Jabin Botsford/The New York Times
Clint Dempsey in New York. He left England's Premier League to join the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer.
Clint Dempsey runs his own routes. This is how he became one of the most productive scorers the United States has ever sent out into this wide, soccer-loving world.
He went tumbling into the goal mouth, a human cannonball, after being stopped on the late furious rush against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup. His hard landing created a diversion for the Algerian goalkeeper, and Landon Donovan alertly put in the rebound to save the game. Clint Dempsey was right in the middle of it. He usually is.
Dempsey does not think anything will change now that he is forsaking the challenge and prestige of England's Premier League for the money and familiarity of Major League Soccer. He does not think he is harming himself as the United States looks toward the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
However, he was advised in public, eight months ago, by his own national team coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, that he needed to push himself even harder in the English league.
"There is always another level," Klinsmann told Matthew Futterman of The Wall Street Journal in January, speaking specifically of Dempsey. "If you one day reach the highest level, then you've got to confirm it, every year. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi. Confirm it to me. Show me that every year you deserve to play for Real Madrid, for Bayern Munich, for Manchester United. Show it to me."
Instead, Dempsey is taking the highest salary in the league at the moment — $5,038,567 for each of the next four years — to play for the Seattle Sounders. He grew up playing against older Latinos in East Texas. It is hard to imagine him being complacent.
"I probably should have made a call," Dempsey said Monday during a whirlwind news media tour of New York — "Morning Joe," NPR, CBS — 13 appointments in one day. He had not yet called Klinsmann, but they've been texting.
On Monday, Klinsmann released a statement that said, in part: "I am thrilled for M.L.S. because you have an outstanding player now, hopefully filling more stadiums and getting even more kids and people excited about the game. For Clint, it's a challenge, coming from one of the top leagues in the world, coming back to the U.S. and being back in M.L.S., where we still have to work on a lot of things."
Klinsmann continued: "Clint himself has set the highest benchmark for himself over the last year. He became our captain, and he has to keep that benchmark and he knows that. I told him that over the last two years that he's got to go for the next level. Obviously, we want the best Clint Dempsey ever and that's what we're going to push him toward as we begin to look toward Brazil. He has set a high standard for himself, and it's up to us coaches to make sure he keeps that high standard."
Klinsmann is not taking Dempsey to Sarajevo for a friendly match with Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday, but that is a gesture to give Dempsey time to adjust to a new team, not a banishment.
Once a fleet striker in the crack European leagues and for the German national team, Klinsmann clearly thinks skills are best kept sharp in the teeming stadiums of England. Dempsey, who began in M.L.S., soon did what common wisdom says young Americans must do — he went to Europe, battling for playing time and respect.
"Just being in Europe was a grind," Dempsey, 30, said with pride. "I went through five different coaching changes at Fulham." He made himself a popular regular at Fulham, scoring 60 goals in five and a half seasons, but was eager to move to a better English team with realistic hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Last year, he held out before signing with Tottenham just before the season began but never quite reached regular status, scoring 12 goals in 43 games. In this chaotic summer, with any number of offensive stars still without a secure address as Premier League play begins this weekend, Tottenham has brought in other players, and Dempsey, with two years left on a guaranteed contract, felt the possibility of change. "You can be on a good team and not play at all," Dempsey said Monday.
E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com
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