On Saturday, Clint Dempsey made a historic move to the Seattle Sounders. The under-the-radar exchange between Seattle and Tottenham was certainly one of the biggest in the transfer window thus far.
As one of the biggest surprises of the summer, this deal was put together rather quickly.
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated wrote a brilliant recap of the events leading up to Dempsey’s eventual signing; he interviewed Seattle’s general manager Adrian Hanauer on how they kept the deal quiet:
"We have really good contacts at the airport, so we were able to sneak him off the flight and down onto the tarmac into a van," says Hanauer with a laugh. "Then he went back around to a baggage claim area that wasn't for his flight. He jumped in my car. His associate James [Skelland] went and got the bags. We picked him up and then away we went."
I recommend reading the entire story because the entire process, including how MLS was involved, was extremely fascinating.
Dempsey’s return to America is great for a number of reasons.
The most important thing for the confidence of an athlete is getting consistent playing time. In Seattle, Dempsey will get that and more.
In Dempsey’s time at Tottenham, he never really got the ...