Martin Jol wants transfer window to close before the start of the season
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Your support makes all the difference.Martin Jol thinks the transfer window should close before the start of the season to stop the kind of “nonsense” he has had to endure over Clint Dempsey's future.
Fulham fined Dempsey after he refused to play for the club in Saturday's game against Norwich, which the Cottagers won 5-0.
The American, who scored 23 goals last season, has his heart set on a move to Liverpool, but the Anfield club have yet to bid for the player despite making an enquiry about him last month.
This summer has seen a number of players in conflict with their clubs over transfers.
Robin van Persie barely played for Arsenal this summer before securing a move to Manchester United while Luka Modric has not played for Tottenham as he has been pining for a transfer to Real Madrid.
This kind of scenario dismays Jol, who believes all clubs should be forced to do their transfer dealings before the start of the season, rather than by the end of August.
"We should stop the window when the first game is played then all this nonsense would stop," the Fulham manager said.
"If you look at the window now with two weeks to go, it's awful because there are a lot of clubs waiting around until they get the money in (from sales) and if they have got the money then they will come in and of course then you have players with clauses as well, so I think we should do something about it.
"It's a bit frustrating. I had the same thing happen to me in Germany (with Hamburg).
"Vincent Kompany left and then (Rafael) van der Vaart left in the same week."
If anything, Saturday's result proved that Fulham can cope easily without Dempsey.
Mladen Petric scored two goals on debut and Damien Duff, Steve Sidwell and Alex Kacaniklic also found the net as Fulham ruined Chris Hughton's bow as Norwich boss.
Kacaniklic, who was making just his third Barclays Premier League start, thinks the emphatic nature of the victory proves the London club will not struggle for goals.
"We're not going to struggle for goals this season because we've got good attacking players," the 21-year-old said.
"We are a good team and we've brought some good players in this summer like Hugo Rodallega, Petric so we have plenty of options."
Having had a successful pre-season, Norwich manager Hughton was stunned by his team's collapse at Craven Cottage.
The former Newcastle boss is already under pressure to emulate the achievements of his predecessor Paul Lambert.
"I am bitterly disappointed with how comfortably we conceded the goals but we have to look forward and get this one out of our system as quick as possible," he said.
Hughton has had a busy summer, signing Steven Whittaker, Jacob Butterfield, Robert Snodgrass and Michael Turner.
"We will continue to try to strengthen the squad if we can," Hughton said.
PA
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