Well, cue Ashley Cole like shenanigans at work over here. Fulham launched a complaint with the Premier League accusing Liverpool of making an unofficial approach for Clint Dempsey with the wantaway striker now poised to miss his second match in a row. The PL has responded by looking into certain comments made by Liverpool officials. They are also contemplating referring the case to a three man tribunal.
In a sign of jumping the gun, NESN, the media arm of Liverpool’s parent company, FSG, posted up Dempsey’s signing on their website.
It’s probably stretching it a bit by saying this is a “tap up”. It’s not as if Clint Dempsey, his agent, and Brendan Rodgers locked themselves in a hotel room and thrashed out personal terms in secret. Jose Mourinho set the bar which will be hard to knock down. But Fulham through this tactic can hope to force Liverpool to part with more money or better still hope this distraction slows down Liverpool enough to create uncertainty in Dempsey’s mind and force him back to re-negotiate his contract.