Sounders’ Dempsey offers up his rap skills

Sounders star Clint Dempsey isn’t having a great time in London, where he’s on a two-month loan to fading Fulham FC. But he seemed to be enjoying himself on ESPN’s “Highly Questionable” talk show where he unveiled his skills as a rapper. If you want to skip the lame questions, his music-free demo is about 4:30 into the video.

Dempsey’s team, for whom he starred from 2007 to 2012, has lost six in a row, is last in Barclay’s Premier League with 20 points and is in danger of relegation. Friday Fulham fired its coach, Rene Meulensteen, after 74 days and hired Felix Magath to be its third head coach this season.

Dempsey hasn’t played the past two games and has yet to score since his arrival in early January. He’s scoreless in the six losses and didn’t suit up for the past two. His final game during the loan period is Saturday. His last appearance was for 120 minutes in a 1-0 FA Cup loss to third-tier Sheffield United Feb. 4.

“Obviously Fulham is in a very difficult situation and the team has been struggling,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid told reporters recently. “Me and Clint have been in communication with each other. He feels he is definitely getting there fitness-wise, and he wants to be sharp when he comes back here. But when you’re in a relegation battle, it’s very emotionally taxing.”

The Fulham loan was supposedly a run-up to the MLS season, which for Dempsey is a run-up to the World Cup in Brazil. But the lack of productivity so far suggests that the run-ups are steeper than most imagined for Dempsey to regain form. But no one is suggesting he has a backup career in rap.