at the end he’s right and after such a lousy season who wouldn’t want to leave? also understandable that he wants to explore a new soccer-culture (a better club, of course, is not an option because Gladbach undoubtedly is the best) but as far as I know EPL-clubs are interested in Americans who know how to play ball and he surely will be able to get a better contract over there (and he also can stop trying to speak German ;-) and with his contract expiring next summer and Gladbach’s need to cash in it’s doubtful that a transfer in line with the market would become a problem meanwhile the new director is on fire and cleaning up the roster and filling the gaps for the upcoming mind- and heartbreaking ‚style‘ of 26/27 newly signed (one of already 5) is Konoplia, an Ukrainian international and a right back... which means the club is prepared if Joe should leave and if not: the stage is set for „Konkurrenzkampf“ (competition) what’s up next season? there is hope, finally back five is history and the coach will also be if he isn’t able to establish a more proactive, offensive soccer pretty fast... that was more or less announced freely and frankly not an impossible task for Polanski as a) Gladbach’s two most valuable offensive assets, Hack and Kleindienst, (hopefully) will be back b) a very promising looking Swede joined months ago and c) Mohya’s market value of 17M is expected to come alive… and then there is Reyna who in our boldest dreams could act as the puppetmaster for the receivers and the mastermind of an offensive setting which has chances to be sharp instead of blunt like an oxen’s arse over here everybody hopes that Joe and Gio are leaving their mark on the WC, would be good for them and the club in every respect (well it's not that i'm raising stars and stripes at my house but I might even watch them play... although I lost interest in the FIFA-festival long ago)
I fully agree but unless he's incredibly dumb, Scally made that "come and get me" comment because he wanted the market to know that he's available. I'd imagine clubs have made contact with his agent by now. Whether they're good enough for Scally or Gladbach is another story
yep, definitely skipped into the Germany-match when I saw that the two Borussen came in and it was obvious to me that Scally is more than just willing to use the WC as a showcase (and it also was obvious that - with these ugly nineties kits and Nagelsmann's intolerable cap which made him look like a jolly biergarten-supporter who is proudly wearing the WC-gift from the local discounter - Germany will not sparkle at all overseas... but that's off-topic) if Scally should leave this summer? from my point of view? no! from his point of view, assumed that it's time for him to explore new lands? definitely yes! from a purely sporting point of view? depends on who's getting interested and how Scally is evaluating Gladbach's future (there is no money but Schröder is heavyweight in comparison to his flyweight predecessor and next season's team will show a totally different attitude, I'm sure about that) from the club's point of view? maybe Schröder (like with other players) is heavily hitting on the signal key (one of Gladbach's many unique features of the last years was that everything was built on harmony, serenity, comfort and avoiding internal conflicts... that has changed!) which could mean: Joe, if you wanna stay we'll talk t-h-i-s summer, if not you better leave t-h-i-s summer and if you want to explore the option of becoming a free agent... better do not, because you'll be a spectator not a starter most of the time or maybe in this case there is no signalling at all because Borussia and the Scally-team are in total harmony because the already came to the mutual agreement that there will be a move t-h-i-s- summer no matter what
He’s had the strangest development. Many young players at his age have difficulty developing due to injuries (eg. Parades), or just don’t develop (KLDF), or take off (Pulisic, Adams, McKennie). Scally is somewhere inbetween all of them in that he’s developed enough to still get minutes for a club that’s been down in performance the last few years, but not good enough to be seen as a strong prospect by better clubs.
Part of it is that he’s sort of an odd player - a defense-first wing back without any outstanding physical or technical attributes, but also without any glaring deficiencies. I see him as a system player, which means there aren’t a lot of teams out there looking for a player with his profile. I think that’s also a big reason he’s had a hard time breaking in with the US - he’s good, but not good enough to reconfigure your whole team around.
The US has done that to accommodate Dest and, to a lesser extent, Robinson. Liverpool played completely different with TAA versus their gang of misfits at RB this season, Arsenal’s system is dependent on two-footed fullbacks playing in midfield half the time. It’s not that unusual. But the larger point is that a defensive wingback is an infrequently-used role, so the number of possible destinations for him where he’d be used in his best capacity is really limited.
Neither example is reconfiguring a whole team. The Liverpool example is especially bad because of how much the team changed as a whole. But to your greater point, I can agree that his opportunities will be limited for what he brings (although I don't think wingback is an infrequently used role). But maybe by defensive wingback you mean a traditional fullback?
NOTHING LIKE FAMILIARITY: Scally says USMNT's closeness will be a key factor in the World Cup - Front Row Soccer
as part of the ongoing and more detailed season retrospective series https://www.torfabrik.de/ is currently concerned with Scally in short: mentality and versatility are his biggest assets but a permanent back-four position (RB) would most likely help him with decision-making and sharpening his profile
Scally's game is what it is. He is not going to get better; he is not going to force a defense to double team him. He is a serviceable RB for us as a backup. If somehow Gozo evolves to a starter caliver winger/WB player, then it will force Dest to be on the bench and Scally to be in the outside looking in.
Sounds about right to me. Will be interesting to see how much interest there is between club and Scally towards a contract extension.
Scally has always been a 'defend first' kind of guy, which is fine by me. He isn't old or in his prime yet, either. He still could improve himself a bit in areas, like crossing and picking out passes better (seeing the game better) in the attacking half. It's not too late for him to polish those things a bit, IMHO.
thanks, but no big deal (in the meantime the article has dropped from the top and now has it‘s own link https://www.torfabrik.de/querpass/aktuelles/joe-scally-zwischen-dauerbrenner-und-dauer-diskussion/) torfabrik usually is as good as it gets without strangling you with statistics but these player profiles usually are lacking one dimension soccer is a team sport so it would be interesting to carve out if Scally only shines/sucks when the team shines/sucks or how often he performs against ‚the trend‘ no matter if better of worse (I‘m too lazy for that and also my memory is fading ;-) and of course Scally‘s adjoining teammates need analysis: f.e. Elevdi/Sander in the back provided stable support i would say, but Reitz in midfield was often all over the pitch and with the captain‘s responsibility on his unexperienced shoulders often looked eager and headless at the same time... while Honorat in front of Joe never reached top-form and was one of the few remaining offensive players which made him look overstrained when working backwards I have no clue, there are no rumors only the usual "he once told that he wants to become an EPL-player at some time", Kyle Walker was his role model as far as I remember) teammate-'environment' for the future (if Scally stays): Elvedi (who played a more or less flawless WC and was our best player last season) could get an EPL offer while Sander could move back to midfield Reitz is sold and midfield gets re-sorted… Honorat as part of a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with more offensive manpower should be of more help to the RB the team as a whole much too often dropped deep on the field and just got reactive: the whole balance should change next season but I doubt the RB's are expected to become ultra-offensive like the other new players new RB Konoplia looks mentally strong and equipped with fine running prowess (two traditional Borussia-shortcomings) but surely not like a technical skilled superplayer overall there is a there-will-be-no-excuses-anymore-ATTITUDE in the air mainly due to at least 6 new aspiring next-step players, to director Schröder who has also poached new brain for the staff at Bayern and Manchester City and also a new athletic coach (another traditional shortcoming) but maybe this all is too early to call...
It's definitely not too late for Scally to improve. He's still only 23 and already has a ton of very good experience. I just think he's not going to improve enough to be a real consideration in 4 years. I don't think he's got the overall package to improve upon all that much. If he were a left back, then I might have a different opinion about his future potential with the USMNT. But he's not, so I don't. Someone (likely plural) will surpass him over the next 2 years. He will still likely have a solid, if middling, professional career.
I hope you're right! Not because I don't rate Scally but because I think that if a couple of few appear who are better defenders, have better athleticism and durability and can get up field more effectively, that would a high bar to get above and we'd be pretty stacked at outside backs.
https://www.fussballeuropa.com/news...ch-will-4-grossverdiener-verkaufen-2026-07#:~: IIRC anything sourced back to SportBild should be taken with a grain of salt, but they're reporting that Scally is being placed on the "for sale" list along with 3 other players (one of whom is Reyna) in an attempt to reduce salary obligations.
Removing Reyna to "reduce salary obligations" is no surprise at all - who doesn't want to remove dead weight? - but Scally isn't a surprise: it's flat out bullshit. At just under €2 million a season he's almost chicken feed for an automatic starter at this level. Reducing their salary load is a pretext for selling rid of him, not a reason Without an academy product ready to step up, replacing him means a transfer fee, signing bonuses, agent's fees and a salary (won't be that much lower than Scally's for BL1 quality) to replace him. That will come to €2-3 million this season alone (€1-€1.5m in salary, €1m 26-27 transfer installment, €500k-€1m in fees, commissions, etc.), all to replace a guy whose contract is up in June anyway. If salary constraints are the reason, they'd simply run down his contract. The real reason is that Scally doesn't want to extend and/or doesn't like their offer and they want to get a transfer fee while they still can. That's where his comments in May come in: he's ambitious and the club isn't so it's either leave now or spend 3-5 seasons propping up the next Schalke 04. It's not a hard choice. The rest is window dressing IMO
new RB Konoplia got fouled in Essen: partial tear of the medial collateral ligament should be out for at least 2 months I guess deprives him of the chance to stake a claim in pre-season and sets him back significantly behind Scally could change the evaluation of a contract extension for both sides could also change absolutely nothing
Unfortunate for Konoplia. Scally's availability is something Polanski can typically at minimum count on while mulling other options.
True, and it also puts a hole in their plans to offload Scally because of, cough, cough "salary obligations". Konoplia is Scally's replacement and now they have to replace the pair of them until Xmas, unless Scally stays. That's suddenly become a lot more likely IMO