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Martin Jol says Clint Dempsey wants to leave Fulham and
has admitted it will be "impossible" to keep him at the
club
The wantaway forward has been left out of Fulham's squad for
tomorrow's season opener against.
Dempsey, who scored 23 goals last term, pulled out of Fulham's
pre-season training camp in Switzerland earlier this month after
Liverpool confirmed they were interested in signing him.
The Anfield club have yet to make an official bid for the
American, who has one year left on his contract, but Jol thinks the
player is not in the right frame of mind to play against the
Canaries at Craven Cottage tomorrow afternoon.
The Fulham manager said: "Clint was not involved over the last
four weeks so he is not going to be in the squad.
"He is not committed to the club. He wants to leave.
"I would like to keep him, but I think it's impossible. It's a
sad and an almost embarrassing situation."
Liverpool's manager Brendan Rodgers told his own club's website
last month that he had made an inquiry about the player.
Then the website for Massachusetts-based news channel New
England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Anfield proprietors Fenway
Sports Group, also published a story
claiming Dempsey was a Liverpool player.
Liverpool have infuriated Jol with these actions.
"That was very disappointing," the Fulham boss said.
"There was never an offer. Clint himself told everyone he was
going to Liverpool before he came back so we really thought there
was quite a firm interest in him.
Brendan Rodgers: Has yet to firm up his interest in Clint
Dempsey with a bid
" Even (Rodgers) told everyone he was interested in
Clint Dempsey, but our people never had an offer on the
table, so it's almost embarrassing.
"If you have shown interest in a player, especially in England,
you have to follow it up with an offer. They didn't."
Dempsey, 29, has made it clear he wants to move to a bigger
club, and has been training separately from his team-mates this
summer, but Jol insists the American will not be sold cheaply.
"Maybe Liverpool will come back," Jol said.
"I can assure you that our chairman is strong enough. At first
we didn't want to get rid of him, later on we had to change our
position.
"But our view is that we won't let Clint Dempsey go on the
cheap, that's for sure."
