Clint Dempsey's tremendous season for Fulham has not gone unnoticed overseas after all.
After being left off the Professional Footballers' Association Premier League Team of the Year, Dempsey took fourth in the Football Writers' Association voting for Premier League Player of the Year.
Arsenal striker Robin van Persie, who won the PFA's Player of the Year award, doubled up with the FWA POY trophy as well, finishing ahead of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes and Dempsey, respectively. Van Persie matched Rooney's 2010 feat of winning both awards. Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry were the previous two players to do that, each winning them twice (Ronaldo, 2007-2008; Henry, 2003-2004).
For Dempsey, his 16 Premier League goals are tied for fourth behind only Van Persie, Rooney and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero.
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RANGERS HIT WITH TRANSFER BAN
Times are not getting any easier at Glasgow Rangers, and that could make for a mass exodus of players when the summer transfer window opens.
The financially strapped Scottish power was hit with a one-year transfer ban, and former owner Craig Whyte was banned from Scottish soccer for life after being found guilty by the Scottish Football Association of a number of financial violations.
The club's administrators are still seeking a viable ownership group to take over Whyte's majority stake in the club, but that could be made a bit tougher with the fact that any prospective owner won't be able to bring in new players for a year and that current players will be sold for lower transfer fees than normal to help the club generate the funds necessary to pay off all of its debt and sanctions. That means that Americans Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya could be on the fast track out of Glasgow within the next couple of months.
Rangers can, and are likely to, appeal the punishment.
BECKHAM'S PLACE AT OLYMPICS NOT GUARANTEED
Plenty believe that David Beckham's place on the Team Great Britain roster is a sure thing, but TGB manager Stuart Pearce is taking a more step-by-step approach before anointing Beckham as one of his overage players. Pearce will be making a visit to the United States to see Beckham play before ultimately making his decision.
"I'll know a bit more about David Beckham's chances when I go to the States and see him," Pearce told the BBC. "He's been a great ambassador, but that's no guarantee he'll get in the squad. I'm picking on form and merit alone."
After a slow start to the season for the Los Angeles Galaxy, Beckham has picked up his play over the last two games, scoring a Goal of the Week against Portland before setting up the Galaxy's first goal in their 2-1 win in Colorado over the weekend.
SCHALKE: ALL FINE BETWEEN JONES, HUNTELAAR
Schalke is playing down notions of in-house strife after U.S. national team midfielder Jermaine Jones and striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar reportedly fought during a training session last week.
The two starters had to be separated by teammates during a practice prior to last weekend's 1-1 draw against Augsburg, a match that both players started. Huntelaar scored the game-tying goal for Schalke, who sit two points clear of Borussia Monchengladbach for third place in the Bundesliga with two matches to go. A third-place finish would seal automatic entry into next season's UEFA Champions League group stage, while finishing fourth would put the club into the qualifying round.
The fight is not the first at a training session for a U.S. soccer player in recent years, as Oguchi Onyewu and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a well-documented one in Nov., 2010, while both were playing at AC Milan, with Onyewu breaking one of Ibrahimovic's ribs in the skirmish.
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Happy to see Dempsey get recognized by the FWA? What's your take on everything going on at Rangers? Hope to see Bocanegra, Edu and Bedoya get out of there ASAP? Think Pearce is just blowing smoke and that Beckham is a shoo-in for the Olympic roster? What do you make of Jones and Huntelaar getting into a fight?
Share your thoughts below.