Oh and the Castrol Index, FWIW - http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/players/player=233531/castrolindex.html best on the team, 5th best Midfielder overall.
Forget this crappy and useless index. Top 5 players in this cup: Medel, Ponce and Jara of Chile, who are good players, but not exactly a dominating force at this cup; Germany's Lahm, who's having a relatively silent tournament; and Argentina's Demichelis, the worst player of his team. Also made the top ten of the tournament: A certain Rais M. Bolhi from Algeria. I don't even remember him, maybe you have been more impressed by his brillance at the group stage.
The Castrol Index is also funny when you look at their Bundesliga Ranking. For example Demichelis!!! (Blunderchelis to the insider) is ranked as one of the best defenders in the league, much higher than Philipp Lahm. While in reality many Bayernfans pray for Demichelis to somehow hurt himself during training so that another player may take his place
We like numbers! We need numbers! Numbers don't lie! We won't be happy until soccer is turned into the same statistical exercise as baseball and the NFL and we have coaches signaling into players every 30 seconds what actions they must take on the pitch. Not to mention instant replay for offside, goal line and touchline disputes, yellow and red card worthiness, handballs, or any potential miscarriage of the LOTG with the center referee announcing his final decision over the stadium loudspeaker system in multiple languages. And definitely, time outs/commercial breaks because 45 minutes is too long to wait for a trip to the refrigerator. Draws will be banished forever as there may never be ambiguity of who is the winner and loser - even if it takes the last player standing to determine. And certainly unlimited substitutions must be allowed to avoid players jogging around when they should be sprinting. This would be a good start.
WOW. Its funny that his passing is still so heavily scrutinized. Its kinda surprising that his numbers are SO good though. That label of "best young players in the World Cup" seems substantiated, even if the transfer rumors aren't. And big clubs go poaching for World Cup stars, even if they are American.
If it wasnt for injury prone and legend JOB, Bradley could have squeezed his way onto the team in 06. Though Arena brought him as a practice player, he had to not have looked out of his league in training if he got his debut in a sendoff match and played in the next one before the world cup. He has the attitude and work rate that all young American players should want and need.
I think a move to Bayern would be ideal, van Bommel is 33 years, still strong but not getting any younger. While Schweinsteiger has been linked to Chelsea and Juventus, not sure if he would go to a non-CL team, though. The transfer rumors might not be 100% true and Schweinsteiger might not be ready to leave Bayern just yet, but aside from Tymoshchuk (31 y/o), Bayern doesn't seem to have too many options for d-mid. During his two seasons at BMG, Bradley has improved A LOT, I say post-2007 Donovan levels. His technique and ball control have improved immensely, not that they weren't good, his passing has improved a bit, but his biggest improvement has be on the defensive side. I don't see him being out of position too much anymore, sure his scoring has dropped at the club level but before you can be a great two way midfielder you must be good at one thing and then the other. I think the WCQ campaign helped him take a HUGE step forward and his time in Germany has turned him into an excellent soccer player rather than just a good athlete. If Bayern don't move for him now that he still has two years left in his contract other clubs will come knocking next year. One club that might fit him like a glove is AC Milan because of their system (4-3-1-2), they really like players that do the dirty work so the playmaker (Ronaldinho) doesn't have to track back, but with ability to attack and score a goal or two. If Bayern's central midfielders age might be an issue then you can say AC Milan have a crisis on their hand since the age of their midfield is well documented: Ambrosini, 33; Pirlo, 31; Seedorf, 34; Gattuso, 32; If you count Beckham he's another oldie at 35. That only leaves Flamini at 26 as the youngest of their defensive midfielders. They've been linked with a few players, De Rossi would look good in a Rossaneri jersey, but that opens up a spot for Roma too.
Bayern won't make an offer. He's in their scouting files as "average, young Bundesliga midfielder. Could be a cheap roster addition in two years." And they won't react hysterically to the WC performance of a player they see every week.
As much as this would be AMAZING if he could get a starting spot at one of these teams, there are two HUGE problems with this: 1) Bradley had a good world cup. But does that mean he is good enough to play at one of these clubs, and good enough to justify the money that would have to be paid to get him out of GB. 2) At both clubs you mentioned, he would have serious trouble getting in the starting lineup and staying. Let for a second assume he WAS good enough, Bayern is notorious for stacking their roster with a crapton of overpaid players and they have to play them in shifts to keep them all semi-happy. Milan is literally a retarded club. I love them, but they are soooo soooo dumb. One of the requirements for starting for Milan is being over 30, which fortunately and unfortunately Bradley isnt. Furthermore, they prefer their older players over the younger and newer ones no matter the talent level. Case and point: Flamini, someone you mentioned and is a player much like Bradle, was young and should have had a starting spot in midfield, but was forced out of the lineup by "Concrete feet" clarence and gattuso and the geriatrics squad. So he spent much of his time playing right back, a situation we would all hate for Bradley. So, if this all were to work out for Bradley, it would be great but working out is the hard part
The USA played a 4-2-2-2 formation which most would suggest played to the strengths of Donovan and Dempsey and to an extent Bradley. He's probably our fourth best player (Howard) and the two deep central midfield utilized and maximized his strengths as a worker and a box to box midfielder. Part of the reason we used that formation is that we lack a true creative midfielder. Just my opinion, but it is very speculative to project him from here to a champion's league quality team, which typically requires much more and and varied skills from it's central midfielders. MB is, at this stage in his career at least, a tweener. I would be as excited as anyone if something unusual happens, however, he has done well at BMGB and it's great he has a home and a job where he performs regularly.
is Alexander Baumjohann a similar player to Bradley? didn't he go to Bayern from Mönchengladbach? And didn't play at all.
you are a breath of fresh air to hyperventilation about Bradley going on here. If Bradley were to be signed by a big club, he would definently be a development project- not a 'pencil him in' starter. Whether that development takes months or years, I don't know....but he is not 'there' yet to start for a top European club in a top 4 league.
Baumjohann's style is rather a poor man's Sneijder. But they are similar in some regard: Baumjohann was and Bradley probably is in their files as "nice addition, if we get them for free, and see how it works out." Bayern don't pay medium size transfer money for fringe players. They buy stars, or they sign for free or cheap, or they bring in their academy players. These cheap/free players sometimes can become important rotation players, like Hamit Altintop or earlier Hasan Salihamidzic or Jens Jeremies; or they are jogging around the training grounds at Säbener Straße for a year or two, and try to restart their career anywhere else. No way Bayern would pay a fee Gladbach demands. They won't see him at the "new van Bommel" level, and don't spend significant money for bench players.
I say EPL is where he'll be most successful. He'd fit right into that league, and I'd love to see it.
I actually like Bradley's situation at BMG, and I agree with those who are saying that there aren't a lot of teams likely to be interested in him and willing to pay what BMG would demand at this point in his contract. What matters to me is that Yanks abroad get good minutes in good situations. Hell, I'd love to see Feilhaber join Bradley at BMG if there were a chance of his getting decent minutes as a rotational starter. (Not sure that's likely.) That said, here's my crazy thought for the day: I think it'll be cool to see him in Spain. I know it's not likely to happen. I know it doesn't really suit his style. But that's part of why I'd like him to go. I'd love to see him learn to play that style, and if any American player over the age of 20 can develop (not, like Torres and Feilhaber, already have) the touch and passing game necessary, I think it'd be Bradley. Through sheer force of will, if nothing else. (I do think you can see that his first touch has gotten better, especially smarter since he went to Herenveen and then again to BMG.) A more realistic but similarly interesting idea: Bradley to a mid-table Italian team. That's my contribution to the What If portion of the thread.
Bradley was born to play center-mid for an Italian team. And the team that comes to my mind is Inter. I guess that's why Gazzetto calls him the Yankee Cambiasso.
By and large I would prefer to see more US players go to Germany or Italy I just think the style of play and overall level coaching traing etc... is better
Michael Bradley - Though there hadn't been any recent rumblings around the Borussia Mönchengladbach man, his outstanding World Cup showings may just have stirred some. The midfielder has two years left on his Foals deal, so 'Gladbach could decide to go for the cash if someone presents an appetizing figure. The club stated publicly on Sunday that they have talks with Bradley planned for this week, which all but surely means that bigger clubs are knocking at the door. From which clubs remains to be seen, but the US #4’s performances in South Africa certainly didn’t turn off earlier suitors like Birmingham City, Everton, Hamburg and West Ham.