Fleetwood sign top transfer target Dempsey

The Gazette revealed earlier this month that Town were top of the queue to sign the 21-year-old midfielder from the promotion chasing Championship side.

And Town are believed to have splashed a figure in the region of £400,000 to make the former Carlisle player’s season long loan deal from the Championship play-off finalists a permanent switch.

A host of Championship clubs and Town’s League One rivals Charlton and MK Dons were reportedly sniffing around the youngster who had a year left on his contract at the John Smith’s Stadium.

But despite interest from elsewhere Town’s young player of the year Dempsey, who made 46 appearances for Uwe Rosler’s side this season has just signed a three year deal that will keep him at Highbury until at least 2020.

And Pilley says the signing is a signal of intent.

He said: “This is a huge signal of intent for Fleetwood Town to be able to sign a player of Kyle’s calibre on a permanent basis.

“His displays for us this season haven’t gone unnoticed and we’ve had to fight off a number of clubs from our division and the Championship to tie him down for the future.

“We feel we have a bright future at the club and we are all delighted Kyle will be part of the journey in the long term. It’s a signing which I’m sure excites all our fans.”

Dempsey made 24 appearances in his debut season for Huddersfield after making a £300,000 switch from Carlisle in 2015.

But Huddersfield head coach David Wagner allowed Dempsey to join Fleetwood on-loan at the start of this season, with the tenacious youngster becoming an influential figure in the middle of the park as Fleetwood finished fourth in the League One table.

Unlike Huddersfield Rosler’s men missed out on a place in the play-off final at Wembley after Bradford beat them 1-0 on aggregate in their two-legged semi-final.

And Dempsey believes the move will be massive for his career, with the club sharing his ambitions to progress and push on.

He said: “I think for me to join this club and see which direction this club is pushing in is massive for my career.

“I came here to play games and help the team and I think I was able to achieve both of them. The position that we finished in the league was massive for the club and the chairman and manager have said it’s probably the best achievement the club have had so far.”