"2 young Americans" - Let the speculation begin

Discussion in 'New York Red Bulls' started by kokoplus10, Dec 13, 2011.

  1. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Credit to iced1776 for picking this up first

    http://twitter.com/kristianrdyer

    "Soler says that he's talking with two young American players, both of whom have overseas experience."

    So this could mean they are currently overseas or have returned to MLS.

    Off the top of my head:
    Davies
    Ferrari
    Boss
    Bedoya
    Zizzo
    Adu
    Cervi
    Tracy

    I would assume they would be guys that found or are finding playing time hard to come by in Europe.
     
  2. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    What's the status of that Nguyen dude that was playing in the Vietnamese league? I know nothing about him but MLS's website was making a stink about him for a few days.
     
  3. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The only thing that makes this whole ordeal problematic is the allocation system. I'm not sure what the specific rules are, but I would imagine that a guy like Nguyen would have to go through it and that we are low on the pecking order there.

    Edit:
    Right now we are 8th in the allocation order.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/mls-allocation-order

    The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee.

    Not sure if this pertains to players who played for the youth national teams only. I don't think it does. However, Nguyen was capped for the U.S. full team in the 2007 Copa America which would place him in the allocation process.

    Boss, Zizzo, Bedoya, and Mix have been capped for the full team as well.

    Adu and Zizzo have already gone trough the allocation process.

    Cervi, Tracy, and Ferrari have never been capped for the full team.

    Obviously there are a number of U.S. elegible players in Europe who went straight there and/or have never been capped and would not have to go through allocation. I don't know that pool of players well enough though.
     
  4. FDNY Fitzy

    FDNY Fitzy Member

    Jun 11, 2011
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Bedoya just transferred and would require allocation.

    I am guessing these are not going to be big name guys.
     
  5. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sal Zizzo is a possibility cause he's already gone through the allocation process and doesn't make much money. Not sure if/why Portland would let him go.

    I agree. It's going to be a guy in Europe who hasn't played for the full USMNT, doesn't carry a huge salary, and sees RBNY as a better chance to get playing time than he already is.

    This is probably going to be someone a bit off the radar.
     
  6. defendyourself

    Jul 13, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm hoping its Eric Lichaj to fill in our RB area but that is probably a bit optimistic. I agree that it will probably be someone off the radar. If it wasn't a "young American" I would take Michael Parkhurst back as well since he has 1/2 an year on his contract left.
     
  7. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Lichaj would be perfect! But yeah, probably a bit unrealistic.
     
  8. beto07010

    beto07010 Member

    Aug 4, 2011
    I think he meant keepers, at least that's how I took it..
     
  9. jond

    jond Member+

    Sep 28, 2010
    Club:
    Levski Sofia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why the hell would Lichaj come to MLS?
     
  10. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well we know one of them for certain is a GK given his comments.
     
  11. theENFORCER

    theENFORCER Member

    Apr 10, 2010
    NY
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    lol it's probably going to be some player playing in the 3rd Scottish League and the player probably has had experience playing with the u-16 team..

    Don't get too excited.
     
  12. Black Tide

    Black Tide Member+

    Mar 8, 2007
    the 8th Dimension
    bedoya is the only person on that list that I would even look at realistically. But that would not make any sense as he just moved to rangers and correct me if I am wrong was he not hurt for a little while? You could also argue that Stephan Frei is American and has over seas experience. And he seems to be on the outs with Toronto fc.
     
  13. OleGunnar20

    OleGunnar20 Member+

    Dec 7, 2009
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    potential "young americans" who have been playing "abroad":

    Eric Lichaj: 23, RB/LB, Aston Villa, has been injured but even so hadn't broken thru to the first team regularly, did go on loan to Leeds so maybe a loan is possible? not very likely it is him tho.

    Jemal Johnson: 26, F, Southend United, has bounced around Bulgaria and League1/League2 in England ... might be looking to come back to the US?

    Ryan Miller: 26, CB, Halmstad (SWE1), plays all the time for his 1st division SWE club but has been there since 2009, 3 years, which is about the time that foreign players taxes go up and this has caused more than a few players to return to the US so .... previous to SWE he was in MLS with DCU and CLB so maybe a rights issue?

    Tyrel Lacey: 25, GK, FC Lyn (NOR), his club in Norway went bankrupt and he is now a free agent...but young american GKs are a dime a dozen and who knows if this guy is any good or not?

    Babajide Ogunbiyi: 25, CB, Viborg FF (DEN2), well he was a RedBull so maybe he'll come back? 2nd div in denmark isn't exactly glamourville.

    Will John: 26, AM/F, NK Vinogradar, played in MLS 2006-2008 then went to Randers in DEN, has since bounced around in Serbia, Slovakia and Croatia ... was released in the summer and is a free agent.

    Marcus Tracy: 25, F, Aalborg, went to Aalborg straight from Wake Forrest but only played 21 games in 3 seasons due to injury, recently released and is a free agent

    Michael Thomas: 23, RM, Ljungskile SC, drafted by SJE in 2010 but went to SWE, first with Halmstad for 3 months and then to Ljungskile where he has played about 45 games in two seasons ... probably one year away from the "tax hike" so perhaps not very likely.

    Amaechi Igwe: 23, LB, SV Babelsberg 02, left NER in 2010 and has since played in the GER 2 and currently 3rd div. probably don't want NER cast offs.

    Preston Zimmerman: 23, RM, SV Darmstadt 98, signed straight with Hamburg SV out of high school at 18 and played in their reserves, then went to a newly promoted Austrian top league team, then went to Mainz II (reserves) and recently signed for Bund3 club SV Darmstadt 98 .... might want to end his "european adventure" and come to MLS?

    Johann Smith: 24, F, Kalmar FF, originally signed to Bolton's youth academy out of high school he has also had stops in TFC's inagural season then Croatia and Sweden, currently a free agent ... also has 5 U20 caps back in 26-07.

    Kamani Hill: 25, F, Vitoria Guimarares SC, signed with VfL Wolfsburg out of UCLA and ended up in the reserves, next went to Portugese club Vitoria Guimarares ... unclear if he was waived by them or not but has been trailed by SJE where he is from a couple of times

    and there are tons and tons of others none of whom are remarkable in any real way so i am sure others could come up with more to add to this list ...
     
  14. Woodrow

    Woodrow Member+

    Dec 7, 2001
    Brick City
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    My money is on Baba. He'll likely come with a price tag (100K?) but he's got professional experience, fills a need and the club retains his MLS rights. But what do I know? I thought there were players to be had in the re-entry draft.
     
  15. jcr3

    jcr3 Member

    Mar 17, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is a more likely list, but we have to exclude certain players such as Marcus Tracey whose rights belong to Houston who drafted him. I also believe we have to look at midfielders, defenders and GK's as I just don't see forwards on our team as we are in such need of the other two. So I would think players such as Ryan Miller perfect as playing in Sweden and CB, Tyrel Lacey, GK free agent having played in Norway, Will John AM played in Denmark and free agent, Michael Thomas, RM played in Sweden, Igwe-LB played in Germany and Preston Zimmerman-RM having played in Germany. I don't know how good any of them really are, but I think the Red Bulls would focus here from this list given their better scouting network in this area.

    How about Gale Agbossoumonde? I don't think any MLS team has rights to him and he plays in Sweden. I would really like to have this guy if he wants to play in MLS. He plays CB.

    I think I would stay away from Lee Nguyen as anything I have heard about this guy is negative. I can't pinpoint anything, but not good vibes here.

    Regarding Baba, I read somewhere that this appears unlikely as I think he wants to stay in Europe for now.
     
  16. Black Tide

    Black Tide Member+

    Mar 8, 2007
    the 8th Dimension
    Gale Agbossoumonde rights I think are still owned by Traffic Sports. Ryan Miller fills a need as well, and I think he might have been gone long enough that no one holds his rights anymore.

    Realistically the team needs two keepers a right back and at least one CB. Also a more offensive minded midfielder though Solli might actually fill that role if a right back can be found.
     
  17. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think it'd be great to have the Boss here at Red Bull.

    Anyone know what would we have to pay Traffic? What kind of salary would he carry? Any road blocks in MLS?
     
  18. Black Tide

    Black Tide Member+

    Mar 8, 2007
    the 8th Dimension

    The major road block is Traffic. They want some redonkulous amount of money for the kid. But you have to figure he would be in the 100k range.
     
  19. Ilvinotinto

    Ilvinotinto Member

    Apr 8, 2008
    New York
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Venezuela
    Soler makes no sense, " two americans". north american, south american. lol Well, all I can say is , be it Russian or from Mars, I just want them to play fundamentally well.
     
  20. krelmatrix

    krelmatrix Member+

    Oct 25, 2006
    Leipzig, Germany
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Isn't there a 2- or 3-year limit on how long a player's rights are owned after being drafted? Houston drafted him in January 2009, so I think at latest he'd be free next month, if not already a year ago.

    He "plays" now in Germany. IE, he's on the books for Eintracht Frankfurt's second team in the 4th German division, but isn't actually getting any playing time. Still, I don't see him being one of these guys, mainly because of the Traffic complication.

    Before his knee surgery in August, he was a rather prized asset for Viborg and there was interest for him in the German 2nd Bundesliga. He'll be back for the spring half of Viborg's season in March, and my guess is that he'll eventually move on elsewhere in Europe, either beforehand, or in the summer after he's had half a season to get back into form.

    In any case, he got screwed over by NY before, and I doubt he'd exactly be jumping at the opportunity to come back, even under new management.


    My baseless speculation is that one of them is Jonathan Borrajo - he just finished a very strong season at HamKam in Norway (2nd div, were nearly promoted), is out of contract, supposedly wanting to come back to the US, is a right back, and is from NJ.

    The other - I'd guess it's either Tracy, or more likely Joseph Bendik - a backup keeper for Sogndal IL (Norwegian top div) who is out of contract, played well when he got off the bench, and also looking to come back to the US.
     
  21. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    The one youtube compilation of Bendik was promising, and with a 39 year old keeper you know we'll need a reliable backup sooner rather than later. Borrajo sounds like a reasonable guess at it too.
     
  22. jcr3

    jcr3 Member

    Mar 17, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Somehow I don't think they are asking for a lot. $100K may not be much. The guy is playing in Sweden and did not find it easy getting there so I don't think that it would be much. The bigger question is if he is still under contract and if he wants to come to MLS.
     
  23. Black Tide

    Black Tide Member+

    Mar 8, 2007
    the 8th Dimension

    The issue is not his pay check which is what I was referring to as being in the 100k range. The issue is that Traffic has time and time again refused offers for the kid that would be more than most MLS teams are willing to spend. Granted he has had a rough go of it, but Traffic still has I believe two years on him. So I do not think they are ready to off load him cheaply yet.
     
  24. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think Bendik would be a savvy pickup. The kid looks like he's ready to be a longtime fix at a troubling position for RBNY. I don't know much about Borrajo but if he's a solid RB then he is exactly what this team needs imo.
     
  25. Zamphyr

    Zamphyr Member

    Mar 31, 2003
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is what I was going to ask, but the previous posters seemed pretty definitive in their statements.

    My recollection was that it was almost 2 yrs, ie. draft the guy in the '09 draft (January 15, 2009) and the rights expire Dec. 31, 2010.

    So we wouldn't have Baba's rights....but MLS is fairly arbitrary in what they decide the actual rules say.
     

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