day Friday, we are now desperate to do so because no one wanted to pay our ridiculously high asking price earlier, much to our incompetent surprise.
If if Fulham accepts a bid from Sunderland, Dempsey would have to agree to personal terms with them. If he makes it clear that he won’t do so, then Fulham can’t make the transfer. He still has leverage.
Gotta wonder about Dempsey’s manager.
Agreed. Also, do the same for every other suggestion.
Of course Fulham would put him in the 11, he’s the best player to have ever played for their team.
With all respect to Sunderland, it’s not a step up, just someplace for Clint to not ride the bench for 2012-13.
If LFC aren’t still interested, a German team could be a reasonable move with the possibility of some kind of eufa action.
Jol! You just can’t let Clint leave with dignity can you? I remember the days of Fulhamerica, days when it was possible to see Americans like Kasey Keller, Brian McBride, Marcus Hanhemann, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Johnson and Clint Dempsey all play. Although only 4 I think ever made it to the 11 at the same time. Fulham used to be a haven for Americans. Those days have long gone and Clint has been the sole American for a while. It’s disgraceful to watch a team so many of us have given our hearts to publicly disgrace our and their best player. Now Jol is insisting on going with the highest bidder. Clint wants new challenges in his carrier, challenges Fulham aren’t in a position to offer him. They disgrace him publicly because he wants to test his skill at a higher level, that just seems ridiculous. He is the best player to have ever called Craven Cottage home, and they’d rather tarnish his legacy and the efforts of every American who thought themselves privileged to be granted opportunities with the club; because their star player has outgrown the team.
As a Sunderland fan, and a Revs fan, I would LOVE it if Clint went to the Mackems. MON has things pointing in a positive direction; they added two big pieces last week in Johnson and Fletcher. Frankly, if Clint wants to go to a Champions League-place contender in England that actually has room for him to play, that means Arsenal or Tottenham. Liverpool has a lot of work to do to get back into that top 4. Everton looks like a better bet to do that than the Reds at this point. I would say that Sunderland has almost the same chances of pushing for a Europa League place as Liverpool, but Clint could be a much bigger piece of the puzzle there.
I used to follow how Fulham was doing but I couldn’t root for them. There was a significant anti-American feeling from their fanbase in their forums. Until last year, Clint wasn’t rated very highly by a lot of their fans.
That is my question: Is Arsenal one of them? I am not high on a Liverpool move. I would really rather see him at Arsenal.
clint, just get back on the field! at this point, it doens’t matter where. the whole saga has been ugly. i want clint back in his boots and showing his crazy skill. he’s got to move though. i can’t see him returning to the field with fulham.
that picture is balls
that could be. they got Granero from Madrid today
“There is still nothing on the table but discussions are ongoing with more than one club.” — Martin Jol
Jol has certainly changed his tune, talking about “discussions,” instead of saying not one single club has made a firm offer, as he did in his untruthful attack on Clint two weeks ago. But the plot seems to be thickening, with Jol now admitting that Fulham are talking with “several clubs,” which I would interpret to mean at least three. Wonder who they are and whether we might be in for a big surprise.
We cannot forget the Klinsmann factor, and the possibility of a German team swooping in. After Dortmund and Schalke, MB’s old team Gladbach would be my third choice. A young team that needs some experience and a great coach and in Europa League.
Technically…they’re not buying a ton of players but getting a lot on the free.
That said, Mark Hughes is quite the wheeler and dealer…so anything is possible.
The problem as I see it is that Fulham probably wants him out by now, but not at any price, and Dempsey wants out, but only “upward.” Considering the Reds and FFC were right next to each other last year, that was always mythic, and now unlikely because FFC reported Liverpool to the FA. Sunderland may or may not have the money FFC expects, and lacks the prestige Dempsey seeks. I’ll be interested if anyone meeting both criteria cares, and if not what happens. If Dempsey’s choice is teams like Sunderland, does he stay put? Would FFC even take him back, or would they push a “transfer anywhere” just to be done with it? Would Dempsey “transfer anywhere” just the same to escape?
Jol isn’t going to be the one to say no to Sunderland. Dempsey will be the one to say no to them. If they’re a step down from Fulham, or get him absolutely no closer to European football, why would he want to go there ?
I wouldn’t be surprised if QPR make a bid. Since they are buying everyone.
He won’t go to Sunderland, becaue if they pay a transfer fee for him, they are gonna want to sign him to an extended contract. he won’t eb able to just leave after next year.
I have a hard time believing he’s transferred anywhere without signing a new contract (i.e. higher wages/security for the team that just paid for his services).
I highly doubt Jol’s objective is to avoid being “rude”. Rude is outright lying/blatant defamation of character he’s committed against Dempsey’s professionalism. Maybe “rude” would be a nice term for that…perhaps classless is more applicable.
I imagine Jol is not ruling them out simply because more clubs involved would be (potentially) a higher transfer fee by sheer competition to sign his services.
If he ends up getting transferred to Sunderland, I would think he’d play out the rest of the contract and go on the open market next season. Sunderland isn’t exactly a move closer to the Champions League, nor is it London (although with the Liverpool rumors floating around, perhaps he has lightened up on that requirement?).
Jol is basically saying no to Sunderland without being rude
I swear, EVERY TIME I see this picture it makes my day. Most epic picture ever.
ACBF = Any club but Fulham, at this point.
Let’s all take the Sunderland suggestion with a grain of salt.
Go to Arsenal, Deuce!