Marca Well almost an entire week has passed since the story first broke last Friday, and Marca still has yet to even mention Altidore's name. And it's not like they aren't reporting any possible R. Madrid transfers either. Today the leading story is how they are ready to go toe-to-toe with Inter Milan over Olympique Marseille's Samir Nasri. But still no Jozy. Odd....
Jozy speaks. http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/jozy-altidore-home-for-the-holiday/ ... Do I want to play for a big team? Of course, but it’s more important for me to be playing right now and not be with a high-profile team on a reserve team or something like that. At my age, things will come if I keep playing. But if I’m not playing it won’t really matter. For a young player, if you’re able to play on a big team so be it, but the idea is to play all the time. I’m still young and I’ve still got a lot to learn. That’s just my opinion on it. ...
Um...yeah he's up for going to Europe. But Real Madrid? Look at his blog. He's really not all that keen on it. I was hoping that he'd make the leap, but he seems like an incredibly intelligent kid. So if he saw that the opportunity there was kinda bunk, then it's good on him that he decided to look for better opportunities.
That would be the smart way to go. He wants to play now not sit like Freddy does most the time, Benny, Sizzo, Szetela. Playing time is important. On the otherhand, in a league that has a good reserve program (like in Holland) he would get the best of both worlds. I would stay away from Portugal for sure if I was a young player just starting out
Are you really comparing Freddy's situation to Zizzo, Szetela, and Benny? The last three guys have barely played. Chances are Jozy will have to go through the same thing.
Further, Freddy is playing, and scoring. Benfica have a plan for him, and most people on BS aren't complaining. I hardly think lamenting about him "sitting" (as the OP seemed to do) is realistic or indicative of what Jozy's experience would be like. You can't, in my opinion, use one player's yardstick to measure another. Especially if one of those players is Freddy.
I like Altidore's future, but dude isn't going to see any first team action at Arsenal, either. Probably not making their reserve/Carline Cup squad for that matter
What? PSV is amazing for youth talent, look at Ronaldo, do you know what are you talking about, because that statement is crazy.
Robben, Van Nistelrooij, Stam, Van Bommel, Ronaldo, Romario, Zenden, Cocu, Kezman, Ji-Sung Park, Alex, Nwanko Kanu, Kluivert, Van der Sar, Zlatan, Chivu, Maxwell, Mido, Sneijder, Babel, Van der Vaart, Davids, Seedorf, Grygera etc. I might have forgotten a lot of players but apart from Stam who ended his career a couple weeks ago these guys are still playing, some do this at a lower level nowadays but they've all shined for big clubs or have the talent to do so in the near future. And these are just some (ex-)players coming from Ajax and PSV who are still active, Feyenoord has for example Kalou, Van Persie and Kuijt. It's pretty obvious the Dutch have one of the best competitions for young players to develop themself. And if they aren't doing that in the Netherlands they're doing it abroad. Wiel Coerver for example, I think every self-respecting youth academy in the world is using parts of his training methods. But lets give some possible options about Altidore moving to the Netherlands. PSV and Ajax don't need him right now, PSV have enough strikers plus there are some youngsters coming up like Jonathan Reis and Zeefuik. Ajax has Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who's likely to leave in the summer but they still have Suarez and because of the worst results of the last few years I expect them to spend a lot of money during the next transfer market which will almost rule out Jozy. AZ and Feyenoord are decent options as they're looking for a striker but AZ needs a scoring striker and one who has already proven himself not another talent. Feyenoord is looking for a second striker next to Makaay but I doubt it if Van Marwijk sees something in Altidore. Conclusion: It's not likely Altidore will move to the Netherlands.
I could see Jozy going to Heerenveen. They have a good track record of developing young players and they're selling Alves for a lot of $$$, so transfer fee won't be a problem.
But is their model to spend a lot on youth, or to pick it up cheaply. The issue that can force a sale in this is Real M, they spend a lot of money, and when they identify a player they want they're pretty hard to turn down. Dutch teams might offer value, but outside of a huge club spreading the cash, is his value high enough to force a sale? I think a club like Real wouldn't blink at 5m euro. I don't see a dutch club doing half that for potential, which is all he is right now. This isn't an Adu situation, where the league never could figure him out and he was whinging for pastures new. Altidore is an out and out striker, and everybody understands that. He's still improving in MLS, so it doesn't hurt him to stay another year. If Real isn't in (and by Real I mean one of the elit ebig clubs), MLS will hang onto him for another year, he'll probably improve and then next winter a lot of money will come from either a big club on the continent or anyone in england (where they're all rich these days).
was your post the one ragging on about him playing at left wing? if so i'd disagree with that part, but not necessarily the other parts. putting altidore out on the wing taught jozy new skills that he wouldn't have learned playing up top. jozy has so many strenghts as a forward, but if he can develop his technique more and how to run at people with the ball he is going to be even harder to stop. that is exactly what he is learnig on the wing. if i was a red bulls fan i'd be upset about the move because his long-term future is not out wide. but as a usmnt and jozy fan, i'm glad to see him get time on the wing.
Um....huh? Freddy has been getting some pretty solid minutes at Benfica. I don't think you're paying attention.