Mousa Dembélé

(For the French former-Fulham striker, see Moussa Dembélé)

Mousa Dembélé played as a midfielder for Fulham from 2010 to 2012. Initially signed as a striker and signed by Mark Hughes, he eventually acquired a central midfield role under Martin Jol and it was in this position he began to flourish. Amidst much talk of a move to a bigger club, Dembélé moved to Tottenham Hotspur on 29 August 2012 for a fee thought to be £16.7 million - a transfer record sale at the time for Fulham. He garnered over 80 appearances for the Belgian national team.

Fulham (2010-2012)
Mousa was signed for what later turned out to be a bargain price of around $5 million from AZ Alkmaar in August 2010 by Mark Hughes. Birmingham City were reportedly also fighting for his signature at the time but ultimately he chose Fulham.

He was signed as a striker, though it became apparent that it was perhaps not his best suited position. Despite this, he got off to a strong start - scoring his first goal in a League Cup tie against Port Vale in which he scored once during a 6-0 thrashing. He then scored a brace including a 90th minute free-kick winner in the 2-1 victory over Wolves in the league a few days later. However, as the season wore on, he struggled to find the back of the net. This was not a massive problem for Fulham as his quality of play was for all to see; the only criticism was that he perhaps did not shoot as often as he should for a forward. He only scored a further two times in 2010-11, including a fantastic solo goal in the FA Cup tie against Tottenham whereby he ran from the halfway line before excecuting a fine finish.

During the summer of 2011, Mark Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham, with Martin Jol coming in to take over shortly after. This change of managers ultimately meant a change of role's in the squad for Mousa. Martin Jol is credited for moving Mousa into the midfield role where he really flourished as a Premier League player. The change in position utilised his real strengths as a footballer, especially with regards to his ability to dribble and hold up the ball in which he provided a real creative instinct in the side's midfield which had perhaps been lacking in the previous season. Although he only scored two goals in the 2011-12 season, his performances were very strong and had put himself into the shop window and transfer rumours began surfacing.

He played two matches for Fulham at the start of 2012-13 before his big money move. It was his final match against Manchester United at Old Trafford where he gave possibly his strongest performance in a Fulham shirt. After this match, rumours of moves to Man Utd themselves, and even Real Madrid surfaced, but he ultimately signed for Tottenham Hotspur a few days later for around £16.4 million - a club record sale for Fulham at the time.