Every team needs/wants a player who is hard working, quick on his feet, have the vision to see a pass and play it, finish with both feet and his head while also doing his bit defensively, if I said to you that you could have a player like this you would never in a million years say no, would you?
Well, this is what Fulham have in Clint Dempsey, the texan born attacking midfielder signed for Fulham from New England Revolution in January 2007 after Fulham tabled a 4million euro offer, the highest the MLS had seen up to that date! Dempsey, who was named MLS Rookie of the Year for 2004, made a sudden impact at fulham by showing quick feet and a lot of flair, Clint made his debut for Fulham in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, he then went on to score his first goal in a white shirt against Liverpool in a 1-0 home victory that virtually guarenteed safety in the Barclays Premier League.
Next season Dempsey had started netting many more goals and was converted to a striker while Brian McBride was injured short term, Dempsey was soon becoming a fans favourite at Fulham, i’m sure clashing with John Terry resulting in only the England international getting taken off hurt only helped open the fans arms to this ever-growing popular american. in the 2008 campaign Dempsey ended as Fulham’s top goalscorer for the season with six goals to his name, something he can very realistically achieve this season!
Clint Dempsey is very much proving what an asset he is for Fulham Football Club to have in their ranks, he has had to prove himself under many managers at Fulham and has succeeded in doing so, with the ability to score goals with his left foot, right foot and his head he can pop up anywhere to net an important goal for Fulham. With Clint showing his ambition of playing in the Champions League and thinking his time is running out at the age of 29 the apparent interest of big name clubs such as Manchester United, Roma and AC Milan after Clint’s so far exceptional form in the 2011-12 campaign is a slight concern for Fulham fans.
With Martin Jol at the helm he has set about bringing the squads age down as Fulham have the oldest average age squad in the Premier League, Clint is definitely out of the equasion in that bracket, should he stay at Fulham he could easily be the first player on the team sheet for another 5/6 years. While every Fulham fans would want and love Dempsey to stay at the Cottage until the end of his career, you can not deny him a big break into Champions League football, should it be overseas or in the Premier League, he has definitely earnt his spot as one of the most in-form Premier League football players. Clint is currently in talks with Fulham over a new contract extension which would keep him at the club for a further 3 years, in my opinion I think Clint should stay at Fulham and further his goal scoring tally which has seen him score some sensational goals such as the ones v Juventus at home and Stoke City away aswell as help the promising attacking team that Martin Jol has assembled climb the table, but then again what Fulham fan doesn’t?
One of the key factors that would keep Dempsey at Craven Cottage would be the contract extensions of other key team members such as; Moussa Dembele, Brede Hangeland, Andrew Johnson, Mahamadou Diarra and Danny Murphy, with all of these signing on longer contracts Fulham would certainly appeal even more to Clint and would show our burning ambition to succeed in the League, while Martin Jol is bringing ina lot of promising youngsters he is also giving our already established youngsters in the academy such as Kerim Frei, Matthew Briggs and Marcello Trotta a chance to shine, which shows that we are building for the future. Not only is Jol bringing in and playing youngsters, he is also bringing in big name signings such as Bryan Ruiz who was named Eredivise player of the year and Mahamadou Diarra once of Real Madrid! If this does not show intent then I do not have a clue what does. With Fulham having such a good attacking force Dempsey can only continue to improve on his all round game and become a well known name not only in the Premier League but also for his country United States who are becoming a vastly improved name in Football across the world.
While not only should Dempsey stay for all of these above reasons that I am rambling on about but for other reasons such as the proposed stadium expansion to the Riverside stand, should this all go ahead and Jol brings in 2 or 3 new names in the summer (especially a right back) I think Dempsey will have the determination to see out a few more years at Fulham Football Club and help them continually improve as a team and a club as a whole, while saying this Jol said he will not let Clint leave this summer whatever the price offered as he has one year left on his contract.
Here’s to many happy memories we have already shared with Clint Dempsey (unlike Robert Green) and for hopefully many more to come!
(Video I recorded of his goal v Newcastle)
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