Fond memories of Fulham for Dembele

Mousa Dembélé declared his respect for Fulham ahead of our first meeting with his former team in the Premier League for over four years.

Having starred at Beerschot, Willem II and AZ Alkmaar as a youngster, the classy midfielder stepped into English football with a move to Craven Cottage in 2010 and played over 70 games in two seasons for the Whites before joining us in 2012.

Mousa came off the bench when we last faced Slavisa Jokanovic’s men in the FA Cup in February, 2017 – a 3-0 win at the Cottage – and is looking forward to facing them at Wembley on Saturday (3pm).

“I was very happy when Fulham were promoted back into the Premier League, I have a good feeling with the club,” Mousa said. “Obviously, I want to win this game but I will always have a lot of respect for Fulham. They were important in my development as a player, they gave me confidence and were a very big part of my early career.

“I respect them always for this. They are a big, family club and always gave me confidence. They were very positive and treated me so well. I can’t say anything negative about them. They had a big influence on my career.”

Mousa appeared as a second-half substitute in our opening day victory over Newcastle United, one of seven players to have featured at the World Cup to play at St James’ Park.

“It’s early in pre-season for me but I feel good,” the Belgian international reported. “I’m happy that I played 25 minutes at Newcastle and I know from here I’ll get better and better physically.”

Reflecting fondly on his experiences in Russia over the summer, Mousa added: “The World Cup experience was good. Obviously you always want to play more but overall we had a good World Cup.

“You always want to win and everyone saw it was a chance for us to do even better, so as a professional you always aim higher. I think everyone will be proud but at the time you want more.”