Another day, another layer added to the saga of Clint Dempsey’s inevitable exit from Fulham.
The latest has the west London club getting its knickers in a twist because Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said he would like the 29-year-old Dempsey in Liverpool red. Fulham has made an official complaint to the Premier League over the matter.
Liverpool kicks off the English Premier League season today at West Bromwich Albion today with plenty of questions surrounding a team that finished an uncharacteristic eighth in the table last season.
Let’s see if we can find some answers.
The Reds take the field today under a new manager in Brendan Rodgers, who is used to challenges after guiding Swansea into the Premier League and leading the Swans to an 11th-place finish, just five points behind Liverpool.
The ongoing saga of Andy Carroll and Liverpool – will he stay? will he go? if so, where and when? – is becoming as tiring as the Cleveland Indians starting rotation.
We’re just a little more than two weeks away from opening weekend of the Premier League season and Carroll is still taking up space at Anfield.
Manager Brendan Rodgers left Carroll off the squad for Liverpool’s trip to Belarus for Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against FC Gomel, which really should signal that the end is here for the 23-year-old striker who has been a disappointment since coming over from Newcastle for £35 million.
So what gives?
Liverpool continued its slow march to acquiring Clint Dempsey on Wednesday, with manager Brendan Rodgers confirming what has been a open secret for quite some time now.
Yes, the squad is interested in bringing the 29-year-old USA international to Anfield.
“Clint is a player we’ve enquired about, it is as simple as that,” Rodgers told The Daily Mail. “Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with (Fulham) to see what the position is. That is where we’re at. Clint is a very talented player but we don’t like to talk about other clubs’ players.”
Fulham wants £10 million Dempsey, who had a career year last season with 23 goals in all competitions, and who has 12 months left on his contract, but as we mentioned yesterday, Liverpool had to do some selling before they can do any buying.
As for Andy Carroll, Rodgers made it clear there will be no loan deal for the striker.
“To consider a loan period for someone the club spent £35 million on isn’t something we’re looking to do,” he said. “Andy will be the same as every other player – if there’s an offer that comes in we’d look at it and see if it’s going to be worthwhile for the club as a whole. People talk about whether he can fit into my style or not, but if you’re a club and you spend £35 million on a player you’d like to think he can fit into whatever style the team plays. He’s a good player. He’ll join the rest of the group next week and we’ll take it from there.”
We are a little worried that Liverpool will be buying high on Dempsey, but The Guardian’s Paul Doyle says that shouldn’t be a concern:
Because although last season was Dempsey’s most productive, he has been an excellent performer in the Premier League for the best part of five years. … Dempsey is a genuine dynamo, the second most prolific tackler among forwards in the Premier League for each of the past three seasons and covering more ground than prize horse manure.
Tenacity and energy are Dempsey’s first two defining traits and also the founding blocks of the style that Rodgers will seek to build, if his old Swansea City side were anything to go by. The drive that has already propelled Dempsey from his relatively disadvantaged roots in a small town in East Texas to the top of the MLS and then the Premier League ensure that he will not be rendered as meek by Anfield expectations as, say, Stewart Downing and young Jordan Henderson appear to have been.
This is a ferocious competitor who has played matches with a broken jaw and gone into challenges hard enough to fracture John Terry’s cheekbone. A seasoned American international, he will be fazed neither by the stature of Liverpool nor the amount of off-the-ball work that Rodgers will demand.
I think that pretty much works to calm our fears.
And so the slow dance continues.
(Photo by Getty Images)
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