Another English Premier League team has apparently entered the Clint Dempsey sweepstakes.
Newcastle United appear eager to bring aboard the Seattle Sounders striker for a winter loan, according to a report in England’s The Guardian.
Previous reports in the Mirror indicated that three teams were lining up for the services of the 30-year-old US international, including Fulham, Aston Villa and Everton.
However, both the Mirror and The Guardian claim that Dempsey’s previous club, Tottenham Hotspur, have the first crack at a loan deal for Deuce.
The Sounders acquired Dempsey on a transfer from Spurs on Aug. 3, but injuries limited him to only 12 appearances, including nine starts, one assist and one goal. The latest setback came last week when he was forced to withdraw from US national team camp in Scotland after picking up a right calf strain.
US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann is encouraging his MLS-based players to seek out offseason loan deals and Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer confirmed that a single loan spell was factored into Dempsey's multi-year MLS contract.
“Clint has something in his contract that allows him to go once during his contract, which obviously was intended for this offseason prior to the World Cup," Hanauer told The Seattle Times. "So his agent and he are kind of keeping me in the loop, and we’re sort of working on that."
