Clint Dempsey opens up (well, a little bit, anyway)

Clint Dempsey isn’t exactly clearing the air as he goes public for the first time – not counting a precious few words on Twitter – on the transfer melodrama that unfolded so unflatteringly last month.

The most important U.S. attacker barely had time to check into his new White Hart Lane address following last week’s 11th-hour move from Fulham to London rival Tottenham.

By Monday he was in Miami, where the U.S. national team will train for another day before Wednesday’s departure into Jamaica for Friday’s World Cup qualifier.

So, let’s look at what Dempsey told reporters there following Monday’s workout:

There were some things that were said that weren’t true. That’s in the past now. It’s about looking toward the future and like I said, I’m looking forward to playing with Tottenham. It’s a great team, a great club. I want to thank the fans of Fulham. It’s been 5½ great years. Some of my best memories in football have been there. I want to thank the chairman for taking a chance on me from MLS and I wish them well in the future.”

Unless he or someone at Fulham are more forthcoming, we’ll never know the truths from the lesser-truths about offers that did or did not arrive into Craven Cottage following Dempsey’s breakthrough 2011-12 season. Perhaps it doesn’t matter now, but the miscommunication was most likely found at the murky intersections where handshake agreements and speculative transfer amounts meet.

Was it anybody’s fault? We’ll probably never know – and, again, it really doesn’t matter now. (Well, unless you’re a Liverpool fan, I suppose; you may still have something to stew about in all this.)

(MORE: John W. Henry reaches out to Liverpool fans)

For his part, Dempsey is clearly happy about the turn of events, even tipping the family-man benefits along with the realization of his highest-value target all along, to land at a club with higher ambition than perennial relegation dodgers Fulham.

I’m very relieved. Looking forward to getting back to playing,” Dempsey said. “I think the new team is a perfect fit. They qualified for a place last season for Champions League but missed out on a technicality. But it’s still in London. My family doesn’t have to move far. My daughter, she can go to another international school and be on the same curriculum. It couldn’t have worked out any better in that regard.”