Player coming in from xx transfers update: Paolo Fernandes Manchester City (gehuurd) Middenvelder(=midfielder) Manuel García Manchester City (wordt extra seizoen gehuurd) Middenvelder Nigel Bertrams Willem II Keeper Pablo Marí Villar Manchester City (gehuurd) Verdediger (=defender) Rai Vloet PSV Aanvaller(attacker) Thierry Ambrose Manchester City (gehuurd) Aanvaller Jose Angel Tasende Manchester City defender Menno Koch PSV CD defender Not looking good for Shane, as NAC has brought in 2 new CD's. It's going to be a fight to get into the team.
Demmit, everybody is buying defenders and my club is selling them while we are going to face clubs from bowl 1,2 and 3 in the CL with per striker a price tag we can fund the whole club for a year with.
A curious trend is developing. James horsfield is the latest of a group of young English players that prefer to sign a contract with Dutch Eredivisieclubs with lower paychecks than to stay in England.
Apollon are playing Aberdeen right now in their fourth Europa League qualifier of the campaign to date. O'Neill hasn't been in the 18 for any of the games and since signing with the club a few years ago there's been zero evidence that they've ever attempted to actually use him. I really hope he gets a permanent transfer somewhere.
In addition to the two CDs mentioned above, NAC Breda have just brought in a third CD, Estonian international Karol Mets. So they've likely moved on from O'Neill.
Who's the same age and has come from Viking Stavanger where he's been the mainstay at CB over the last two and a half seasons. He could be a better player than Shane, or he could be worse, but he unquestionably has a better track record. Consistent PT does that. Per Transfermarkt, Shane was a free agent as of July 1st, so there was nothing to stop Shane from accepting any Breda offer. If he turned one down, it wouldn't be the first stupid move he's made in his career. Who the f*&k is advising this guy? Edit: Transfermarkt lists him as having no agent at the moment, so maybe nobody is advising him. If turning down Breda was his own idea, footballers really do suffer from traumatic brain injury
Mixed messages: This is from the regional paper: Use google translate for a crude translation: http://www.bndestem.nl/nac/horsfiel...-oenrsquo-neill-wordt-nog-gesproken~a56897e7/ Horsfield keert niet terug naar NAC, met en over Garcia en O’Neill wordt nog gesproken Ad Pertijs 26-06-17, 16:01 The O'neill stuff says that NAC still is in talks about him. "Shane O’Neill was evenmin van de partij. De aanvoerder van het elftal dat wist te promoveren staat onder contract bij het Cypriotische Apollon Limasol. NAC wil de speler graag overnemen van die club, maar niet als het daarvoor een flinke transfersom moet betalen. Beide clubs zijn volgens Smulders nog wel in besprek met elkaar over de waarde van de speler. De Amerikaanse Ier mag voorlopig mee blijven trainen bij NAC, maar was gisteren afwezig vanwege zijn vakantie." "SO wasnot present either. The captain of the team that managed to promote is under contract with Cypriotic Ap. Limasol. NAC really wants to take over the player from the club, but not if there has to be payed a substantial transfer sum. Both clubs, according to Smulders are still in talks about the value of theplayer. The American Irisfman for the time being is allowed to practice with NAC, but yesterday was absent due to his holiday." Dunno if Transfermarket is wrong, but it seems to me they are. As far as I'm concerned there isnot something going wrong....yet.
If he's allowed to train with NAC, that's a very clear indicator that a deal is very close. But a "substantial" fee for a player whose contract was, IIRC, up at Xmas or June 2018? Surely he has a buyout clause? If he has, he'd be well-advised to put some of his own money on the table/forego payoffs & signing-on fees to get back to where he's genuinely wanted. If he does well, he'll get the money back in the future.
Apollon is really taking a Traffic-like approach to this. "Let's ask a stupid fee, thereby ensuring that we pay his salary, never actually make use of the player's talents, and then let him walk on a free!"
Who knows who owns Appollon (Cyprus takes banking and corporate secrecy pretty seriously)? Maybe former Traffic execs.
Did some digging: Nicos Kirzis is Apollon's board president - googling him reveals this sketchy transfer story involving a Romanian player who signed for Apollon and was loaned to the same Belgian club at which O'Neill briefly had a stint: http://futbolgrad.com/cristian-manea-the-boy-who-never-signed-for-chelsea/ Basically third party (non-club) ownership is illegal....so Pini Zahavi and Kirzis have turned Apollon into a den of third-party ownership. It's legal because Apollon are a club. We might recall that Apollon is also the club that Doneil Henry was secretly sold to in April 2014 (not public until October 2014). The model seems to be buying the economic rights to players from cash-strapped clubs on the cheap and hoping to flip them for a profit. When it works out, players are on their books for days or weeks; when it doesn't, it's a series of endless and weird loans. Compared to some of these guys, O'Neill is lucky he had a good year with NAC after his bizarre 2015-16 season. This article is particularly illuminating and IMO a very interesting read: https://theblacksea.eu/index.php?idT=88&idC=88&idRec=1270&recType=story It all stinks to high heaven. Whoever told O'Neill to sign with this club is an idiot.
You cannot blame Donald everything At least it must be comforting NAC want him and donot consider him a passer by
Good news! Assuming he passes his medical, Shane has signed with Excelsior for a year and will join Desevio Payne. http://www.soccernews.nl/news/400464/Excelsior_haalt_Amerikaan_terug_naar_de_Eredivisie Edit: Shane and Desevio have previously been US U23 teammates, specifically for last year's Olympic playoff matches vs. Colombia, so they surely already know each other. http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...6-olympic-qualifying-playoff-against-colombia DEFENDERS (8): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Matt Miazga (Chelsea FC), Eric Miller (Colorado Rapids), Tim Parker (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Desevio Payne (FC Groningen), Shane O’Neill (Cambridge United), Brandon Vincent (Chicago Fire), Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas)
Oneill seems like he could play at well at a midlevel European league and be in the USMNT pool. Hopefully his agents/management does not let him down. EDIT: Just noticed the post above this one, if this deal goes through will he be done with Apollon?
There's some confusion about when his Appollon deal was due to end. At one point Transfermarkt was listing him as a free agent already, but others were suggesting that he was still under contract at Apollon until June 2018. He left Colorado in August 2015 and it's hard to imagine that he got anything other than the standard 3-year deal, so maybe Appollon are loaning him out to Excelsior while his contract runs out. If so, Excelsior are probably paying a modest loan fee (circa 100k) and are picking up 85-100% of his wages and he's a free agent come June 30th. Doubt he'll make the USMNT pool this season; he's nowhere near Matt Miazga's level (of achievement anyway) and Matt's hardly a fixture in the pool.
So....Yank defenders lumping together in the Eredivisie ....if wishes come true from YA posters adding EPB and Acosta to it ....in the worst defending league .....team USA is doomed
He signed a one year deal that includes a club option for an additional year. https://sbvexcelsior.nl/excelsior-contracteert-verdediger-shane-oneill/ That sounds like he's completely off Apollon's books.
Nothing's official without kit pix: 📝 Lees hier het interview met aanwinst Shane O'Neill (@Shaneone27) ➡️ https://t.co/BPIYGvqTDg #excelsiorrdam #samensterk ⚫️🔴 pic.twitter.com/UOPCLyqdSI— Excelsior Rotterdam (@excelsiorrdam) August 21, 2017
probably too late for this cycle in any case, but he's set up well for the 2022 cycle. Eredivisie at 24 (or 25 after next summer) is a decent place for a defender, even if the route was pretty indirect.
True, but I'm pretty sure that he could have joined Excelsior or NAC Breda or the equivalent three seasons ago without having anything to do with Appollon or Pini Zahavi. Just have your agent call 6 or so lower Eredivisie or Jupiler League sides and say "Shane fancies a move to Europe. He's willing to go on trial. Are you interested?" One of them would have signed him.