Colorado badly need a cf like Jozy. They are stuck with a lot of costly failures tho, so I think their FO passes for lack of funds. Pity. Right thing comes along and they already blew their wad.
Neil Davidson @NeilMDavidson · 24m24 minutes ago Sources confirm Jozy Altidore to become #TorontoFC player. Medical Thursday with contract signing to follow.
There's really not much of a reason to compare Bony and Jozy. Once upon a time Dempsey had similar raw goal scored stats to Rooney and Drogba... and in the same league as well. But they are much different players with much different capabilities when it comes to effecting the outcome of a match on the higher levels of the sport. Bony is a star. Jozy not so much. Impending MLS move says it all. He's still young-ish, I'm sure he can show well in MLS and get another shot somewhere else in Europe in the future. But it probably shouldn't be England. Jury's in on this one.
He's going to be paid a Defoe-like salary by TFC. Which means he'll be as trapped as Bradley. No one is going to take them. And the only way for them to drop in salary price is to suffer such a drop in quality season after season, that in that case no one is going to want them.
Why get another shot in Europe? What if Josey tears up MLS and becomes a beast in international competition? Would he "need" to go to Europe? If his confidence is high and scores against the big dogs internationally then I say he doesn't need to be any where but where he is succeeding. Is our goal for American soccer players to gauge their worth in Europe or help win international competitions? If a players success in a lesser league helps their confidence transfer over to qualifiers and top international tournaments then I don't see the value in them having to "push" themselves over seas.
We obsess over the NT. In a regular "soccer crazy" nation, right now we'd have a war here between the TFC fans, telling us how Jozy is going to tear everybody else a new one, and the fans of the other clubs, poking fan at the TFC fans about their being so happy over a Premiership reject. In soccer-mad countries, people care about their local clubs a lot more than about the NT. And no one gives a toss that their NT players don't play for Real Madrid. They just want them to perform for their local club first, and for the NT second.
He'll never be a beast in international competition... but if you think that Jozy doesn't want to get a shot to perform well on the highest levels you don't know athletes all that well. Does it mean he couldn't/wouldn't be happy in MLS? No. But that's what athletes do, they strive for better. If he were happy in MLS I'd want him to stay happy! But I wasn't talking about what I want, I was making a safe assumption on what he wants. But maybe I'm wrong. Donovan was happy with a failed European spell when he was a teenager and 2 decent loan spells to a top league. Maybe Jozy would be fine with something sort of similar.
I find myself thinking about Jozy five years from now, what his story will be when he's 30. He could trend towards the nomadic-striker type, such as EJ or Kenny Cooper and the like, moving from team to team every few years. Possibly some off-season loans if the opportunity is right. Not to be depressing, or anything.
EJ and Kenny kind of suck though. I don't think anyone has ever thought of those 2 clowns in the same light as Jozy where the national team is concerned. Losing Jozy for the last World Cup was devastating for us sane folk. Hilarious that some in here are actually writing him off before he's even signed.
No one's writing him off. But he's not a keeper, he's a striker. Coming up on 26 isn't he? There aren't going to be really big improvements from where he is right now.
Yup he's as good as he's going to get, and whether you like it or not, that's miles and miles better than any of our other options at this point in time.
Why would he "trend" toward the nomadic-striker type? He's certainly well traveled already: Spain, Hull, N'lands, S'land, Toronto, Turkey and will likely have little reason to leave MLS if he doesn't want to. At 26 Jozy is neither too old to have another great season or 3 (see Pelle, G. AZ stats. Feyenoord stats.) nor so young he couldn't just coast out the next 5 or 6 seasons. It will really be up to him. The guy has been on the road for a few years. He might find it really nice to be back in (or near, anyway) the states, or might get bored quickly. Time will tell - but the reality is, for anyone really paying attention to his play for S'land and the USMNT, there is little in his performance - save not putting the ball in the net for S'land - that suggest he is less the player he was at AZ. Does he need a man in a mullet to shine? That is another question altogether.
Well, from Toronto he's going to be 90 minutes from NYC, by plane. So visiting his family is going to be a lot easier. He could even drive there during an off week, although seven hours driving gets tiring.
I hold no ill towards sunderland. Any fan base that has to put up with that football should be comforted and applauded. They could have been much worse to him.
If Jozy scores 25 goals this season, you won't have European clubs calling his horrible agent up. His Euro backpacking trip is pretty much over. Spain, Turkey, Holland, England. Nice. Unless Bob Bradley calls him into Norway or whatever team he's coaching in a few years, Jozy is going to be in MLS for awhile.
As much as they didn't like him as a footballer, they did like him and were genuinely rooting for him to score. They would have gone nuts if he scored. Bummer. Chapter closed. One less reason to set my alarm on Saturday mornings. Dear ReadyToGo forum... You made me laugh, you made me cry.
Jozy Altidore’s miserable spell at Sunderland is now almost over, but it will stand as a reminder to players that the big money deal isn’t always the right one. At the age of just 25, the forward is abandoning European football and returning to MLS branded as one of the biggest transfer failures in recent Premier League history, Sunderland having received a solitary league goal in return for their £6.5m ($9.9m) transfer fee. [mod's note: use the link to read the rest of the article] http://www.theguardian.com/football...er-a-badly-advised-confidence-sapping-failure
Thanks for posting this. I've edited it to remove all but the first paragraphs of the article. We have a rule against posting the entire text of articles hosted on other sites.
As compared to the Mix thread, I have a feeling you could shut this one down even prior to the move becoming finalized and none of us would complain.
Looking forward to the articles highlighting ALL of the recent Sunderland failures. Emanuele Giaccherini - 5.5m pounds - diddly squat Jack Rodwell - 7.6m pounds - less than diddly squat Liam Bridcutt - 3.5m pounds - garbage Wes Brown/John O'Shea - one of the worst center pairings in the league - 4.5m combined Steven Fletcher - 12m pounds - 18 goals in 56 apps is not a great stat line for that amount of money and the amount that he's out injured. Cattermole - 6m pounds for a hockey enforcer with the touch of a trampoline; a guy who gives his balls away so much you'd think he's playing for Fire Island FC. And when Defoe gets injured after maybe scoring 2 goals. And the rapid downfall of Larsson. Can't wait for those articles.
You might want to delete most of the the article before the police comes. I believe we cannot post full articles. Good article though.