Fulham boss Martin Jol remains hopeful Clint Dempsey will stay at the club this season.
PA PhotosFulham have made clear their desire to keep Clint Dempsey
• Dembele and Dempsey bids unwelcome
• Rodgers confirms Dempsey enquiry
Dempsey, 29, has said he is keen to play in the Champions League before the end of his career and is looking to move on this summer, with Liverpool seemingly leading the race for his services.
As yet, though, Fulham have not received a concrete bid and, while the USA international is now into the final year of his contract, Jol wants to keep him at Craven Cottage.
Asked about the speculation, he told the Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle: “I don’t want to talk about that. I love Clint, he scored a lot of goals and I want to keep him.”
Jol also revealed that he is hoping to add to a third striker his attack before the close of the transfer window.
Fulham have already brought in Hugo Rodallega and Mladen Petric, but they sold Bobby Zamora to QPR in January and Andy Johnson and Pavel Pogrebnyak have both departed since the end of the season.
“We’re still looking to strengthen because we lost three strikers,” Jol said. “Bobby in January and Andy and Pogrebnyak. We’ve got Rodallega and Petric and maybe we’re still on the lookout for another one.”
He added: “Rodallega is fit now. He had an ankle injury but trained for the first time on Friday. Petric is looking pretty good as well.
“Rodallega is similar to Andy Johnson. He’s got a lot of pace to stretch defences and can also play on the left. Petric is a number nine but can play off a big man as well. He’s really versatile. I know him from Hamburg and he was a very talented boy.”
Fulham are also looking to sign another midfielder, with Danny Murphy having departed for Championship side Blackburn despite having verbally agreed a one-year extension at Craven Cottage.
“I was sad that Danny went,” Jol said. “We agreed terms then Blackburn offered him two years. That happened within one or two hours so I was not happy with that. I wish him all the best because he was a great servant for this club and I wanted to keep him.
“[Mahamadou] Diarra can play that role and Dickson [Etuhu] is still here, but we’re certainly looking for one midfield player.”
