So where does the 30 million figure come from? I don't ever remember reading someone come out and declare 30
It's all media BS... They said the same thing last summer and we spent over 30m on 2 players (Osvaldo + Lamela).. And considering the way we are making offers and meeting with agents/presidents for Destro and Ogbonna shows that we have $ to spend.. So far though not a bad start.. In: Borini, Marquinho, Florenzi Out: Heinze, Cicinho, Antunes
Rut roh. Looks like Heinze and Juan have been called up for preseason. http://www.football-italia.net/20590/heinze-juan-set-pre-season
How do you know our bids aren't Kameni bids? i.e. bidding on stuff we don't want to lower the prices of players we want. I firmly believe Ogbonna is our guy and all this dancing with Astori, Silvestre etc. is all smoke screen. I think a deal will get done, it might be more than we should pay, but in the end I think euros plus players will be going to Torino and Ogbonna will be in a Roma maglia.
I wouldn't include Destro bids to our budget, as it seems the only way we sign Destro is if Osvaldo leaves, and it seems plausible that we can sell him for what we paid to a team in Spain, Malaga has been interested. The budget talk is useless, because as Sabatini said last year, if they released how much they have to spend then teams would hold out for more money. So they real budget will not be released, we will find out our budget on September 1st.
One slip in a match and he's not good enough? Question, did you watch any of Bradley play last season that didn't involve a Roma match? I doubt it, he had a good season and he was more solid against the bigger clubs then many of our own midfielders who are apparently good enough for Roma.
You guys like him because he's american, and I understand that but I want Roma to play for a CL spot next season, and that won't happen if we take a step backwards with a player like Bradley. The only positive thing is that Roma will become much more popular in America.
You seem to dislike him because he's American, guaranteed if he was European you wouldn't be piping up. Because he's American I've seen him an awful lot more then you. Just like I've seen loads of American players. Which is why I find it hilarious that the best evidence you can offer is a video were he slipped. I'm not going to sit here and say Roma should sign Donavon, that's a signing that doesn't make sense. Dempsey is probably the best American player out there, still with our current options he doesn't make sense. Bradley on the other hand fills a need I feel we need in our squad which is why he makes more sense to me. This club fielded worse midfielders then Bradley last season. So typical, here I argue about whether he's a good player and with Americans I'm arguing whether Roma are even a big club.
There isn't a facepalm big enough for this post. First off, I don't like him because he's American. I like him because I've been exposed to him for several years now, and have seen the growth in his play with the national team, and last season with Chievo. I like him because he's still decently young and thus has the ability to improve his game a little as well as offer 4-5 years of good peak service. I like him because he's the type of player that I feel can be put in the middle of the park to allow De Rossi to be more as he is for Italy now. There are many players who I could suggest that are American that wouldn't fit what we need (both in positional needs and quality). Secondly, Bradley won't really raise the profile of Roma in the US. To be realistic, nothing will (any significant amount), other than Serie A as a league getting its act together in regards to stadiums, how revenues are split amongst the top and lower teams, a sustained run of good performances in EL and CL, and hoping that all finally culminates is a more enticing television contract worldwide. Roma can win Serie A for the next decade and it'll barely be a blip on the radar, even if you had Dempsey, Donavan, Bradley, etc. And it's because it's not on TV every week like EPL is. So no, Bradley is not brought up because he's American. That's icing on the cake, and barely any icing at all. Bradley is a smart player, a hard-worker, does not have a big prima donna attitude, and can be had for (supposedly, and comparatively to the price of others) a very reasonable price.
If Bradley can be bought for a max of 5M he'd be a great purchase, cheap, adds depth, has more quality than Gago and Greco also he'd give Roma great exposure in the US footballing culture. To the Americans, how well known is Bradley in the states?
I admit to not seeing Bradley in Serie A outside of the Roma match in that clip Andreas posted (in which he is easily bypassed multiple times in the first minute and he makes a very weak tackle leading to a Lamela shot on goal). I have seem plenty of him with the US National team in the past though and I am not a fan. Slow in decision making and messing up more short passes than Gago. Unless his passing has improved tremendously recently he is not Roma material IMO. His awful performance in the 2011 gold cup final loss against Mexico stands out in my mind. Here's what the NY Times said about him after that match: "Michael Bradley: Bradley’s up-and-down performance epitomized the larger American effort. He had his pocket picked badly in the sixth minute, setting up a marvelous chance for dos Santos that almost went in. Shortly thereafter, however, Bradley scored after making a smart near-post run and cleverly nodding in a corner kick from Freddy Adu. But a short while later Bradley gave up another bad ball in the defensive zone — this time to Gerardo Torrado — which nearly turned into a Mexican goal. Credit Bradley for playing hard and quashing several promising Mexican attacks, but it wasn’t his strongest effort. Rating: 5.5" -Sounds like a typical Bradley performance to me and it doesn't mention how he was beaten for position on multiple Mexican goals. Actually he is next to either the goal scorer or assist maker on all 4 of Mexico's goals in the clip. If not for his headed goal off a corner he would probably have gotten a rating of 4 at best for that match.
The Gold Cup team was terrible and Bob Bradley should have been fired after the World Cup. The entire attitude, makeup, style, etc of the team was bad. I'm not making excuses, because he wasn't good while everybody else was bad, but the entire top level of the USMNT was rotten with Bob Bradley at the helm after South Africa. Bradley controls the midfield and does a great job. He has really benefited from him time at Chievo as well us at national level under Klinsmann. He's become much more tactically aware and smarter. He's not going to wow anybody with athleticism or blinding speed.
Bradley and Marquinho I could see rotating beautifully in midfield. They will most likely play in the same spot, but offer very different roles which gives Zemen far more tactical options. If we need speed and some creativity, Marq is our man. If we face a side that's very heavy in the midfield, Bradley will be our man. I don't really see why people wouldn't want him for the price we are probably going to get him. In the very least, he sucks and then we ship him off somewhere else and bite off a few Euros. If he becomes a stud however, he is very popular in America and will sell us some shirts. Donavon, Dempsey, and Howard really only have a few years left at the top level until they start to slow down. So the US is going to look for new players as the face of USMNT. Bradley along with Holden and a few others are going to be that new face
That seems to be a recurring theme amongst people who think Bradley is crap, not actually basing these opinions on having seen him play an awful lot. This is what I'm talking about judging a player on a couple performances, I just find this ridiculous. Bradley has been a key part in some of the best USMNT performances in the past two years. Despite being an American I get the feeling you haven't seen much of him play, even for the Nats because nobody on the US boards would agree with you and that lot are quick to jump on players. They used to bash Dempsey until a few seasons ago. That US side sputtered to the final and there was massive unrest in the camp. Many of the players were upset with his manager, who happens to be his dad. Not only that side and was terrible at the back. Also we're missing probably our best CM a player that holds the ball very well and Bradley plays well off of. That hole team was played badly imo and some of the selections didn't help at all. Knowing Mexico is a really quick team playing players out of position that are slow only one thing would happen. We made Gio look world class which he emphatically isn't. Question, how many matches in your opinion since the Gold Cup has Bradley been poor? That in know way the typical Bradley performance. At Cheivo he averaged a 6.5 rating just about every match. He locked down Juventus to a greater extent than any of our midfielders. If Chievo had any attacking threat they would have finished above Roma last season, but they couldn't buy a goal. This is the age 24/25 when you typically see DM take the next step anyways. Because of the physicality involved with the position players learn by playing matches, because you can't simulate game conditions. It's why Bradley was smart in choosing Cheivo over other clubs, because he knew he'd be guaranteed to start, which for a player his age was important.
I would say that, arguably, the largest group of football followers in the US are people in thier 20s that are huge fans of the US men's team and then usually an EPL club. Bradley is hugely popular with that group and certainly would make a very large percentage of that group pretty much instant Roma fans. His signing would be a very big deal among younger American fans. I'm still not sure what Bradley's ceiling is but he's a lot better than some of his detractors are giving him credit for.
He did look better than I expected in that youtube clip against Italy. I did not watch that game live (I don't make watching friendlies a priority). I have however seen almost every competitive match the US has played for the last few years. When has he been poor since the gold cup? In the most recent match against Guatemala. Saying his performance against Mexico was typical of the player was a bit harsh I'll admit. I meant that in terms of him making some good contributions but also some costly errors. And he made A LOT of individual errors in that match. And I really don't care if most of the guys on the US: N&A board disagree with me. Actually, I prefer it that way as I learned a couple years ago to stay the hell away from that section of crazies on bigsoccer. I hope he continues to improve (positional play above all) as you say he did last season and proves me wrong for the nats, I'm just not at all convinced he's what Roma should be going for.
He wasn't all that bad against Guatemala. Beyond Herc and Dempsey nobody really had a good match. Also playing against 12 men is always a difficult proposition, I wanted to kill that official. Several players should have been sent off in that match. That always happens when we go down to South America. CONCACAF officials seem to believe that rules don't apply down there, it killed the flow of the match. Bradley was solid defensively, made some key interceptions but he didn't offer much going forward. To me even when he's average he can at least provide a good defensive performance, short of the odd match like the GC final. Jones and Jozy were much worse imo. The Guatemala match was the last match in a run of game which were pretty taxing and a grueling camp which I think was poorly conceived. The players looked knackered against Canada at half time. The point is it's one match and it's a very disjointed team. I mean by that standard is someone only watched the Juventus match they might come to the conclusion that Roma have no good midfielders. I agree that it can be a little wild over there, what I'm talking about is consensus. Which you should know on that board can be difficult to reach. People that have seen Bradley play as much or more then I have would agree he's improved. I personally think is just part of his natural progression of a player, it's not as dramatic as people seem to think. Too often do football fans try to bury footballers. Look at Drogba, he didn't become the Drogba we all know until late in his career. Nobody could have convinced me Howard would develop into the keeper he has at Everton. Dempsey didn't start to break through until he was 26/27. That's fine, I don't mind that people disagree. My issue is unless I've completely lost the ability to objectively judge a player, he was good at Cheivo last season. As a squad player he could be useful. Look at the midfielders on our squad that got starts and sub appearances last season. He's a cheap option in a rotation which would allow us to focus on more pressing areas.
