Andrea is reporting that Buddle, along with the aforementioned Donovan and Cooper, has sparked interest in a transfer to Europe: http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110.../988255/canales-daily-golden-booted-to-europe I think a transfer to Rosenberg would be a great move for Buddle, while a lower level Bundesliga-1 side might also work. I think he's ready to go overseas, as I think Buddle matured this season.
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Transfer to Rosenborg will be a great news for Rosenborg. But not so good news for Bruce Arena. PS. Canales sort of forgetting JP Angel's scoring...
In all seriousness, I think if Buddle plays the way he did this year, he'll be able to do well in Scandanavia. I'm a huge admirer of Buddle's talents. I'm not a huge admirer of his consistency. And that's a concern in Europe. However, he flourished in the absolute circus he was part of in LA the past season and a half (20 goals, 3 assists in 43 games with the Gals) and if he can produce in those circumstances, I think he can produce for the right teams abroad if, and only IF, he brings it every week. Having said all that, Buddle had a career year and he has a semester of community college under his belt. He needs to build a nest egg to help him live off after he's done playing and he has a better chance to do that in Norway than in MLS and the time to strike is now.
I'd been saying this for years - what the smaller market leagues usually lack is the top quality athletes. When they get on the UEFA stage, top league squads don't give them an inch of space and that dooms the likes of Rosenborg and Aalborg. Buddle will help a squad like Rosenborg stretch the opposing defenses a lot more than someone like Kenny Cooper will. Plus, Edson does throw his body around well also. And I do think he was very consistent throughout 2008. Finally, looking at it long term, Norway is a good "retirement" league for an athletically talented American because one should be able to play there at least into his early 30's and possibly into his mid-30's. A target striker can obviously last even longer since the size doesn't go away. Edson can play both target and supporting but will probably gravitate toward the target role as his career winds down. But, if he gets that role down pat, he may play for another decade.
Does anyone know what Edson's deal is/was with drinking? Didn't he get done for DWI or another alcohol related offense when he was with the Crew? Did he go to rehab or something? I seem to recall that Columbus soured on him for his lifestyle...something to do with partying too much. Anyhow, perhaps he has quit drinking - which is why he was so much more consistent last year with LA (though to be fair, he did score goals in bunches - i think he may have had two hat tricks last year). I agree, he's always had the talent, just not the consistency.
That's what I was thinking. Will MLS really let them lose that many players? How muc longer does Buddle have on his contract.
That was from Galarcep during the All-Star break : http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/07/mls-all-star-ga.html This is back from Jan, 2007 : http://toronto.fc.mlsnet.com/news/t...t_id=81915&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280 So, if it's a 2-year, then he's a free agent. If it's a typical 2+2, then he is not and it surely doesn't sound like he is.