By IVES GALARCEP
So maybe Clint Dempsey’s days at Tottenham aren’t numbered after all.
Just three days after a report in the UK claimed that Tottenham was actively shopping the U.S. Men’s National Team captain, Dempsey’s agent stepped forward to refute the claims and stress that Dempsey is not being shopped around.
“I have been in constant contact with Tottenham and they are happy with Clint and he’s happy with the club,” Lyle Yorks, Dempsey’s agent, told SBI. “He’s reporting back shortly. He’ll be back there and will be in Hong Kong (for pre-sesaon) and everything’s good.
“Things could change obviously if a team came in with a big offer, but they are not actively trying to move Dempsey.”
A report in the Times of London last week identified Dempsey as one of the several players Tottenham is actively trying to unload, but according to Yorks, there is no truth to that report.
“There have been no meetings and no discussions. Not with Tottenham or with any other teams about Clint,” said Yorks, who recently completed Jozy Altidore’s transfer to Sunderland. “His focus right now is returning to the team and helping them qualify for Champions League.”
Dempsey scored 12 goals in all competitions for Tottenham last season, and finished with seven goals and four assists in English Premier League club for Spurs.
Tottenham is in the process of overhauling their roster after finishing in fifth place in the Premier League, one spot out of a UEFA Champions League place. Jermaine Defoe, Emmanuel Adebayor, David Bentley, Tom Huddlestone and Scott Parker are just some of the players who have been moved, or are being moved as Andres Villas Boas revamps his roster.
Tottenham has already landed one big-ticket signing in Brazilian midfielder Paulinho, but his arrival is set to be an upgrade from the likes of Huddlestone and Parker. Spurs are currently in the market for a forward to replace Defoe and Adebayor, with Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke a reported target.
Where does this all leave Dempsey? With so many other players already identified as being on the move from Spurs, it seems unlikely Dempsey would be joining the likes of Defoe, Adebayor and Parker on the way out the door at White Hart Lane, and at the age of 30, Dempsey is unlikely to generate the type of transfer offer it would take for it to make sense for Tottenham to move him.