There are some players you are just grateful to have seen pull on a Fulham shirt. The majestic Mousa Dembélé was one of them. The brilliant Belgian’s Craven Cottage career might have been fleeting – he spent just two years with the Whites before Daniel Levy triggered his £15m release clause on transfer deadline day in 2012 – but Dembélé definitely left a lasting impression.
His balance, agility and technique were sublime. It took Martin Jol to recognise that Dembélé had all the attributes to be a central midfielder rather than the floating forward that had arrived at the club after winning the Dutch title with AZ Alkmaar. It was no surprise that the gloriously gifted playmaker became one of the best box-to-box midfielders in Europe – even if watching from afar it felt like his ability to glide past opponents wasn’t fully utilised after he had left SW6.
It was clear that Dembélé, whose tenacious tackling made him the perfect in the engine room for Jol’s swashbuckling side that finished ninth in 2012, wouldn’t be at Fulham for too much longer after producing a peerless performance in a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford in August 2012. He was sensational that day, a week after starring in an opening day romp against Norwich, and his departure – which came during the same summer as Clint Dempsey’s – was the start of an agonising decline.
Dembélé celebrates his 36th birthday today – and I thought it was worth recalling arguably his finest Fulham goal: a delicious dribble through Tottenham for the Whites’ fourth goal before half-time in a memorable FA Cup victory from 2011 at the Cottage. Enjoy!
