Mousa Dembélé

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

Mousa Dembélé
Fulham info
Full name	Mousa Sidi Yaya Dembélé
Date of birth	16 Jul 1987
Place of birth	Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium
Height	5ft 10in (1.77m)
Playing position	Central midfield, Support striker
Current player?
Number(s) worn	30 (2010-2012)
Debut	Man Utd (h) (22 Aug 2010)
Last Appearance	Man Utd (a) (25 Aug 2012)
First goal	Port Vale (h) (25 Aug 2010)
Last goal	Sunderland (h) (6 May 2012)
Joined from	AZ, £5 million - 18 Aug 2010
Left for	Tottenham, £16.7 million - 29 Aug 2012
League apps (gls)	62 (5)
All apps (gls)	75 (7)
Other clubs	Germinal Beerschot (2003-2005) Willem II (2005-2006) AZ Alkmaar (2006-2010) Tottenham Hotspur (2012-2019) Guangzhou City (2019-2022)
International	Belgium (2006-2018)
Apps (gls)	82 (5)

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.

Career

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.

Fulham Statistics

Appearances

Season	Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europa League		Total
	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2010-11	24	3	2	1	2	1	-	-	28	5
2011-12	36	2	1	0	1	0	7	0	45	2
2012-13	2	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	0
Total	62	5	3	1	3	1	7	0	75	7

Disciplinary

Season
2010-11	0	0
2011-12	6	1
2012-13	0	0
Total	6	1

Fulham Matches

#	Season	Date	Comp	Opposition	Venue	Result	Score	Additional Information
1	2010-11	22 Aug 2010	PREM	Man Utd	Home	Drew	2-2	61'
2	2010-11	25 Aug 2010	LC	Port Vale	Home	Won	6-0	26', 46'
3	2010-11	28 Aug 2010	PREM	Blackpool	Away	Drew	2-2
4	2010-11	11 Sept 2010	PREM	Wolves	Home	Won	2-1	49',  90+1'
5	2010-11	18 Sept 2010	PREM	Blackburn	Away	Drew	1-1
6	2010-11	21 Sept 2010	LC	Stoke	Away	Lost	0-2	89'
7	2010-11	16 Oct 2010	PREM	Tottenham	Home	Lost	1-2	75'
8	2010-11	23 Oct 2010	PREM	West Brom	Away	Lost	1-2
9	2010-11	30 Oct 2010	PREM	Wigan	Home	Won	2-0
10	2010-11	6 Nov 2010	PREM	Aston Villa	Home	Drew	1-1
11	2010-11	10 Nov 2010	PREM	Chelsea	Away	Lost	0-1
12	2010-11	13 Nov 2010	PREM	Newcastle	Away	Drew	0-0
13	2010-11	15 Jan 2011	PREM	Wigan	Away	Drew	1-1	57'
14	2010-11	22 Jan 2011	PREM	Stoke	Home	Won	2-0	75'
15	2010-11	26 Jan 2011	PREM	Liverpool	Away	Lost	0-1
16	2010-11	30 Jan 2011	FAC	Tottenham	Home	Won	4-0	45+3', 80'
17	2010-11	2 Feb 2011	PREM	Newcastle	Home	Won	1-0
18	2010-11	5 Feb 2011	PREM	Aston Villa	Away	Drew	2-2
19	2010-11	14 Feb 2011	PREM	Chelsea	Home	Drew	0-0	83'
20	2010-11	20 Feb 2011	FAC	Bolton	Home	Lost	0-1
21	2010-11	27 Feb 2011	PREM	Man City	Away	Drew	1-1
22	2010-11	5 Mar 2011	PREM	Blackburn	Home	Won	3-2	78'
23	2010-11	19 Mar 2011	PREM	Everton	Away	Lost	1-2
24	2010-11	3 Apr 2011	PREM	Blackpool	Home	Won	3-0
25	2010-11	9 Apr 2011	PREM	Man Utd	Away	Lost	0-2	56'
26	2010-11	23 Apr 2011	PREM	Wolves	Away	Drew	1-1
27	2010-11	27 Apr 2011	PREM	Bolton	Home	Won	3-0	68'
28	2010-11	9 May 2011	PREM	Liverpool	Home	Lost	2-5	57', 75'
29	2011-12	4 Aug 2011	UEL	RNK Split	Home	Won	2-0	76'
30	2011-12	13 Aug 2011	PREM	Aston Villa	Home	Drew	0-0	74', 82'
31	2011-12	18 Aug 2011	UEL	Dnipro	Home	Won	3-0	67'
32	2011-12	21 Aug 2011	PREM	Wolves	Away	Lost	0-2	46', 47'
33	2011-12	25 Aug 2011	UEL	Dnipro	Away	Lost	0-1	71'
34	2011-12	28 Aug 2011	PREM	Newcastle	Away	Lost	1-2
35	2011-12	11 Sept 2011	PREM	Blackburn	Home	Drew	1-1	46'
36	2011-12	15 Sept 2011	UEL	Twente	Home	Drew	1-1
37	2011-12	18 Sept 2011	PREM	Man City	Home	Drew	2-2	87'
38	2011-12	21 Sept 2011	LC	Chelsea	Away	Drew	0-0	59'
39	2011-12	24 Sept 2011	PREM	West Brom	Away	Drew	0-0
40	2011-12	2 Oct 2011	PREM	Q.P.R.	Home	Won	6-0	87'
41	2011-12	15 Oct 2011	PREM	Stoke	Away	Lost	0-2	36'
42	2011-12	20 Oct 2011	UEL	Wisła Kraków	Away	Lost	0-1	29'
43	2011-12	23 Oct 2011	PREM	Everton	Home	Lost	1-3
44	2011-12	29 Oct 2011	PREM	Wigan	Away	Won	2-0	51',  87'
45	2011-12	6 Nov 2011	PREM	Tottenham	Home	Lost	1-3
46	2011-12	19 Nov 2011	PREM	Sunderland	Away	Drew	0-0
47	2011-12	26 Nov 2011	PREM	Arsenal	Away	Drew	1-1
48	2011-12	1 Dec 2011	UEL	Twente	Away	Lost	0-1	83'
49	2011-12	5 Dec 2011	PREM	Liverpool	Home	Won	1-0	45'
50	2011-12	10 Dec 2011	PREM	Swansea	Away	Lost	0-2	77'
51	2011-12	14 Dec 2011	UEL	Odense	Home	Drew	2-2
52	2011-12	17 Dec 2011	PREM	Bolton	Home	Won	2-0
53	2011-12	21 Dec 2011	PREM	Man Utd	Home	Lost	0-5
54	2011-12	26 Dec 2011	PREM	Chelsea	Away	Drew	1-1
55	2011-12	31 Dec 2011	PREM	Norwich	Away	Drew	1-1
56	2011-12	2 Jan 2012	PREM	Arsenal	Home	Won	2-1
57	2011-12	7 Jan 2012	FAC	Charlton	Home	Won	4-0	85'
58	2011-12	14 Jan 2012	PREM	Blackburn	Away	Lost	1-3	36'
59	2011-12	4 Feb 2012	PREM	Man City	Away	Lost	0-3	75', 85'
60	2011-12	11 Feb 2012	PREM	Stoke	Home	Won	2-1
61	2011-12	25 Feb 2012	PREM	Q.P.R.	Away	Won	1-0	65'
62	2011-12	4 Mar 2012	PREM	Wolves	Home	Won	5-0
63	2011-12	10 Mar 2012	PREM	Aston Villa	Away	Lost	0-1
64	2011-12	17 Mar 2012	PREM	Swansea	Home	Lost	0-3
65	2011-12	26 Mar 2012	PREM	Man Utd	Away	Lost	0-1
66	2011-12	31 Mar 2012	PREM	Norwich	Home	Won	2-1
67	2011-12	7 Apr 2012	PREM	Bolton	Away	Won	3-0
68	2011-12	9 Apr 2012	PREM	Chelsea	Home	Drew	1-1
69	2011-12	21 Apr 2012	PREM	Wigan	Home	Won	2-1
70	2011-12	28 Apr 2012	PREM	Everton	Away	Lost	0-4
71	2011-12	1 May 2012	PREM	Liverpool	Away	Won	1-0	87'
72	2011-12	6 May 2012	PREM	Sunderland	Home	Won	2-1	35'
73	2011-12	13 May 2012	PREM	Tottenham	Away	Lost	0-2
74	2012-13	18 Aug 2012	PREM	Norwich	Home	Won	5-0
75	2012-13	25 Aug 2012	PREM	Man Utd	Away	Lost	2-3

External links and references