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A month after the Seattle Sounders announced Clint Dempsey was taking a temporary leave to deal with an irregular heartbeat, they held a press conference announcing he is done for 2016. Dempsey had already missed four Sounders games and two World Cup qualifiers. Two weeks ago he had a brief return to training, but that return was short-lived.
Now, Dempsey and doctors will resume efforts to fix the irregular heartbeat with a goal of returning to play in 2017.
Ruling him out now in hopes of getting him back for next season. No more updates until preseason @sounderatheart
— Spenser Davis (@spenserdavis) September 27, 2016
As a Sounder Dempsey has 37 goals and 23 assists in 6,883 minutes in the MLS regular season and playoffs. He was the second leading scorer on the team from 2014-2016 and is the only MLS player to have 10 or more goals and assists in both ‘14 and ‘15. He also scored two CONCACAF Champions League goals and an Open Cup goal.
That said, he’s also missed 42 percent of the team’s available league games since signing in 2013 with a combination of injury, suspension and international duty.
Dempsey’s Seattle career started slowly but exploded after his first full season. Dempsey made the All Star Game from 2014 to 2016.
The Sounders are attempting a late-season charge into the MLS Cup Playoffs, and now know that they will do so without the grit, determination, slick passing and goal scoring of Clint Dempsey.
Dempsey’s quest to catch Landon Donovan on the United States National Team scoring charts will also take a back seat during his attempted recovery. Dempsey remains five goals short of Donovan’s record.