Juan Agudelo in "search" of a Club

Obviously the situations are very different, but Heaps has been a good coach for Charlie Davies and also Lee Nguyen, two guys who were once very shiny and then, later, substantially less shiny, before once again becoming more shinier. Maybe he can do the same for Agudelo.

 

And there'll be Jermaine Jones to teach him the difference between having an ego and backing up that ego with consistent production. Not to mention Nguyen to show him where not being an "I want England! Only England!" princess can get you.

It's a real opportunity for Agudelo. If he scores like he scored when he was last with the Revs, there'll be plenty of European offers at the end of this contract - probably good ones too - as well as the time to take advantage of them (he only turned 22 in November).

Let's hope he takes it.

 

Jermaine Jones is going to do all that?

I guess 2015 Jermaine can. 2004 Jermaine was like a poster-child for ego over form.

 

No doubt, if Agudelo had signed with 1860 in August, that might have been best.

 

Again, the setback was eight months with no soccer at all. In the wake of that, players quickly become pariahs. Joining MLS with a long pre-season to get back into form is just about the best case.

Something tells me he and Bobby W. would've been hanging.

 

ESPN says the deal is imminent. Rumored to be through the 2018 season.


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Whispers of Juan Agudelo re-joining the New England Revolution got louder on Tuesday as ESPN FC reported that a deal is imminent.

More than confirmation of Monday's news initially conveyed by Goal.com's Ives Galarcep, the ESPN FC article notes that Agudelo's new deal could keep him in New England through 2018. This, of course, would create stability in the striker position, which has been in flux since Taylor Twellman's injury in 2008.

 

He had the best stretch of his career under basically the same setup. Only things different now is Davies and Jones there. This is a great move to get him back on track.

 

I am shocked that even a single poster would complain about this.

This is not a case of the typical American player going overseas and rotting on a bench or in the reserves somewhere. At least in those all too many sad cases you have the absolute bare minimum of the players actually practicing.

Agudelo had his head up his fully healthy butt for 8 long months (makes you wonder what Stewart Holden must privately think who would kill to be that healthy).

This is by far the best thing that could have realistically happened to this seemingly mentally lost player. He is only 22 and has plenty of time to find himself.

 

Maturity does wonders for a player especially as he gets into his twilight years. JJ could not have been a better team mate when he joined NE last year, leading the young players by word and deed.

Whether Agudelo is mature enough to learn from JJ is a whole other question.

If Agudelo finds his mojo, this situation is set up perfect for him to find a long path back to the Nats. It certainly was never going to happen in Europe.

 

If Agudelo signs this deal, he has narrowly avoided becoming the next Freddy Adu - wandering the Euro and South American wilderness for the next 6 years, hopping from club to club on 6-month and 12-month contracts which always end badly.

If he lights up MLS for next 2-3 years, MLS will sell him before 2018 to a big Euro club that is willing to bid for him ahead of the next World Cup.

 

not me. Personally I would rather see the USA boys making MLS stronger and stronger. We do not have a league that is satisfied as a feeder league for the big 5. We aspire to be Big 6 and we have the ability to do it (sorry to be so American).

 

or MLS will BE one of those big leagues.

 

for whom?

 

No doubt. It's a long, long road still.

 

They won't as long as the budgets are this low. When your average pay is ~ $150K, you're not going to get much better than a League One quality performance from your rank-n-file.

And, quite often, you won't get it from your star performers either because they're not facing quality competition week-in-week-out.

 

We can argue about the quality of MLS versus 1860, but he would have been playing for an additional 8 months and that's a good thing.

And wages in England are artificially high because of the barriers to entry (work permits) which distorts the market and thus makes salary not work as a proxy for quality of play.

 

If Agudelo had simply re-signed with the Revs after the Stoke deal fell through, instead of taking his extended European vacation he might have won an MLS Cup. That would certainly look good on his resume, instead he'll need a few months training and playing just regain his form, setting him back about 18 months of career development. Hopefully he's able to make faster decisions on the playing field.

 

He would have been practicing for an additional 8 months, which was certainly eons better than what he was doing, but whether he got any real playing time or not is up for grabs. We have too many cases of Americans rotting on benches over the years in Europe to assume he was going to get 75 minutes every week.

Ignoring the 8 month brain fart, I am hopeful he will get more playing time in NE than he would have in Germany.

Of course this is all meaningless chatter if he is not focused on playing. That is the first thing we need to see.

 

He also apparently had another pre-contract with Stoke to join this month, but Cyprus were concerned about bad press in issuing the passport. With the transfer window closing he decided to go back home.

 

In before another yanks abroad thread dies.

 

It is official now and hopefully this nightmarish part of his career can be buried quickly. Ives is reporting 4 years at $400k a year but we need to wait for the union release to be sure. Safe to say this thread can officially and mercifully be closed now.

He is 22, physically (although not mentally) gifted, and should he find his brain, he could try Europe again easily once this 4 year deal is done if not sooner.

AGUDELO ✔ @JuanAgudelo
I am extremely happy to officially sign minutes ago and be back with the best teammates and coaching staff #NERevs 5:10 PM - 29 Jan 2015

 

Cyprus's concerned about bad press?

That's a good one. After laundering billions from Russia's criminal groups, they have suddenly acquired conscience!