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According to multiple sources, including the Guardian and the Telegraph, United States captain Clint Dempsey will sign with his former EPL club Fulham on a two-month loan. The move makes a certain amount of sense for both player and club -- Dempsey will get the chance to test himself against a greater number of international first-teamers following a somewhat lackluster 2013 campaign with the Seattle Sounders, and Fulham will get a player familiar with Craven Cottage at a pretty desperate time for the club.
Dempsey won't be reuniting with former coach (and sometimes adversary) Martin Jol, who was sacked earlier this season following Fulham's stumble out of the gate, but he will be able to catch up with some former teammates, including Bryan Ruiz (the Costa Rican international with who he can share Snow Game memories), John Arne Riise, and Philippe Senderos. Dempsey scored 23 goals in all competitions for Fulham in the 2011-12 season, before bolting for Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the August 2012 transfer window.
Speaking of transfer windows, the rumored transfer request from current Fulham first-team striker Dimitar Berbatov would open up even more playing time for Dempsey -- though Fulham deployed Dempsey as a winger and second striker as well as a lead striker during his five-plus years there. And the reunion with Ruiz might be short lived; the Tico is rumored to be headed to Anderlecht sometime during the January window.
Fixture highlights, if this move does happen, includes a Jan. 11 home match against Sunderland (and USMNT teammate Jozy Altidore), a Jan. 18 away match against Arsenal, a Feb. 9 match against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and a Feb. 12 home match against Liverpool, where manager Brendan Rodgers can muse on what might have been (assuming that the summer of '12 Dempsey-to-Liverpool rumors were true).
