04/26/24
January 10, 2007
Clint Dempsey going the other way: The American midfielder's work permit has gone through and he signs for Fulham. Can Deuce bring some flash to a team in need of a little sparkle?
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY to soccer at 10:53 AM - 8 comments
Lesse now. The Brits get Clint Dempsey and the Americans (potentially) get Beckham? 1. Better for attendance in America. 2. Better for Team USA as Dempsey's facing some top-flight competition. I like it. Sincerely, jingoistic American
posted by Cameron Frye at 11:45 AM on January 10, 2007
This is our couunnnnnnnnttrrrrrrrrryyyyy. This is our middie.
posted by yerfatma at 12:03 PM on January 10, 2007
I love that Clint will be playing in England. With the prospect of Gooch signing with Fulham on the horizon, Fulham is sitting in a good spot.
posted by igottheblues at 01:17 PM on January 10, 2007
I'd have thought Villa or (less so) ManU, with American ownership, would be the teams to stock up on US players. And don't forget that Man City have two of ours, DMB and Reyna, though Claudio could be coming home in the summer.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:50 PM on January 10, 2007
Blues- Gooch already turned down his offer from Fulham a week or so ago. It would have been nice though. Looking forward to see how Dempsey does, he has the skills and mentality. Billsayswhat?- Why would Man U try to get players from the US that are not as good as the internationals that they already have from all over the world? Man U doesnt want Glazer there to begin with. He has no incentive to get US players. The US players they have (Rossi and Howard) were brought in under previous ownership and are on loan to other teams because they couldn't start or get minutes with them. Think of the best US (field) player you can and imagine if he could make the Man U starting lineup...not gonna happen. No matter how hard you try to think.
posted by urall cloolis at 09:17 PM on January 10, 2007
Is this a new record for the number Americans on an EPL side at one time (Dempsey, McBride, Bocanegra)? I always kind of pull for Fulham when they're on... they're wildly inconsistent, but mostly entertaining.
posted by psmealey at 11:15 AM on January 11, 2007
urall: How can you separate what Man U wants from what the Glazers want (which is not to say all/many/most of the fans want the same thing)? IAC, I did say (less so) for them and was just focusing on the ownership since, AFAIK, Man U and Aston Villa are the two EPL clubs owned by Americans. Howard did pretty well his first season at Old Trafford, not sure what caused the problem and let Carroll jump in with him the next year, and is not doing too badly at Goodison Park this season. Rossi hasn't broken through yet but Ferguson has resisted offers to sell him on and the Italian national team has made more than one phone call trying to convince him to join the Azzuri rather than Sam's Army. Jon Spector was sold on but is not yet 21 and is starting at (true, bottom dwelling Charlton. All are still very young so writing them off now would be cluelessprecipitous. While SAF has produced an excellent record so far this season and IMO are strong candidates for another treble there are players getting regular minutes on the team that have fizzled and should be replaced (Fletcher, O'Shea, Silvestre, Brown, Richardson, and Carrick has yet to justify the transfer fee), which I mention to point out that the current lineup is far from perfect. Gooch seems to have turned Fullham down, but the reason I read for that is Inter Milan wants him. I would put a healthy Bobby Convey or Damarcus Beasley ahead of Richardson, Silvestre or Brown in drawing up a roster. Dempsey plays tough enough to push into the Fulham starting lineup. Eddie Johnson should move to Europe, possibly England, after proving he's fully recovered from injury. There are over a dozen members of the US Under-20 team in the pipeline, currently playing for European, Mexican, Argentinean and MLS clubs.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:21 PM on January 11, 2007
I think Fulham is pretty safe in that group of Premiership teams that won't get relegated but won't contend for anything either. The main impact of this, hopefully, will be Clint getting some good playing time against top flight competition and strengthening the U.S. national team in the process.