I originally wrote about this on our Liverpool site, but wanted to expand on the story over here.
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner says that Fulham’s USA star Clint Dempsey would be a great addition to Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool squad.
Dempsey is having a career year at Fulham, scoring 16 goals in the league for Fulham and obviously catching the eye of Liverpool’s US ownership.
Despite spending a lot of money last summer, it is clear that this Liverpool squad is not good enough to compete with the best teams in England on a week in and week out basis, and more investment in players will be needed this summer,
“We are confident that we will be making further progress in the future, and we are hard at work identifying transfer targets to help us continue to improve the squad” said Warner.
When asked whether the Reds would be interested in Dempsey, Werner told Goal.com:
“We never talk publicly about our transfer targets. However, any team would be lucky to have Clint Dempsey playing on their squad.”
Besides obviously helping Liverpool on the field, Dempsey would also assist Liverpool in building the team’s profile in the United States. The club had already announced a summer tour of North America, where it will play three games in Toronto, Boston and Baltimore against Toronto FC, AS Roma and Tottenham Hotspur.
“Liverpool has a significant following in North America, and it will be great to give our supporters a chance to see the team playing live this July,” Werner said. “We are particularly delighted that two of the best known football clubs in the world, Liverpool and AS Roma, will help us celebrate Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary and showcase the ballpark on a wide, international stage.”
What do you think about Clint Dempsey? Is he the type of player that Liverpool should be targeting?
Dempsey was Fulham’s player of the year last season and is their best player this season. There are rumors that he would be interested in a move to a bigger club this summer. The American connection makes Dempsey a natural fit for Liverpool’s owners but would it be the best player for Dempsey from a soccer/football standpoint? I don’t think so.
Dempey’s best position is playing off a center forward, either in a traditional number ten role, or in a three man group playing just behind the center forward. At Liverpool, if Andy Carroll is the number nine, then Suarez and Gerrard play just behind Carroll. I don’t see where Dempsey would fit into Kenny Dalglish’s system.
Plus Dempsey says that he wants to play Champions League football and he is not getting that at Liverpool!
Two other optons for Dempsey in London are Arsenal and Spurs, who both could offer him Champions League football and have systems that he could fit into. At Spurs he could either replace Rafael van der Vaart or slide in alongside Modric. At Arsenal, he would fit perfect playing behind Robin van Persie or their new signing Lukas Podolski.
Where do you think Dempsey should go this summer, or should he stay at Fulham?
