It has taken Clint Dempsey a little more than a month in his first full Premiership season to make his true breakout in European club soccer.

In that short time, he has rocketed near the top of the Premiership scoring charts, tallied a slick goal against Brazil, and perhaps most importantly for American fans, given us a very tasty new forward option for our National Team.

However, things did not start so brightly for Dempsey this season.

The late season firing of Chris Coleman, the man who showed enough faith in Dempsey to splash an MLS record $4 million to bring in the versatile attacker, meant that the Texan needed to prove himself all over again to a new coach. His task did not appear easier when Lawrie Sanchez splashed out over $45 million in the summer to bring in a host of new recruits, including attackers such as Hameur Bouazza, Diomansy Kamara, and Northern Ireland favorite, David Healy.

Despite securing Fulham's status in the top flight last season with a goal against Liverpool, it appeared that Deuce was facing an uphill battle to see the starting eleven. The soft-spoken Furman grad recently told ASD of the instability around his playing time going into the season.

"I really didn't know where I was gonna fit in to the coaches plans because being a player that he didn't bring in you don't know if you're wanted," he admitted.

Another question mark besides playing time is where on the field he would see it. Dempsey has always been a versatile player thanks to a combination of his skills; he can run at players, his physical tools mean he is not out of place battling center backs, he has a striker's nose for goal and he has a tenacious playing style that make him an effective ball winner in the middle of the field.

"I've played up top and out wide if you look at the positions (Sanchez) played me last season, so I figured it would be those two."

When the Premiership season started, Dempsey was forced to satisfy himself with substitute appearances. With a shortage of minutes to prove himself on the field, the former Revs forward was granted a golden chance to make a statement for more playing time when he had an open goal and a chance to win the game late against Middlesbrough.

However, Dempsey sliced his effort wide, Middlesbrough got a late game winner and pundits already began declaring his one of the misses of the season. Certainly an unfair overreaction as Mark Schwarzer forced Dempsey to place the ball in the corner, but the point is that it was an ominous beginning for the Texan.

"I just tried to place it instead of going for power," he recalled. "But I'm not really bothered. You make some, you miss some - you got to keep on shooting. I don't care about critics."

To make matters worse for American fans, Brian McBride went down with a knee injury in the same game. However, the bad luck for one yank meant more PT for another.

"Losing McBride did give me an opportunity to get in the mix because they needed somebody to challenge for 50/50 balls up top," noted Dempsey.

The 24-year old took his chance by the horns; ever since sending a left-footed rocked rifling into the net against Aston Villa, he has just kept on scoring - and not only for Fulham. Yes, of course, I am talking about that goal against Brazil.

Dempsey himself remains fairly grounded when talking about his recent success and his dangerous form in front of goal.

It doesn't seem odd for the Fulham attacker to downplay his success. As flashy as his play on the field can be, his demeanor off the field is very different. When he is asked about his goals and his Fulham Player of the Month award, he only mentions how he is glad to be able to help out the team.

"It didn't start out like I had pictured with playing time, but after the first three games I started to see more time on the field," he offered. "It's good to be able to contribute to the team and make a difference."

What is a bit surprising about Dempsey's recent breakout is that it is coming in a position he has not often lined up at over his professional career: striker.

"Actually, I played some forward for the Revolution while I was there," he reminds. "And towards the end of last season for Fulham, I played up top some."

Certainly true, Clint, but most of the starts throughout your career have come in midfield, albeit with more attacking freedom. His appearances at the National Team's trouble position, right midfield, should not be confused with his ideal position, as the USMNT's lack of depth on the right mean we need to field players who are more comfortable elsewhere (see Joe Cole at left midfield for England).

"I've never really been an outside midfielder until the World Cup," said Dempsey. "My ideal position on the field is in the attack. It doesn't matter where I am."

However, when further pressed about his optimal position in different formations, Dempsey provides more clarification.

"In a 4-4-2, I'd like to be a withdrawn forward," he specifies. "And in a 4-3-3, probably on the outside right, like I did with the Revolution last season."

Of course, Dempsey's inclination to the withdrawn forward role means that he is in direct competition with the face of US Soccer, Landon Donovan. Despite positional similarities, the two are completely different players, with Donovan providing a playmaker's mentality running through the middle of the field to go along with world class speed. Despite good finishing skills, he has a penchant for staying on the perimeter of the play.

Meanwhile, Dempsey provides a forward's aggressiveness and aerial presence in the box, along with shifty moves and a willingness to run at players that Donovan has shied away from.

Dempsey's recent breakout in the best league in the world doesn't mean he is suddenly a clear favorite in this battle. But he is doing something not many Americans have done, which is score goals in one of the three big European leagues. No wonder he is the first name on the tongues of American soccer fans at the moment.

After all, the only other Yank to put up a similar strike rate in the big leagues lately is a recently retired USMNT target man who happens to be a Fulham teammate to Deuce. Brian McBride.

L et's go back to McBride because their names may prove to be more intertwined than through their Premiership strike rate. Without the injury to McHead, would Clint have gotten the same chance to produce up front for Fulham? If Dempsey wouldn't have produced this sort of form, would it have dissuaded Bob Bradley from continuing with the Texan up front in place of Donovan?

Chances can mean a lot in soccer. How would the world of soccer look if Tim Howard would not have mishandled Porto's free kick in the dying stages of the 2004 champions league, gifting the Mourinho side the victory over ManU and allowing them to continue their dream run to a subsequent Champions league title. Would the recently departed Chelsea manager have moved to the Blues without a Champions league title under his belt?

Time will tell if the injury to McBride provided Dempsey with the room he needed to prove his ability to soccer world - to English and American fans alike.

But in the short-term, Deuce has a slightly more pressing task at mind - namely, to keep the struggling London side afloat in the Premiership. With one win to their name and their three loses literally coming from goals conceded in the closing seconds of games (Fulham have surrendered goals in the 88th, 90th and 91st minute this year), confidence appears hard to come by.

"We have been in every game so that's a positive," asserted Dempsey. "We are just trying to finish off games because we have lead four or five times going into the first half. I do feel we are moving in the right direction."

I am going to agree with Clint here. Fulham showed great effort in last Saturday's spirited 3-3 draw with a talented Man City side. And while Dempsey didn't get on the scoresheet, he showed another attribute that has endeared him to fans when he passionately went toe-to-toe with 19-year old England man-child Micah Richards and refused to back an inch.

This aggressive attitude, displayed battling his opponents, with the ball at his feet, and when he's in front of goal is precisely what stateside fans are hoping to see more of - and exactly why many American fans are hoping Deuce continues to see his name on the USMNT line-up closer towards goal.