Not long left now. Infact, as I write this we have 11hours and 25minutes left to make final changes to our team before the transfer window slams shut in our faces until January. This week was quite a strange one for Fulham fans. We have been expecting Dempsey to leave for some time now but that just hasn’t quite went as we expected, especially as I woke up this morning to the news that we have agreed a deal with Villa?! Improving club to relegation battle, I’m sure that isn’t what Clint had in mind. Although I’m reading now that Villa have ended their interest because the man himself only wants to move to Liverpool (forgive me, I am trying to write this while watching Skysports Transfer Deadline day). I don’t think any of us will be surprised if Dempsey is at Liverpool or someone else at the end of the day.
Who knows where Dempsey will end up?
The Dembele deal was harder to take. Jol was so sure that our best player was going to stay but the buyout clause let us down and we have lost one of the best centre midfield players for the fee of just 15million pounds. Frustrating? Yes. Totally surprising? No. A guy with his ability was always going to leave at some stage, it’s NOT that we are a club with no ambition; it’s just how it is. If you want to read more about Dembele I’ll direct you to Lorks article from the other day because I couldn’t put it any better myself!
But let’s not focus on the talent that has and will (Dempsey still isn’t away yet) leave us, but let’s focus on what this day could bring us. Kieran Richardson has just completed his signing. I’m not too sure about this and I assume Jol has brought him in because he is versatile and can play in a few positions. To me this is just a signing to add a bit of cover to the squad. Berbatov looked set to join yesterday after passing a medical but Alex Ferguson has made us all panic a bit by claiming that Berbatov could be at Spurs. Personally I think that he is talking a load of rubbish but we are still to hear confirmation from the club. He would be an unbelievable coup for the club and no one can deny his ability on his day. Having Petric and Berbatov up front looks likely to terrify Premier League teams all over the country!
Will Berba be scoring his goals at the Cottage this season?
We now look impressive up front, bit what about in midfield? We had a lot of exits this summer and a centre midfield is essential for us to attempt to fill the gap left by Dembele. It looks like Charlie Adam is away to Stoke so the rumoured ‘Dempsey for Adam’ looks unlikely to happen but there is still the potential for a ‘Dempsey forHenderson’ maybe? That was another rumour flying around but again I don’t know how likely that is. I think that our Dempsey replacement is more likely to come in the form of Wolfsburg player Dejagh. He is quite similar to Dempsey as he can play just behind the striker but reports fromGermanyare quite mixed due to an injury he has sustained. We will just have to see what happens there though because at the minute, Dempsey doesn’t quite need replacing!
I would also say to Fulham fans, don’t completely rule out a mystery big name coming in. It might not be someone we know about but if you cast your minds back to last year when Ruiz was a late acquisition to the team, you will be reminded that Jol has a knack for pulling something out of the bag. It might not happen, but then again it might!
COYW
