Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? It would be interesting to know how many of the 32 teams have Brazilian players at WC.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Let's see... Japan (Tanaka), Portugal (Deco, Liedson, Pepe), Mexico (Dos Santos... it's Mexico, so yeah he's Brazilian), US (Feilhaber), and of course Brazil. I'm sure I missed a few, but not Spain this time (no Senna), and no Croatia of course (Eduardo).
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? I always thought Paulo da Silva (Paraguay's captain, ex-Toluca, currently Sunderland) was a Brazilian/Portuguese name but I can't find any info on it.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Counting Feilhaber in this is a bit misleading. He came to the U.S. at a young age.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? I suppose, but if I'm going to count Dos Santos, it's only fair I count Feilhaber.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Hey everyone, another Belgian Anderlecht fan, who discovered this forum and thread while looking for information on Sacha Kljestan Hope you're not fed up with us yet As everyone one else in Belgium I was surprised when I first heared about Kljestan's possible move to Anderlecht. But, the more I've looked into it, the more I'm looking forward to seeing him in an Anderlecht jersey! From what I've read here he's mainly been playing on the left/central midfield the past season(s). In that case I'm pretty sure Anderlecht is getting him as Jelle Van Damme's (who's moving to Wolverhampten) replacement, who played that exact position last season. I hope the deal goes through. His wage demands will probably be no problem. I read in a Belgian newspaper that he makes about 200.000 dollars a year at Chivas USA. Since Anderlecht's top players make about 1 million or more a year, don't think it will be an issue. The only problem I see is that his contract apparently only ends in October. So this means he'll either join Anderlecht on a free transfer in October, or Anderlecht will pay a fee to get him in July. The first option would be great for Anderlecht, BUT iit would mean he'd arrive at a club in a team which has already been playing together for 2 months and where the coach might already have his team for that season in mind. It would be better for him to make the move in July so he can prepare for the new season with his new teammates. But.... how much money will Chivas USA demand to make that possible? About the amounts that have been mentioned here. Today a couple of Belgian newspapers/sites wrote that Anderlecht offered 2.5 million euro two years ago and Celtic offered 3.5 million the a couple of months later. Apparently Chivas USA only wanted to let him go for 8 million dollars (about 6.7 million euro).
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? The old sources placed the MLS asking price at around $3.5M, with Celtic not biting. But that was pre-bubble burst.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Actually, I thought MLS contracts ran until the end of the calendar year. Hence the many free transfers out of MLS in January (Yura, Hunter, Rolfe, etc).
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Welcome! We love having posters from teams where our Yanks Abroad are playing. I hope that you will stay with us if this deal goes through. One of the strange features of MLS is that all contracts are held by the league rather than the individual teams, so Chivas USA doesn't really get a say in how much he goes for. I would imagine that the league would rather get something for him this summer than let him go on a free in the winter transfer window. His team is one of the teams at the bottom of the table and they don't draw a lot of fans for home or away games. I don't think keeping him would change that. When MLS was asking for such a high transfer fee he was a rising star with the National Team and they probably expected him to sell tickets and shirts. Now he isn't the star he was expected to be and there is no reason not to let him go for a reasonable fee.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? We are always happy to have local fans who can report on the player, translate Belgian news stories, and have a different perspective (many US fans will follow Kljestan as an American player first, i.e., the US National team, and Anderlecht second). Most likely you'll get fed up with us first. Kljestan did not play this past Saturday against New York, supposedly because of the possible move to Anderlecht, which suggests that the move would occur this summer, not at the end of the year. For half a year, MLS probably wants $1 -2 million, but that is a guess. It might depend on how interested Anderlecht is, how stubborn Kljestan is being, whether they have other teams interested, etc. MLS seems to not sell cheaply because (a) the players are sometimes worth more to MLS than on the open market (Landon Donovan), and (b) they do not want the reputation of selling their best assets for too little (Eddie Johnson). The bigger the club, the more willing they are to sell because it makes the league look good to have players go to big clubs (Tim Howard). Just so you know, MLS runs differently from other leagues. Kljestan has a contract with the League itself, and Anderlecht must negotiate with it. Chivas has some say in the move -- price and whether it would occur -- but it is a bit different than elsewhere. It's usually less about a club's need to pay off debt and more about generating income or appearances. In other words, fewer desperate sales.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? I've heared about the way things work in the MLS. I also read Anderlecht reached an agreement with the MLS, but it could just be rumours. Hope they don't ask too much... would hate to see the deal blow up because of that. 1 - 2 million seems a bit high for someone who has only 6 months left on his contract.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Source: http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=6386 So they're probably only waiting for manager Van Holsbeeck to return from Spain
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? On the website of the Jupiler League: "Kljestan goes this week to Anderlecht (with his father) to sign his contract."
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Yep, Sacha's contract ends December 31. That's not really true. That would have been true, say, 5 years ago, but MLS has given the clubs alot more autonomy.
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? One thing that is already sure: most of the supporters are waiting for...his girlfriend
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? There's already an article an a Belgian sportnews site titled "Anderlecht's newest WAG?" about her
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Though, hypohetically, he is on his own after the MLS season is over and could train with A-lecht without featuring with their team. Does Belgium have a winter break? I assume the fee is still negotiated from the HQ. What part does the team have in saying yay or nay?
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? Since the competition was reformed it does, but a real short one. 2 weeks or so...
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? [troll] I dunno. If he could train with Anderlecht whenever Chivas' season is over, why didn't he move to Belgium in March?[/troll]
Re: Sacha Kljestan to Anderlecht? They'll play from July 24th (Supercup) until May 7th or 14th (end of the championship) with a 2 weeks break from December 30th to January 14th. 2 periods of transfers: summer: until August 31th at midnight winter: from January 1st to January 31th at midnight