The Bulgarian Riviera should suffice: Vilian Bijev at Cherno More Varna

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Eh? weird

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Nothing wrong with sharpening your teethin the 2.Bundesliga.

And it seems they are more apt to sign him than Genk....

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

It was a pain to find and I can't link straight to article so I'll post the whole thing:

Dieser Name ist DIE Überraschung im Transfer-Endspurt!
Fortuna will neben Tobias Levels noch einen zweiten Spieler holen: Villyan Bijev (18) vom FC Liverpool. Der US-Amerikaner mit bulgarischem Pass ist Stürmer, wird in seiner Heimat bereits als „Wunderkind“ gefeiert.
Bijev hat gestern Vormittag bereits den Medizincheck absolviert, checkte im Arena-Hotel „Tulip Inn“ ein. Jetzt fehlt nur noch die Unterschrift!
Wer ist dieser Bijev?
Bis Juli spielte er für den US-Nachwuchs-Klub California Odyessey. Nach einem Probetraining und drei Toren in einem Test in Liverpool bekam der Angreifer auf der Insel einen Drei-Jahres-Vertrag.
Damit er sich besser entwickeln kann, soll er jetzt auf Leihbasis nach Düsseldorf – und den Fortuna-Angriff noch stärker machen! Sollte mit den Formalitäten alles klar gehen, ist nicht ausgeschlossen, dass Ranisav Jovanovic noch geht
​

He is apparently there and has passed a physical and they are only awaiting his signature.

Edit: It is a loan deal (obviously)

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Sounds like a good deal. Fortuna are one of the top promotion contenders this year as far as I can tell. And the 2BL is a pretty good league.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Genk apparently wanted Liverpool to pay them a very large fee for taking Bijev

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

That doesn't speak very well of what Genk think of his abilities. Yikes.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

He'd probably get more PT in BL II than in Jupiler.

And now Genk landed on someone big's shit list.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

This is a really weird situation. Liverpool and Genk supposedly have an agreement designed to get PT and citizenship for guys who can't qualify for a British WP. Apparently Genk decided this deal needed to be reworked. Or they didn't see anything in Bijev and were offended at being asked to take him, though this doesn't agree with the reports I've read recently.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

John Henry isn't the person to screw with and this was a big f/u to his face.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

from NSC:

"I don't know who initiated the idea, but it was a mutual agreement until Genk went Gordon Gekko. And yeah, the essence I get is that they determined that they deserved a "development fee" type of thing since he's such a hot prospect. Looney tunes."

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Like I said, some owners might have caved in.

Henry gave them the Michael Corleone treatment.

"My offer, senator, is nothing".

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Another yank playing for a good German side? I'm all for it

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Ah, if we only had a Toby Charles video clip commentating from Dusseldorf
circa 1977- 1979 (the glory days), with 50,000+ in the stadium and Klaus Allofs banging in goals....they were a big club then.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Huh

What Genk probably wanted was a fee from Liverpool (or some future percentage agreement) because they thought Bijev would have significant transfer value in the future. They wanted a piece of the action. This would be an indication that they rate Bijev highly.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

I would imagine that Genk would typically have more leverage with Liverpool in situations where the player needed to stay in Belgium for a few years in order to get citizenship and thus qualify for a UK work permit. In Bijev's case, he's going to be granted work status through his Bulgarian citizenship by the end of the year. Thus, it does not surprise me that Liverpool balked at Genk's demands and sent him to a BL2 team to develop instead.

The question I have for those that follow both teams/leagues is which developmental situation do you think is better for a player of Bijev's age and abilities?

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Its tough to tell. 2BL is a very diverse league (much like MLS). There are teams that play good possession soccer and teams that play kick ball. This particular 2BL team is probably somewhere in between, but leaning more towards possession oriented. Quality-wise, they're probably equivalent to top 6 MLS teams, but maybe not quite as good Dallas, Seattle and LA.

Belgium's top teams are certainly better that 2BL sides, but there isn't a huge gap in overall league talent.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Would he get more PT at Fortuna?

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Can't find Toby in Dusseldorf, but I did find Allofs playing in 1978 in Dusseldorf with German national team vs. Holland...oh, those were the days.
When men were men (Check out the conditions!)


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2nmP-kuf9A"]Germany v Holland (1978-Friendly) (Pt. 2) - YouTube[/ame]

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Again, tough to say. Both teams probably have similar revenues (in the 30-50 million range), but I really don't know enough about Genk to say for sure.

Fortuna has a bunch of foreign players but they've rarely used them in the starting 11 this year. They do have some decent depth. So it could be difficult to break into the first team. They also will likely be in the hunt for promotion, so every game really counts.

Personally, unless Bijev is amazing in training, I don't see him getting significant minutes or any minutes for that matter.

To make matters worse, their reserve team doesn't play in the Regionalliga (4th division, which is split into 3 large regional divisions). I think they might play in the significantly weaker Oberliga. There are American college teams that could compete in the Oberliga.

EDIT: If you have any other questions, I would direct them here

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Could a German speaker give us a translation of this?

Der us-amerikanische U-18-Nationalspieler Villyan Bijev wurde zwar gestern von Sportvorstand Wolf Werner nicht als „verpflichtet“ tituliert. Hatte aber den Medizincheck absolviert, nächtigte dazu im Arena-Hotel.

Der 18-jährige Kalifornier aus Fresno, der auch einen bulgarischen Pass besitzt, hatte im Training und im Testmatch gegen die U 18 des Drittligisten Stevenage Borough (8:0; in einer Halbzeit drei Tore, eine Vorlage, einen Elfmeter herausgeholt) die Liverpool-Verantwortlichen überzeugt. Das „Wunderkind“ vom California Odyssey Soccer Club erhielt einen Mehrjahresvertrag. Wurde zunächst an den Belgischen Meister und Champions-League-Starter Racing Genk ausgeliehen. Doch der RCG schickte den Angreifer nach Einsätzen im U-21-Team vor wenigen Tagen zurück nach Anfield. Offenbar gab es Differenzen bei den Ausleihmodalitäten.

„Über Umwege sind wir an ihn herangekommen“, erklärte Werner gestern, „das ist auch ein Vertrauensbeweis für die Fortuna.“ Und eine Anerkennung der Leistungsstärke der 2. Fußball-Bundesliga. Ob dafür ein anderer Fortune noch von der Gehaltsliste soll, ließ Werner, natürlich, offen. ​

http://www.derwesten.de/sport/lokal...a-Die-Walze-und-das-Wunderkind-id5014517.html

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Why would they take him on loan to only play him in Oberliga games?

EDIT: Clearly, the thread title should include "O Fortuna."

EDITx2: Their reserve team plays in the Regionalliga West (same level as Mainz, Hertha, Dortmund, Hoffenheim reserve teams): http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/regionalliga/rlwest/regionalliga-west/2011-12/spieltag.html

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

I have no idea. I wast just pointing out that if he does get relegated to the bench, he could be playing at a fairly low level.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

He passed a medical. It talks about his U18 game in England (the 8-0 victory). It says he signed a multi-year contract with Liverpool before being loaned to Genk. But the deal fell through due to difficulties agreeing on the loan specifics (most likely financial). It goes on to say that this move shows the strength of the 2 Bundesliga as well as Fortuna.

I get the vibe that they think he'll contribute to the first team in a big way.

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Villyan stealing Fortuna

 

Re: Villyan Bijev at Racing Genk

Man, I'd love playing in Dusseldorf. I could check out all of the old haunts of Klink, Hogan, Lebeau, Carter.