Well, the transfer window is behind us. I thought I'd make a list of everyone who made out good, and those that missed opportunities. Feel free to add if you feel the need. Winners: Andrew Jacobson: I'll admit I'd never heard of this guy, and even though he's only signed on until the end of the season, Lorient were obviously impressed. Hope he can be the first YA to make a real impact on Ligue 1. Danny Szetela: May have been a bit overhyped when he signed for Santander. He's taken a chance to be loaned out to a club that is in position right now for a playoff spot for promotion to Serie A. As long as he takes advantage of this, he'll either be recalled back to Racing, or Brescia will buy him. Can't really go wrong. Lee Nguyen: Some may consider Randers a step down from PSV, but I don't think they're a step down from PSV's reserves, where Lee was doomed for eternity. Troy Perkins: Move to Norway probably has not helped his Nats chances, but it did not hurt them either, and the payday is certainly bigger. Nate Jaqua: See above; substitute Austria for Norway. Jared Jeffrey: Supposedly being offered a contract with Club Brugge. Although he won't be able to play until he turns 18 this summer, he could start playing for a CL club immediately. Can't really go wrong there. Losers: Brad Guzan: The obvious one. I always thought he should have went to Celtic, but he made his choice. Let's just hope his stock doesn't drop with a sub-Guzan-level MLS season. Johann Smith: No real speculation about him moving, but it's obvious he isn't in Bolton's first-team plans. Time to move on. Quentin Westberg: See above; sub Troyes for Bolton. No action on a Ligue 2 team means find a new club. Benny Feilhaber: Well Tel Aviv and MLS weren't ideal options for Benny, clearly Derby is not either. If he's planning to fight it out at Pride Park, he may actually benefit from relegation. Heath Pearce: Told specifically he is no longer in Hansa's plans. Doesn't get much more clear-cut than that. Ramiro Corrales: Left the defending Norwiegan Champs to go back to MLS. Don't know why, but he did. Anyway, it's late, and I don't want to think anymore. Like I said, feel free to add if you want. This obviously isn't a full list, just some I thought of while I typed.
Winner: Michael Bradley - stays in the shop window a little longer Loser: WP appeals board in London.
Great thread, repped. I would add Eddie Johnson to the winners because he really needed to get out of MLS to help his Nats career. Hopefully being in England will help him with his work ethic (his biggest weakness in my opinion) and the other parts of his game to help develop him into a quality striker. Also I would put Taylor Twellman as a loser because of MLS blocking his move. It was obvious he wanted to go and get some time in a European league, not to mention the bigger payday he would've gotten.
Eddie Johnson? Hello. He deserves consideration as a big winner. Biggest Winners were Lee Nguyen and Danny Szetela. For the first time in their careers fate is in thier hands. They have an opportunity to steer their young careers in the right direction. It's not necessarily make or break at this point but they need to start showing the talent they displayed off and on. Randers and Brescia are both young team looking to prove something and coincidently so are Lee and Danny. I'm eager to see how they pan out. Biggest Loser has to be Feilhaber. He put himself in this situation and now its up to him to get out of it. He needs to knuckle down and show what he can do. Work his ass off and show Jewell that he's worthy of being an international payer. I was disappointed Maccabi Tel Aviv didn't work out. It would of been a fresh start. Benny has all physical tools but now its a matter of upping his mental tools. BTW, on the Corrales note. He shouldn't be considered a loser. His move back to MLS was strickly due to family reasons. You can't fault him for that.
Taylor Twellman lost big time. He could have had a nice payday and gotten lots of playing time at PNE, but instead he's stuck in Foxboro.
I did not know that about Corrales. I'd take him off if I could. However, I'm actually on the other side of the fence with johnson. I'd consider him a loser here. In the past he's had interest from Benfica and Real Sociedad (when they were still up), and that's just that we know about. Instead he's signed with a club that's very likely to drop. If he goes in and tears it up and Fulham stay up then that's great. If he doesn't though, he's not going to have any more EPL interest, and he's not going to play in the Championship, so he'll probably come back to MLS. I think the only way he'll come out a winner is if he has a career year.
Heath Pearce is the biggest loser. Followed closely by Benny. Young players need to play and both guys have now just wasted an entire season of their young careers. Doesn't bode well for their National Team prospects. If I were coach Bob, I would be reluctant to include either player in my first team. Eddie Johnson is a clear winner. It'll take a bit to determine if Danny Szetella is a winner with his new club. Twellman and Guzan appear to be losers but at least they are going to stay at clubs that give them playing time. Nguyen is a winner. Hopefully he can jumpstart his career. Gooch? I wonder why his name hasn't popped up again.
really?? I take it you have spoke to him about this. He knows what kind of situation Fulham was in when he signed his contract. He knows they may drop which would force him to play in the Championship division. Fulham does have some quality players so must people think they would jump right back up.
EJ is one of the biggest winners. He goes to an English club where one of his good friends (Clint Dempsey) already plays. It's a semi comfortable situation for EJ which is why I think it made more sense to go there compared to another English club. Lee Nguyen had to make a move. He plays a friendly right after signing and scores a goal. Sounds like a good sign. I look forward to seeing how he progresses. Brad Guzan's situation is unfortunate, but this is the last year of his contract. With another solid season, he will have a long list of suitors. If anything, the losers are Chivas USA who will now not get a transfer fee for the top keeper in MLS. The biggest loser has to be Twellman. He's angered by New England and it will be very interesting to see how he reacts next year in MLS.
Eddie Johnson is defintely a winner... especially as Fulham failed to sign Daniel Cousins. I think you'll start seeing more and more MLS stars adding that 'minimum fee release clause' in their contracts. Losers include Twellman and Guzan. Also Bocanegra and Fielhaber, while not going anywhere - due to their clubs activity in the transfer window - appear to have lost their starting place / been pushed down the pecking order respectively.
If you're throwing Guzan, Twellman, Pearce and (maybe) EJ on to this list of losers in this transfer window, then you may want to also throw their agent in there too (Motzkin and Sportsnet). No way Guzan was going to get a work permit. Twellman should have had a better negotiated contract with a minimum release clause. EJ is a toss depending on how you look at it but signing with relegation fodder is a scary proposition. And, Pearce didn't have any takers despite being told to flat out leave.
Love your thread and agree with everything you've said, except this. Why wouldn't he play in the championship, and even if the scenario you dsicribe pans out, don't you think he just needed a change, out of MLS. Championship football would still do him a world of good, it seems to me.
Guzan is only a temporary loser and may be a big time winner soon. If he's a free transfer in 6 months, he'll get a nice sign-on bonus wherever he goes. In other words, he'll get a major portion of the $4M that Aston Villa was allegedly willing to pay MLS for his transfer. Pearce's situation has nothing to do with the transfer market. He should just quit pissing off coaches. I don't feel sorry for Twellman because that was the contract he had signed ... but I wish he pout a little more 'cos that's what the Revs need. Winners - Goodson, Noonan, Perkins, Nguyen, John, Jaqua (and, of the non-Yanks, Doorman and Ngwenya). Loser - Arturo Alvarez.
*sighs* Totally agree with SFS even though he isn't going to villa, we'll just have to wait and we all know he's leaving in the summer. Hopefully he gets a lot of caps until then, just in case.