Fulham Sign Bryan Ruiz as Possible Replacement for Clint Dempsey

With speculation that star midfielder Clint Dempsey is on the way out of Craven Cottage, Fulham have been proactive in finding in a replacement.

According to Sky Sports, Fulham has agreed a transfer fee with FC Twente worth about 10.6 million pounds for Costa Rica forward Bryan Ruiz.

Ruiz has been rumored to go the Premier League all summer long, but has been linked with two other London clubs: Arsenal and Tottenham. However, it looks like the Cottagers have swooped in at the last minute and retrieved the signature of Ruiz.

Manager Martin Jol had said after the club's 2-1 loss to Newcastle on Sunday that more players would be coming into the club and that Dempsey's transfer fee would be steep based on his value to the club.

Fulham have been looking for around ten million pounds for Dempsey, and now they may let the American move on, possibly to Arsenal, and that money will turned around and sent to FC Twente in the Eredivisie.

Ruiz has spent two years at the Dutch club after spending three years in Belgium with Gent. The Costa Rican international has been a goal-scoring machine wherever he has been, scoring 39 goals in 61 league games for Twente, helping the club win the Eredivisie in 2009-10 and finish second in 2010-11.

The 26-year-old has also scored nine times for his country and will score plenty more in the future.

Ruiz becomes the second player added today by Jol and Fulham, as Zdenek Grygera joined from Juventus earlier today, and the forward joins an already potent group of forwards that includes Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson and Moussa Dembele.