Jozy: Headed back to Villarreal? The Altidore off-season thread

Seriously now? 100% Italian...except for the fact that he's also American. He admits that he feels like an American when he's not on the pitch. And never mind the fact that he grew up in the USA.

I certainly understand his decision, but to say that it's a "no brainer" is just exaggerating, especially when you consider the fact that he's missed out on the last 2 World Cups by choosing Italy. And some people actually have national pride, and wouldn't choose to play for Italy just because.

 

And to the Italian team he's a 100% American.

 

There's actually a whole thread for emoting on Rossi:

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1414743&highlight=guiseppe+rossi

 

Yeah - let's drop this tired debate here...

However, if Rossi is off to Fiorentina, then his 'spot' is open...

But since Jozy wasn't in first team plans as it was, that would likely put him behind Nilmar and Ruben in the depth chart along with Fuster and Montero who can also slide up...

Sounds like a lot of competition for playing time to me... let's hope he's loaned or sold...

 

Hoping Jozy goes to Ajax, that would be a dream club to develop at.

 

couldn't agree more...

 

Yeah, I'm sure Ajax will be looking to replace Luis Suarez with Jozy Altidore.

Maybe Jozy should go to Greece. I hear Aris is looking for a striker.

 

Jozy career has not been THAT different or THAT lower in class to when Ajax signed Suarez and started him. It is entirely feasible that Jozy could be their man.

 

This post is stupid on so many levels.

1) Ajax routinely signs young players with a ton of promise, but not much in the way of record. It's what they do. It's why so many here want Jozy to go there. They specialize in taking rough young attackers and molding them into world class players. Then they make a fortune selling them.

2) There have been more than a few articles suggesting clubs at Ajax level (including Ajax) are interested. It's not just some BigSoccer fantasy.

3) If you can't see the difference in talent and promise between Jozy and Adu/Johnson, you're beyond clueless.


Regarding point #1, does anyone know if the Ajax talk was for a loan or a purchase? I don't know why Ajax would take him on loan.

 

actually, he's 100% italian on the field and 100% American off the field. His words not mine

 

It's really not even worth arguing about Jozy's quality anymore. There are those who believe he sucks because he hasn't scored many goals for club or country recently. And there are those who believe Jozy brings so much more to the game than just goals, helping his team become more dangerous than they normally would be.

Those that believe the former to be true simply don't appreciate the subtleties in Jozy's game, don't recognize that he's actually improved tremendously in the last year, and don't realize that the USMNT wouldn't have made it out of the group stage without his contributions. I for one believe he would be deadly in the Eredivisie; he just needs to get his confidence back in front of goal, and he'll start scoring in droves.

 

Until it happens, I'm going to go ahead and guess it is primarily a Big Soccer fantasy. And your last point is correct, they're not going to want him on loan, and they're not going to be willing to pay for a full transfer. They like CHEAP strikers with tons of promise, not overpaid strikers who don't score but have tons of promise.

The idea that Altidore is too good for a loan to Aris or the Greek league is unfortunately not accurate. (And Adu just got cut from Aris so he's obviously not good enough for them.) There was a rumor that Jozy was going to Olympiakos last summer. Maybe his agent should call them back. The Aris striker idea was tongue-in-cheek (of course) but now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind having Cuper teach him.

 

Jozy is good enough to play in Holland, and the Eredivisie (particularly Ajax) has a better track record of developing attacking players than Greece. Why would he want to go to the Superleague?

 

Big Soccer Fantasies are typically not supported by articles showing said team is interested. Big Soccer Fantasies include turning Arsene's kind comments about MB into a "MB to Arsenal" discussion. The fact that theres talks coming from Ajax about being interested in Jozy proves that this is not a fantasy, but factual. Whether it happens is another story

Ive seen the Greek League and it would be a drop for Jozy. I do not see this as an option if i were Jozy. There are plenty of other (better) offers

 

Scouting him doesn't mean they'll definitely take him but you're wrong if you think its all fantasy.

Its good you know so much about their transfer policy for this summer though

 

I really don't care where he goes, as long as it's halfway decent competition and he gets tons of playing time, and his confidence gets a big boost. Ajax would be great, but I have a feeling he'd spend a lot of time riding the pine.

 

^^^

 

This is almost along the lines of some posters saying he should go back to MLS to develop. Except that those posts are on the USMNT threads, so they're to be expected.

 

The Ajax rumor was not invented here. It came from some soccer publication somewhere. Therefore, it is not BS fantasy.

"Jozy to ManU!"

There, that is BigSoccer fantasy. Or nightmare.

 

Speaking of Ajax & Aris and strikers... fresh rumors:

 

Poor Altidore and Adu. I hope they don't become ne'er-do-wells.

 

So if he'd gone to Olympiakos last summer instead of Hull that would have been the equivalent of going to MLS? Ugh. The Greek League is by no means great, but Greek teams that play in Champions/Europa League get better competition than MLS.

I'm glad to hear the Ajax rumor is an official rumor and not a fantasy, though the idea that it will come true in my opinion closely resembles fantasy. And if it does come true I will happily eat crow and congratulate Jozy to his Twitter. Then I'll keep an eye on his minutes.

IF Jozy had scored on Robert Green after turned Carragher and not hit a sitter over the crossbar against Algeria, I bet there'd be a lot more interest. Those are the breaks.

 

Clubs don't take players based simply on appearances at the World Cup, they do their homework.

 

Yes, comparing the Superleague to MLS was too much, but I do think Jozy is capable of playing against better competition in a better league. I also think he's shown enough in the last year for a team in a better league than Greece to pick him up.