Manchester United are also believed to be interested- Can Fulham hang onto star attacker Moussa Dembele?
While Clint Dempsey, Pavel Pogrebnyak and the now-departed Bobby Zamora have hogged the headlines at Fulham in recent months, Dembele’s contribution has been much underrated by pundits.
Dembele has featured in all but two of Fulham’s league games this season, being a regular pick for manager Martin Jol.
Bought by Mark Hughes for £5 million from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, hanging onto the 24-year-old attacking midfielder is key to the club’s ambition.
While he has just one league goal, and three assists this season, it is his interplay, movement and pace which have attracted the interests of the Premier League’s big guns.
He has adapted his game in recent weeks, playing in central midfield with great success.
His contract expires in summer 2013, so he is fast moving into the final 12 months of his three-year deal, which has alerted the top clubs.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Fulham are about to make a major pitch in their attempts to hang onto him, by offering him a ‘bumper new contract’.
The paper reports that Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are all monitoring the situation closely, while the People reported last weekend that Manchester United are considering him as a cut-price alternative to Luka Modric.
Dembele has found himself back in the Belgian international set up, after a hiatus out of the side, and will consider his options before signing a huge new deal which could tie him down for the next few years.
With Belgian football potentially entering a new successful era, with stars such as Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku; Dembele will want to ensure he can play a part in that.
His decision may depend on the advice of his national team coach George Leekens; if he is advised he will still receive international chances at Fulham, he may be happy to stay, but if his coach insists he moves to one of England’s highest-placed clubs, then Dembele might just take up an offer to move elsewhere.
He will have to make a decision carefully though, if he chooses the wrong club to step up to, he could spend his time sitting on the bench, like Steven Pienaar at Tottenham.
This would only harm his international prospects, so the player would have to seeks assurances from any new manager, and ensure he takes his chances.
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image: © nicksarebi
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