If Fulham has transfer-listed EDDIE JOHNSON, and we are due to get some cap relief for the impending losses of LANDON JOHNSON and DAVID BECKHAM, why not take EDDIE JOHNSON on a straight transfer .. .. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2763665/KO-is-end-of-world-for-Eddie.html EDSON is mercurial and injury-prone, but EJ is the type who would show up every day .. .. How about it??
Based upon my very limited observations of EJ at Fulham 2 years, Eddie is the kind of player who may be there in body but certainly not in spirit. His play at Cardiff did nothing to indicate that he had regained his form/energy with 2 goals in 33 games. This year, back at Fulham he has only gotten off the bench twice. What ever flashes of brilliance he might have displayed in 2006/07 for Kansas City and 2003/4 in Dallas seem to be lost and he appears to be doing nothing more than going though the motions.
I agree, losing that landon Johnson guy would be massive loss to this team. I'd take Eddie if all else fails. But only if all else fails. If our off-season buys are centered around him I would be pissed off. I could see him end up in Philly for some reason.
i don't want him on our team. the guy was overrated when he went to Fulham, did horribly there, only started to become respectable toward the end of his loan to Cardiff, but still can only get minutes with the Fulham reserves. he's going to be expensive, and i'd rather have us spread the money around, instead of spending it on him. frankly, Buddle's touch, finishing skill and workrate are better. EJ is faster, slightly better in the air and has learned a bit of hold up play, but not enough to justify the salary cap hit that would be required. I reckon EJ, on his own, greatly weakened the reputation of the american player for the entire EPL, he was such a disaster.
Eddie! Eddie! Eddie! Haha, I'm obsessed with EJ. He's my favorite player. I met Eddie last Spring (see my one blog post, under my name), and I actually asked him (somewhat jokingly, obviously) if would come play for our Galaxy some day. He did said he likes SoCal, and loves Bruce Arena, but I don't think he'll be coming back to MLS anytime soon. He could make more money playing for a lower league in Europe than he could command in MLS. And I think he probably has too much pride at this point. Coming back to MLS would kind of be admitting that he failed in Europe, and I don't think he is ready to accept that yet. And plus, like some have said- we're way low in the allocation order. I'd like to have him, and I actually think he's a good player, and one that could help us. But it's unlikely in so many ways.
He really actually likes Bruce. He said he loves him as a guy and manager, and he said "Bruce is the best manager I've ever played for"- that's a direct quote.
buddle's touch is better? hmm . . . now i am not saying this as justification for us signing eddie, but buddle has a horrible touch. at most, i would think that one could say buddle's touch is on par with EJ. honestly, i haven't seen EJ play in so long, that i don't remember what his touch is like. but, i will say this . . . like most of you i see buddle play often, and he has the touch of a rapist. question: when a MLS player is out of contract, their rights are still owned by their previous team. I know (based on mcbride) that a returning player's rights are not owned by their former team, but i am wondering when that ownership stops. is it when the said player signs a contract with a team outside of the MLS? just thought i would ask.
Yes, Buddle's touch is WAY better than EJ's. A sad fact, but true. Point blank, Buddle is a more skillful player than EJ ... though it's up to you to determine whether that is good for Buddle or just plain bad for EJ. Edit: In answer to your question, it seems that a player's rights ARE held by the team he left from, UNLESS the team that had him got some sort of value for him (allocation money, transfer fees, etc). Columbus used part of the transfer for McBride on someone, so they were precluded from having any more rights to him. KC would be in the same boat. As a returning national team player (hahahahahahahahhaa), an allocation or some such mechanism would be needed to pick up EJ at this point.
Since Fulham wants to sell Eddie and doesn't want to just give him away for nothing, I doubt MLS will end up with him. MLS is the king of the free transfer.
wanting to sell and finding a buyer are two different deals . . . i mean really, who in their right mind would buy EJ at this point?
If I get a vote on this, I vote no, no, no, nooooooo. Am not impressed with Eddie at all. Never have been. Not in MLS. Not with Fulham. Not with Nats. Not with Cardiff. Not with anyone.
not in a box, not with a fox, not in a house, not with a mouse, i do not want him here or there. i do not want him anywhere.
(See also onefineesq's post) To keep MLS teams from bidding against each other for American players playing overseas, MLS ranks teams in terms of priority and gives the option to sign the player to the highest ranking team. The ranking is determined by the order of finish the previous year, so Philly has the highest ranking and RSL the lowest. In the past, we sucked, so we were high in the rankings which is how we got Lewis and Berhalter. Since we did well this year, we are low in the rankings and probably can't get anybody unless we trade up .
funny i mentioned this in a thread earlier right when the finals were done! i wouldn't mind EJ! I would actually like him with us to revive his career!
The Galaxy can't revive Eddie Johnson's contract only he can do it. It would have to start with hustle and heart, something he did not display in the games I saw him play at Fulham 2 years ago. For all the complaining people do about Buddle'e work rate, Buddle beats the EJ, by a wide margin (as did the returning from injury and much older, Brian McBride). However if Chivas want to sign him, I would have no problem with that.
Id rather have eddie in the MLS where he can actually get some pt, scoring mediocre goal after mediocre goal, in leui of being at some big club where he sits on the bench and is going to rot until he is in his 30's, then returns to the MLS, and scores mediocre goal after mediocre goal.
I am sorry, but I wasn't aware that Cardiff (while Championship level) was that big of a club or that it was unreasonable for us to expect him to score more than 2 goals in 33 games there, if he was uninjured (and I have not heard mention that he was). Why do you think he will score mediocre goal after mediocre goal in the MLS? Does that mean 3 or 4 a season? If thats the case, I would rather the Galaxy use the salary cap space for another player and let Bryan Jordan play. At this point, I don't think there is a lot of difference (actually I take that back). Assuming he plays like he did when he first got to Fulham (and actually played), any benefit that the Galaxy might get by Eddie Johnson's scoring ability would be more than offset by the his total lack of hustle otherwise. Outside of the occasional through ball, the Galaxy would essentially be playing 10 on 11.
Johnson got overhyped for a while there, but I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. By all reports, he had trouble initially settling in at Cardiff because he wasn't doing the right stuff tactically. But he busted his ass and got to be an effective player for them. These days, people say that he's figured out how to work hard and contribute. He's a guy with a lot of physical tools and an improved sense of the game. The fact that he's not good enough for Fulham doesn't mean he couldn't settle in somewhere in a solid European league--Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, maybe even France. He's not going to be very expensive. I doubt Fulham will price him over $2 million, and my total guess is that they'll ask $750k - $1.25mil. A lot of European teams would consider him at that price tag, even if they only see him as a squad player/sub. But I don't think he wants to come back to MLS, and if he does come back, he'll cost us more against the cap than would be good for the Galaxy (unless the CBA drastically raises the cap, which almost surely won't happen).
i hear what you're saying, but my sense is that at Cardiff, he was more of a folk hero more than anything. when he showed up, he was completely inept and he eventually worked his way onto the field in limited minutes and even bagged a couple goals. he became somewhat beloved by the fans there more than anything because he was so very bad when he started (and so expensive) and because he worked very hard. i don't get the sense he ever really improved his skills that much, though his tactical awareness did have some marginal improvement. then Cardiff didn't want him back on loan, Fulham couldn't find another taker despite putting him in the shop window by giving him a run-out during the preseason. he's only been able to sniff the field for the Fulham reserves on any regular basis and doesn't make the bench at Fulham often, much less meaningful PT in the full squad once the regular season started. my sense is that he's really not that improved. i see a couple cheeleaders in the Yanks Abroad forum, Arsenal08 and Scorpion, who trumpet every small bit of rumor as truth. really Scorpion just pops in, says something positive about EJ that generally doesn't appear to be based in any fact or anecdote and then disappears for a week or so, and then do the same in the following week. he'll say things like "well he appears to be working hard and making progress so he should be seeing more PT", appropos of nothing. if you separate the real news in the EJ threads from the cheerleading, there isn't much there to suggest real progress. personally, i look at his recent performances on the USMNT and i don't see much progress. that said, all of the foregoing is my opinion. and we need a striker. i just hope we can find someone better or less expensive, and preferably both!