Rangers? Just speculating, but I can't imagine Calvin Bassey staying there too long after his beast-mode EL performances. If he goes, they'll be looking for another CB and it's been a while since Rangers had a Yank playing for them.
COVID has me making silly errors ["just COVID?" say the mods]. I typed "regularly" next to playing then overtyped it before posting, so that's a, shall we say, "clear and obvious error" on my part, but there is a valid point IMO. Sands was eligible for 32 games in all competitions at Rangers, but played in only 14 of them. Of those, only 7 were starts - including a Cup game against D4 (i.e. beer-money) part timers - and he was subbed out on the hour in 2 of them. Yes, he has played and it was a) careless of me and b) possibly churlish as well to suggest that he hasn't. OTOH that looks like the profile of someone whose option is declined, in which case I doubt even the hard(est) core Rangers fan will remeber him by XMAs.
Yes. 2 Gold Cups, a Nations' League and a Dutch Cup, plus 130 league games across the Eredivisie, the Jupiler and the Championship makes him a far more "oven-ready" proposition for an Old Firm side. OTOH he also turns 27 in July while Sands is 22. Sands is in the "may (still) have an upside, so let's be patient" category. Miazga is in "he is what he is" territory.
I think some are a little harsh on Miazga. He is a very capable player that can compete at a lower end or mid table top 5 league club..... if given the consistency, time and buy-in from a club. But he will never get that as a loan army player. As we have said many times, his paycheck might be nice but he is doing no favors to his career by jumping from team to team as a loanee. You will never get the benefit of the doubt or the same opportunities as a player-owned by the club. The constant "onboarding" at each new club and the transitioning to new countries and cultures has a bigger impact than some people give it credit for. Here's to hoping he finds a permanent home sooner than later.
What an odyssee it has been for Miazga. Is he still technically a Chelsea player? I can think of worse things than being well paid to move around Europe and play soccer. I am not sure I always see why people have him outside the top 6 USMNT CBs. But regardless, I hope he is enjoying the ride. Even if he never gets another cat I will always appreciate the Lainez moment. (Not everyone does, but I do because … bags of urine, etc et .)
Loan army or no loan army, he's 27 in July. Which means that the paycheque is more important to him than PT and/or taking charge of his own destiny. As for "given the consistency", PT and especially consistent PT is never given to any pro athlete. He takes it from someone else and then fights off every challenger for that, ferociously. Consistent PT at Top 5 level has consistently eluded him and Occam's Razor suggests that that's because, despite his abilitiy and despite the gossip about an unpleasant personality, he's too inconsistent a player at top level. Like @m_vann said back in January, People might remember - they could hardly forget TBH - his kamikaze backpass that gifted Real Betis a goal. The thing is, he'd gone 90' the previous week in a Basque Derby against Bilbao, which I watched and re-watched several times. The game was at home, the rain was pelting down and the coach had to rejigged the defence and the formation due to injuries and suspensions. All the conditions for a clusterf*#k performance in short and he was was really impressive. Alert, commanding in the air, decisive and disciplined in the tackle and evidently calling the shots for the defence and the DM. He definitely looked like he belonged at that level. Then, against Betis, a suicidal backpass that cost Alaves any chance of a comeback was the, erm, "cherry on top" of a very 'meh' performance. That Alaves lost 4-0 suggests that Matt wasn't the only problem they had, but he wasn't the solution either.
The issue is mostly that he went to Chelsea in the first place, as opposed to somewhere that he could play right away. I think any contract extensions he’s signed since he’s gone there were Chelsea basically making him sign as a condition of him going on loan (so they could maintain his value). The problem is he never became good enough for Chelsea and no team ever wanted to pay Chelsea to buy him. But he’s only 26. With the right move this summer he can very much get back on track. And ideally it’d be someone who wants him for the long term.
Very, very likely to be the case. OTOH, with Chelsea almost sold to a consortium of American fund management, the Bottom Line is about to become vastly more important to Chelsea FC. Players who have no chance of playing for Chelsea and/or won't attract a "proper" transfer bid are very likely to to be offered a payoff and released ASAP. He turns 27 in July. This is much more like his last chance at a deal with a club that he can use as a "springboard" to a better league. And it's not a very good chance.
I think more recently that loan army had been helpful to Chelsea in terms of helping in balancing the books. But if Chelsea wants him off the books the best is no contract extension and to send him somewhere that will pick up most of his salary. He just needs to go to the highest level where he can play consistently and have a more stable situation. Where that is I have no idea.
That'd be a veerrry big surprise. Italians revere good defending so a player with regular brain farts is just not tolerated there. Add Miazga's seemingly, erm, "spiky" personality and you've got a recipe for failure.
Can totally see him going to a bottom feeder or newly promoted team . . . and completely repeated this past season.
He may be going on 27, but he has never been injured and is probably not too beat up in general. Holland, Belgium, Austria and maybe BL. Better than Scotland. Maybe France. That one sounded personal. MLS for the right cash.
To be fair, he's probably had more good games than bad games. He even played well against Real if I recall.
Perhaps he did - he went 90' in a 3-0 defeat in late February, so he obviously wasn't the dirtiest dirty shirt in the basket. OTOH he was benched for the next game and every game thereafter. Every game, except for the final game, when the dreaded "Not in squad" appears. Seems he was told he could pack his bags early and go home. That is never a good sign.
Solid point! He seems to have solidified the 3rd CB role at the club. Laguardia (the captain) missed only four matches due to injury. LeJeune played 30 matches. Tachi had 5 games while Navarro had 2 games (as CB) and 16 as RB.
This is unlikely but maybe he could go to Leeds. He played for Marsch at Red Bull and I feel like Chelsea would probably let it happen.