By Ben Smith
The Premier League is considering dropping its investigation into Liverpool’s summer pursuit of former Fulham player Clint Dempsey after the Anfield club made a private apology.
Fulham made a formal complaint in July after a story appeared on the Liverpool owners’ Fenway Sports Group website, claiming Dempsey had moved to Anfield.
However, Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has now written to Fulham owner Mohammed Al Fayed to apologise.
The league will now consider the case.
Liverpool ultimately missed out on the player in August, with Dempsey, 29, eventually joining Tottenham on deadline day.
Dempsey did not feature for Fulham before his move after telling manager Martin Jol he no longer wanted to play for the club.
While it is likely the Premier League board will now drop the case, there remains a possibility that Liverpool could face punishment if the league decides they have breached regulations.
The Premier League has been investigating the case since July, gathering evidence from both sides with a view to making a final decision in the weeks ahead. However, with Liverpool yet to gave their side of the story, the Anfield club moved to calm the tensions between the clubs by issuing a private apology.
The row began when the original story mistakenly appeared on the FSG website. Later that day, Rodgers went on to admit Liverpool had enquired about Dempsey and a story then appeared on the club’s official website, reporting the comments made by the manager, further angering Fulham officials.
“Clint is a player we’ve enquired about, it is as simple as that,” Rodgers said at the time.
“Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with the club to see what the position is. That is where we’re at. He’s a very talented player but we don’t like to talk about other clubs’ players.”
That original post was an published by mistake, with overnight staff in the United States putting a story that claimed the Reds had “added Clint Dempsey to a team that came within a game of winning the FA Cup” to the FSG website.
