not sure on bund euro spots- is herta in the europa league next year? in any case, (not being overly familiar with the league) im not seeing moving to a team that just avoided relegation as a step up. you can get a fresh start someone other than a team at the opposite end of the table than yours just finished. is there any real argument against this being a step down with more money?
The only way this move could be reclassified from "a step down in return for a bigger paycheque" is if Brooks is one of about 3-5 new signings of equivalent or better standing for a total outlay of about 50-70 nillion. The problem is, 1) there's no sign of moves being made for that number of players for that kind of money, and 2) all the media reports over the last year have been of VW scaling back their commitment to Wolfburg. Maybe the relegation scare has changed minds in VW's boardroom, but I'd be very sceptical if I were advising JAB. "Make two other 15 million signings and then we'll talk" would be my response.
Cool that he smashed the US transfer fee record(until Pulisic has something to say about that) but this move makes little sense. If Wolfsburg of all clubs is willing to splash 19M I'd wager he could have found a better situation for an even larger fee. Why jump on this before June 1st??? Just weird to be a regular for a side like Hertha, be entering your prime at 24 and choose Wolfsburg. Whatever. At least he'll be fresh and in form for the WC.
Wolfsburg will bounce back they have too much talent not too but I think it would have been better to wait and see if any other options were there but we aren't privy to that info so we'd never know.
Hertha BSC to Wolfsburg really isn't a step down in the grand scheme of things. The reality is Wolfsburg is a big club which happened to underperform this season. Hertha Berlin may have a little money as well Wolfsburg is the bigger club culturally and competitively. I mean Wolfsburg were Bundesliga runners up the season before last. They've won legit trophies and competed in the CL proper within the past 3 seasons, never mind actually winning the league in the past decade. Watching the relegation playoff this weekend, the players and coaches looked hungry and grateful that they survived this season's debacle. If the Brooks deal is final, one or two more high profile signings this summer and they may not be in bad shape next year.
Its a step up. Not as much of step up as I think he could've made, but that can come in a few seasons.
It's a step up. Wolfsburg has the $$ to bounce back. People on this board rely to much on how the table finished for the current season. Hertha Berlin are lucky to be in the Group Stage for the Europa League and not in the playoff round, only because BVB won the Pokal. I'll never forget when people thought Michael Bradley moving from Chievo to AS Roma was a lateral move.
So Brooks broke the US transfer record with an $18 million dollar move? I recall Jozy moved to Sunderland for $13 million while Dempsey moved to Spurs for $ 9 million. Any other big transfers?
Wolfsburg has signed John Brooks: VfL WolfsburgVerified account @VfL_Wolfsburg 43m43 minutes ago Der VfL verpflichtet @j_brooks25 zur kommenden Spielzeit. Herzlich willkommen bei den Wölfen, John! https://www.vfl-wolfsburg.de/info/aktuelles/detailseite/artikel/brooks-kommt-46356.html
Brooks rides with Volkswagen Brooks catches the bug to leave Berlin. Beetle Juice Brooks to Wolfsburg.
Keep in mind they may still have cash from the Draxler sale, the Schurrle sale, and Ricardo Rodriguez looks likely to leave so he'll command a pretty hefty fee as well. I suspect John Brooks won't be the end of the purchases for Wolfsburg this summer.
Well, CCV is supposed to get minutes with Spurs according to Pochettino and Villareal are in Europa League if Akale can make the jump.
I did make it clear at the beginning of my post "then from the Bundesliga", wasn't talking about all of Europe based US players.
How about none of this? It seems like those who have the catchy thread titles struggle. I say keep it John Brooks at VfL Wolfsburg.
On the local sports radio station, they have a segment called "stoppage time" that they throw in randomly, where the producer talks about soccer. They mentioned this transfer. Then the host talked about how Wolfsburg was awful and barely avoided relegation. I was really impressed.
The size $$ of the transfer is what is a really big deal here. Tooling around on Transfermarket, this is the 29th largest purchase by a bundesliga club ever. When filtering further to Defenders it is #6. JAB's price tag is in some lofty territory for Germany, forget about the American part. That alone may have been a motivating factor. Short of moving to a Champions League team in one of the big leagues this money is a big as it gets. Could speculate he'll be on a healthy wage as well.
That is actually pretty impressive if all of those numbers are accurate. I feel like he would be lower than that, but everyone is getting paid more now so it I guess it shouldn't be too surprising.
a nice move for brooks... should set him up for an even larger move in a couple years should all go well.