With the transfer deadline only minutes away, American soccer star Clint Dempsey got his wish to move on from his old club Fulham, signing to a deal with Tottenham Hotspur on Friday.
Dempsey had appeared in 224 games for Fulham and scored 60 goals in his career with the team, but had been hoping for a while to move on to a Champions League club. There were rumors of moves to other clubs, including Liverpool and Aston Villa, who offered a seven million pound transfer fee that Fulham accepted, but Dempsey turned down.
"I'm very excited and looking forward to the challenge," Dempsey said to Tottenham's official website. "To play under this head coach and play for this club is a dream come true. I want to make the most of it and work as hard as I can to get onto the field and do well. There are a lot of great players here;, I'm looking forward to training and playing with them and trying to fight for a spot in the team."
According to ESPN.com, Dempsey signed a three-year $22.2 million deal.
The deal makes the United States national team forward the highest payed American player, beating the record for goalie Brad Friedel who was paid $6.59 million per year after joining Tottenham last season.
The American star has had great success since playing in Europe and was voted Fulham player of the season by the Fulham fans after the 2010-11 season when he led the team in goals. He also became the first American player to score fifty goals in the Premier League while with Fulham.
The time he spent with Fulham allowed Dempsey to improve as a player, but it wasn't always smooth sailing. According to Goal.com he was had a less than stellar relationship with coach Martin Jol and also was held out of Fulham's first two games of this season before the transfer came through.
Dempsey is 29 years old and spent the beginning of his career playing in Major League Soccer for the New England Revolution in the United States before moving to Fulham in 2007. He played in the 2006 World Cup and scored the only goal for the U.S. and also was on the 2010 World Cup squad.
Dempsey became only the second American to score goals in two different World Cup tournaments.
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