ClubTV sprak vorige week met @HorvathEthan over zijn debuut, kijk even mee! pic.twitter.com/umcORx2D4S— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) May 22, 2017
Yeah they seem to be ranging from taking over the USMNT gk spot to not starting for Brugge yet. It should be noted that actual Brugge fans have been very supportive and are (for the most part) ready for him to take over.
I'm still amazed that he's only 21. Crazy to compare where he currently is (starting for 1 of the best clubs in a solid mid-tier league) to a Keller/Friedel/Howard at age 21.
Report that Butelle may be departing Club Brugge and they are interested in Newcastle backup Matz Sels. https://www.voetbalprimeur.be/nieuw...krijgt-belgische-concurrentie-voor-sels-.html
Pound for Pound the greatest goalkeeper in US history... I kid! I kid! He was big boned... It's kind of a drag that 98 is the last image most fans have of Meola, he was never going to be American's greatest, but he was pretty decent at times.
Sels is 25 and was sold by Gent for €6.6m last summer. He began the year as Newcastle's starter, but then lost the job to Darlow and eventually slipped to 3rd in the depth chart when Elliot came back from injury. Sels' contract runs through 2021. Since he was signed for a reasonably large fee by a club like Newcastle, I'd imagine his wages could be out of the range of what a club like Brugge could pay. But I'm just guessing. I'd rather see them bring in another older veteran type like Butelle. A young, prime age GK who 12 months ago was sold for 6.5x more than Horvath's fee is more of a threat to Horvath's PT. Of course, beating out the competition is the way the game works.
Arena says in US Soccer interview that Horvath won't be available for the Gold Cup. Not a bad thing so he can stake a claim for the #1 with Club Brugge in preseason. http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...ster-for-venezuela-trinidad-mexico-qualifiers
Referring to Robles spending July 2009 with the USMNT at the Gold Cup instead of preseason with Kaiserslautern, likely in part why he eventually lost his starting job.
I mean, Robles is a decent to good MLS keeper. So I suspect he was losing that job at some point anyway. Horvath is several classes of player above Robles.
That's fair. Not being with the team exacerbated the situation, but he'd likely have lost the job at some point anyway.
As to FCK Robles v. Club Brugge Horvath - and your "several classes above" comment - you never even watched Robles play in Germany once . You have no idea. FCK is a big club in Germany. Probably a bigger club than Brugge. Robles had a lot of promise at the time (obviously) but things didn't work out and eventually he ended up back in MLS. No reason to say that exact same thing couldn't happen to Horvath in 2017. Especially if Brugges adds someone like Selz. So it's a good thing he won't be with the GC team. Who knows where Horvath ends up and I hope he has a great career but this ignorant shot at Robles and what happened to him is so typical of a place like this. Build up the great prospect (Horvath) and dump on the older MLS player (Robles). Robles was an exciting prospect but circumstances like the summer of 09 can have a big impact on a career.
Club Elo says Brugge has a 1646 rating right now and FCK was ~1580 after earning promotion in 2010 fwiw. (And no, I did not go back and watch film on FCK from the turn of the decade.) I agree that "several classes" isn't accurate when comparing the two goalkeepers but I wouldn't agree that Robles had "a lot of promise" at the time either. He ended up in Germany because MLS didn't value him. Yes he was drafted, but three draft picks away from not being. Every MLS team essentially passed on him and when he was lowballed on a contract (i.e not valued) he wisely went somewhere else. Was Robles working hard and moving up the ladder in Germany? Definitely. But there's a reason why he never got out of the second division in Germany in the peak of his career. If he was good enough to play in the Bundesliga he would have. Robles turned 33 this month. His time with the national team is over. So I suppose you can call it dumping a player but it's just the natural progression of a career. Robles was a very good goalkeeper, who is still playing well, but Horvath is clearly on a higher track than where Robles ever was in his career.