Dempsey speaks about Fulham saga, looking ahead

"I'm disappointed in the way I was portrayed, in the end, with Fulham,'' Dempsey said. "I always wanted to play at the highest level possible. That was never a secret. That's something I always said. It would be a dream of mine to play Champions League and you want to play on the best team possible to try to get there. That's definitely a team with a lot of quality in it, but now it's all about the team that I'm with.'' The saga started over the summer, when Dempsey - who was in the last year of his Fulham deal - first was linked to Liverpool when Reds coach Brendan Rodgers acknowledged inquiring about his availability. Fulham coach Martin Jol later said Dempsey refused to play for the club, one of the salvos in a back-and-forth that led to Dempsey tweeting that there were two sides to the story. On Monday, Dempsey said he was simply relieved to look ahead.