Dempsey transfer saga: Sell now, Fulham

Perhaps it's a sign of progress of the game in this country when one of our leading countrymen finds himself embroiled in a transfer battle like those that we have seen grace the back pages on newspaper throughout Europe for years and years now, and like all of those drawn out, protracted battles between players and clubs that have preceded this one, it would certainly be easy to take sides after Dempsey apparently ruled himself out of Fulham's 5-0 siege of Norwich at Craven Cottage. 

While some Fulham fans may be burning their Dempsey shirts in disgust as we speak, it would be quite myopic and naive to direct all of the consternation solely towards him.

Anyone ranging from Martin Jol to Mohamed Al-Fayed could cry to the heavens with indignation about a player who has been the face of the club in recent times wanting to move on to the bright lights of a big club and those wonderful, midweek games in Europe, but such emotional displays would be best reserved for the stage as opposed to press conferences and interviews with Sky Sports. Dempsey spoke of his desires to test himself at the highest levels as this past summer was in his infancy, so Fulham has been well aware of the situation at hand for some time now.

It is understandable that any team would want to hold onto its prized asset and arguably best player if at all possible, but, with all due respect to a club of Fulham's stature, if the money is there to be had, and for Dempsey the money would easily be rather substantial from any legitimately interested party, then a smaller club would be mad to not cash in and reinvest in their squad. Given that Fulham have lost a central midfield pairing of Danny Murphy and Dickson Etuhu, any transfer fee garnered for Dempsey would probably buy a couple of nice replacements in that department.

One of the (many) cruel realities of this game is that it tends to be, sans the likes of Ryan Giggs and Brad Friedel, a young man's game that can quickly forget players who maybe aren't quite at their peak any longer. For Dempsey, he is still young enough at 29 and very much in his prime, but would this still be the case at 31 or 32? Would he be worth as much to bigger clubs at that point, or would they even be interested at all then? Dempsey's value is especially high now after producing so substantially last season in the Premier League, but how far would his value on the market drop if he were to be injured for half of this season and only tally four or five goals? 

With all of the preceding questions in mind, the onus is firmly on Fulham to make something happen and soon. Dempsey may never fetch as big of a transfer fee as he would at this very moment, and for Dempsey personally and professionally, there may never be a better time for him to take a step towards dreams that he never could have imagined as a young child kicking a ball around in Texas. With the situation having reached a point of no return on the banks of the River Thames, it would behoove both parties involved to find some resolution to a drama that certainly isn't needed as Fulham begins their season.