Bradley will be a Roma player. He finished his medical examinations on Thursday. He could end up in Riscone today with the rest of the team. They still haven't reached an agreement with Chievo. Stoian and either Greco, Brighi or Crescenzi. Chievo have already replaced Bradley with Guana from Cesena. If his contract wasn't expiring next year, he'd cost more money.
I'm ready for this to get official so I can get over the feeling that I jinxed the moved by transferring MB to Roma in FIFA 12 already.
Yes, but I had to give them back. They said they needed them, but being Italians, I don't think they ever use them, except to hold on their designer sunglasses. I guess that's a use.
You guys should see the interesting debates I've been having on the Roma board the past two days. The opinion of Bradley is seriously out of control. Apparently Roma have just signed the worst player of all time and it means were accepting mid-table mediocrity. He's not as good as a player like Gago, who obviously must be worth his valuation because he's from Real Madrid, even though he can't complete a simple 6 yard pass.
They don't like, I'm imagining. I have to say my buddies who are Roma fans are not the most logical folks I've ever hung with.
Just wait until Bradley shows them with his play. There's really no reason to engage such people in discussion. Bradley will probably do well at Roma and then the fans will like him.
In there opinion he's a mediocre player and not signing Gago means the club are looking to save money not improve greatly. Even though like I've said many times, Gago was toilet last season. Bradley has had a much better year. Also the only reason why anyone would claim he's a decent option for Roma are bias Americans.
American players won't get any unearned respect. Yes he had a great season for Chievo and is one of if not the best player on the USMNT. But Roma is a historic club, I can understand them demanding the best players. Michael is going to have to earn their respect like I'm sure he will. Obviously if he was the same player and he was Brazilian or Dutch they'd be salivating and getting him for so little money. But 'tis the way of the world.
Actually if you look at those statistics and look at the Serie A table, Udinese would easily be called the moneball team, spending somewhere around 20-21 mil in Salaries, while coming in 3rd place and getting the last Champions League Spot. Chievo however did do well with what they had, but i'm sorry approximately 6 -8 mil difference in salaries and 7 spots in the standings is honorable however Udinese is the clear winner. Italians are just like any other European, American's most likely are Mediocre and are not going to escalate the team.
I doubt the Roma fans have seen much of him lately, other than the Italy and Juve games and a few others against the big teams. I don't think Chievo got on tv a lot there and their games were often at the same time as Roma's. He'll just have to win them over.
What'd you expect? Bradley is an American that has come from a mid to lower table team, so they automatically believe there is noo possible way that he could be any good or contribute to mighty Roma! I have found that most fans are more worried about how the transfer looks rather than looking at the player himself and what he can contribute to the team. To them American=mediocrity. If it had been a brazilian, argentinian etc. there would be no problem, even if the american version is obviously better. If Bradley plays like he did last year he will win over alot of Roma fans!
Yeah I agree with most of the points above and I've been making the past couple of days, but they've fallen on deaf ears.
Oh I've been mostly debating Roma fans in the Roma section here. Then most of the other places I go are Italian sites.
The stigma attached with being an American player in Europe is infuriating. If his name was Mikael Bradlinho and he wasn't American I have more then a hunch some opinions would be swayed.
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/story/_/id/8135271/roma-move-wise-one-michael-bradley-jeff-carlisle Carlisle article on Bradley's possible move to Roma. A lot of career summary and he sort of points out the obvious, but worth a look to reminisce.