Dembele wants to leave Spurs - merged threads

[premFlem]

I think spuds thought theyd get more goals out of him than they did. bigger clubs expect that from this type of player.

[Twig]

Not many of our ex players have gone on to bigger & better times. I can only think of Alan Mullery, Bobby Robson & Alan Clark. Louis Saha was plagued by injury.

Paul Parker?

[Twig]

Fulham midfielder leaves to join Spurs. Player hates Spurs. Player's leaves Spurs. Player's career reaches all time low. Player does interview in paper 10 years later saying why they should never have left Fulham.

Never seen that before.

Perfect summary

[ToodlesMcToot]

Not many of our ex players have gone on to bigger & better times. I can only think of Alan Mullery, Bobby Robson & Alan Clark. Louis Saha was plagued by injury.

EVDS didn't do too badly for himself.

[cmg]

Ray Houghton won 2 League (PL) winner's, 2 FA Cup winner's, a League Cup winner's medals and 73 caps after leaving us.

[ToodlesMcToot]

I'd also add Chris Smalling.

[premFlem]

Not many of our ex players have gone on to bigger & better times. I can only think of Alan Mullery, Bobby Robson & Alan Clark. Louis Saha was plagued by injury.

Steve Finnan  Tony Gale SuperMac

[fulhaman]

I would love to have this guy back. I think he is the difference between us being a top 10 team. I reckon spurs will ask 20 million plus sadly

[WayneKerrins]

Amazed to see clubs like Aston Villa and Newcastle linked with him. He is a champions league player. Napoli must be front runners at the moment.

Hughes was the manager when he was signed (I think) but apparently Hughes did not want it to go ahead.  Anyway, I doubt we will see him back. Not sure he would fancy a relegation battle. That will do his WC hopes no good at all.
Most likely will be looking at the likes of Saints, Swansea, Newcastle,  you know, all those teams which Fulham were better than until Jol came in.

Not true Hughes was after him when he was Blackburn manager (google it).

[FFC1987]

I think Hughes was desperate for him, I think it was our main man Roy who quoted about not being keen on him at the time and said he was wrong or something along those lines. Can't find the report I read. Maybe wrong though.

[Konchesky #3]

I would love to see Dembele return, the last match he played for us was the 5-0 drubbing we gave Norwich on the first day of the Season last year that he was instrumental to!

It does however seem unlikey given that leaving a smaller club for (arguably) a bigger club and then returning because you could get game time at your new team isn't the best move professionally. Both Jol and Khan Will have to make an attractive offer, I would be very disappointed if they didn't at the very least!

[MikeCdawg]

Hughes was the manager when he was signed (I think) but apparently Hughes did not want it to go ahead.  Anyway, I doubt we will see him back. Not sure he would fancy a relegation battle. That will do his WC hopes no good at all.
<b/>Most likely will be looking at the likes of Saints, Swansea, Newcastle,  you know, all those teams which Fulham were better than until Jol came in.<b/>

or you could say we were better than those teams until they brought in Pochettino and Laudrup (not convinced that Newcastle are better than us)

OR you could say we were the better team until the man in question ,Dembele, decided to leave!

[EJL]

I would love to see Dembele return, the last match he played for us was the 5-0 drubbing we gave Norwich on the first day of the Season last year that he was instrumental to!

It does however seem unlikey given that leaving a smaller club for (arguably) a bigger club and then returning because you could get game time at your new team isn't the best move professionally. Both Jol and Khan Will have to make an attractive offer, I would be very disappointed if they didn't at the very least!

His last appearance was Man United away, arguably his best ever performance for us.

[fulham traveller]

he will never come back, another players spuds have ruined, spurs will try to sell for 25m and settle for 19-22m, typical levy, love to see him back, but it will never happen

[Walsh]

holy poo!! I'd happily give them their money back for him.

[Bracken White]

In a heatbeat I'd have him - but I fear pure fantasy! Great footballer & what a difference he'd make!

[Jack Fulham]

I think Hughes was desperate for him, I think it was our main man Roy who quoted about not being keen on him at the time and said he was wrong or something along those lines. Can't find the report I read. Maybe wrong though.

In Michael Calvin's book 'the nowhere men'. Their is a story about Barry Simmonds our chief scout taking Roy over to Holland to watch Dembele play. Dembele was playing on the wing (Simmonds had seen him play centrally) and Roy was not impressed and implied that Simmonds had basically wasted his time. Roy called him to apologise and tell him he was right about him later on though.

I've also heard Roy went to watch Bryan Ruiz play when he was starring for Genk in Belgium and didn't fancy him either.

[cmg]

With Murphy we had someone who could pass it out of midfield. With Dembele we has someone who could bring it out, he wasn't that quick but he ALWAYS beat the first man. We did not replace either.

Dembele, whenever I have seen him this year, seems to have lost nothing of his former talents and he would be of enormous benefit to us, and guaranteed regular work. Any possibility of him returning should be relentlessly persued.

[ron]

With Murphy we had someone who could pass it out of midfield. With Dembele we has someone who could bring it out, he wasn't that quick but he ALWAYS beat the first man. We did not replace either.

Dembele, whenever I have seen him this year, seems to have lost nothing of his former talents and he would be of enormous benefit to us, and guaranteed regular work. Any possibility of him returning should be relentlessly persued.

He has certainly lost that tendency to play "L" shaped football...attack down the middle and turn left or right when reaching the "D". He has matured into the perfect fit for what we need right now, but alas, as everyone has pointed out, so has the price.

...Which makes everyone feel that we've been royally had yet again by Spurs. Thank goodness that Haynesey didn't take the bait when they (and AC Milan) tried it on him.

[b+w geezer]

I'd also be pleased and extremely surprised if he returned [within the next 6 years] but deduce I think less of him than most in this thread appear to. I don't dispute the skills that others refer to. However, by the highest standards, it's not just about skills -- or even skills+sweat. You need to be one of the best there is in an aspect of the game that directly affects the outcome, hence league position, hence revenue. Numbers will have been crunched on this, and Mousa doesn't quite do that. He's a fine ball carrier and retainer, but neither an attacking midfielder who's incisive in and around the box (feeble goal and assist figures even with Spurs), nor a visionary, nor precisely a defensive midfielder. So he's not indispensable within a strong squad.

When he left here, some were surprised he had not gone upmarket from Spurs. Well it still might happen, but what would be the special quality (affecting outcomes of matches) that a Real Madrid would be looking to him for? As a quality squad filler, that's one thing. For nailed on starter status at the highest level it's another. And even at a little below the highest level, it seems.