[QUOTE=" zero hero " Better to play every week for a mid-table team than never play for a top team. Tom, stop making sense nobody understands it I gave up a long time ago, Mike Burns is pretty much undefensbile as you well know. Farell, we'lll see.
If I remember, Bob played him in a meaningless game at that point (there were rumors he would not play because there was no reason) and he got hurt in like the last minute of the game... I agree and have written this a couple of times. There were numerous times at the stadium you could see Soares barking at Farrell, and there was one time after an away game on TV the camera caught Soares, Farrell, and Shuttleworth all arguing with each other. It would be good to have Soares back from a continuity perspective, but I always thought this was a perfect time to upgrade our CB with a stud (and to your point, see if Farrell was in a Soares funk, or was going to dissolve into another trivia question). Seems we are going with Shuttleworth, Our back 5 continues to be our weakest point.
We'll see how this plays out. My bet is if Bradley doesn't sign him he will advise him he's not European Soccer caliber and suggest he head back to MLS . The reality is it takes more than a EU Passport to play in a top league in Europe. I'm hoping Bob gives him a shot.
I mean, Im sure he's good enough to catch on in Norway/Denmark. A top 4 (or even top 6) league might be a stretch, but Id be surprised if he can't make the squad at Staebeck.
Quoting from the MLS website: '"He comes straight from Italy, and is training a little with us now," Bradley told Budstikka. "Stabæk is not in his plans for the future." In admitting they were not an option for the American back-liner, Bradley also revealed that the 26-year-old has other European trials coming up. When contacted by MLSsoccer.com, Soares' agent declined to make any comment.'
AJ's European tour continues: American Exports: Free agent AJ Soares on trial with Norwegian club Viking during preseason camp in Spain February 13, 2015 Greg Seltzer MLSsoccer.com
Sweden and Norway are good options if you want to be able to say that you played professionally in Europe with the hope that no one asks the follow-up question of where you played. There's not a lot of movement from those leagues to the better leagues in Europe. Denmark maybe, but not those two. I would expect to see Soares back on a short deal, rather than sign there.
Isn't there some issue where "short-term deals" don't really exist in MLS? I've read that somewhere on the BS boards. AJ won't go for that if true - this is his window for Europe, so he might as well try for a few years before heading back to MLS in his late 20s/early 30s.
I was thinking sign for a year and try again. There's going to be added attention here with Jones and scouts probably coming to look at Nguyen, Agudelo, Fagundez, and Goncalves. I'm sure some of those guys would also notice a defender with an EU passport who is strong and steady.
Yes, I think you're right. MLS wants to sign players for 3-4 years, generally. The Revs may be interested in having him back for another year, but MLS, not so much. OTOH, theoretically they could agree on a multi-year contract with an understanding that they wouldn't insist on a high transfer fee if he got an offer he liked. To me, it's looking more and more like both parties have moved on. I think Soares is probably more likely to take a short-term deal in Scandinavia than with MLS.
If that's what he wants, all the best. It would be a shame for him and us if he now just sits on the bench.
If I'm reading my tables right we've lost McCarthy to the 7th place team in Finland last year and Soares to the 10th place team in Norway. NOT the clubs we should be losing players to. When it was AJ to Italy I didn't care, but neither of those teams are better for their careers then the Revs. This sucks.
McCarthy was cut, so I wouldn't count him as a "loss." He was too soft (despite his size) and injury-prone to play CB in MLS. Finland top division is probably his level. I don't begrudge AJ for trying Europe after his MLS contract wrapped up. He has an EU passport, it's gotta be an amazing experience to live in Europe as a pro athlete, and it's still *the* path to upward mobility in world soccer. MLS will always be an option to him and since he's not exactly a world-class player, he'll probably be back in a few years.
Confirmed: American Exports: AJ Soares lands at Norwegian club Viking on deal through summer 2016 February 23, 2015 Greg Seltzer mlssoccer.com
Good luck to AJ. Can't blame him for trying his luck in Europe, and the money is probably a lot better than what he could have made as an average MLSer.
Not sure that he'd be making drastically more at Viking than he would have by re-signing here. But at Viking, he signed an 18 month deal, which means he'll be back on the market in 2016 - this time in the summer when there are more options. And presumably, when the transfer window won't pass him by with Verona stringing him along. In MLS, he'd probably have to sign a four-year deal, after which he'd be 30 years old. IMO, Soares is the sort of player who could play in a somewhat better league than Norway, but he's not so good that someone is going to pay a transfer fee for him. He needs to be available on a free and he's engineered another window of opportunity for himself next year if he does well in Norway.