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The Major League Soccer season is over, meaning the MLS silly season is underway.
Matteo Ferrari, the 32-year-old former Italy international, has joined the Montreal Impact in Los Angeles where they are currently training and is expected to sign soon. The centerback has spent time with some of Italy's biggest clubs and even has 11 international caps, but none since 2004. For the last he has been with Turkey's Besiktas, but was released back in August and hasn't played since.
The fact that the Impact are even in serious discussions with Ferrari would seem to be just the latest indication that coach Jesse Marsch is not planning to play Andrew Wenger at centerback. Wenger made his preseason debut at forward and has apparently indicated that's where he prefers to play right now.
If the Impact are able to sign Ferrari, that would likely mean a centerback pairing of him and Nelson Rivas. Both have played in Serie A, but are also coming into this season with questions about whether they can remain healthy.
Once called "the next David Beckham" and now struggling just to find a team anywhere in the Premier League that will take him on, David Bentley is apparently looking at a possible loan to MLS in hopes of reviving his career. According to MLSSoccer.com, Bentley's representatives are in discussions with a MLS team about a loan in the spring and summer that could give him a chance to get his career back on track.
"This is something that is really interesting for David, as it will also get him fit through the summer," Bentley's agent, Rob Segal, told MLSsoccer.com. "He would like to go there on loan as soon as possible."
Bentley was the next big thing in English soccer when he debuted for England in 2007 and the hype only grew when he became the most expensive transfer in Tottenham Hotspur history in 2008, but the midfielder has struggled to find a place with Spurs. He ended up on the outs just months after signing with Tottenham and appeared just twice for the club in the fall of 2010 before being loaned to Birmingham City for the rest of the season. He played there, but Birmingham were relegated and when he sought another loan in the summer, only Championship club West Ham showed genuine interest. An injury cut short his time with the Hammers and now he is desperate just to get a chance somewhere.
If Bentley is fit and motivated, he could be a big boost for any MLS club. He is still just 27 years old and can hit a dead ball or cross as well as anyone in the world. He's never been blessed with pace, but he has enough to get by and some tricks to help him out. Tottenham still own his contract and they have a partnership with the Earthquakes, which help set up Simon Dawkins' loan to San Jose, so Bentley to the Quakes makes sense, but that would be no more than speculation.
Bentley's biggest problem has always been that nobody has ever loved David Bentley as much as David Bentley though. It has resulted in lackluster effort and questions about his commitment, but with his career on the line, maybe he will show the kind of work ethic that can make him a star on loan and earn himself a place back in the English Premier League.
If you thought things had been going well for the LA Galaxy this offseason, prepare for it to get even better: It now appears that Juninho will be rejoining the team on a one-year loan. What's even better is that, according to this report out of Brazil, he'll apparently be doing so without the Galaxy having to pay a loan fee.
In an offseason that has included the re-signing of David Beckham and the return of Edson Buddle, this might be the most significant move. While Juninho is not nearly as famous as Beckham or Landon Donovan, it could easily be argued that he was just as important to the Galaxy's fortunes as either of them. In addition to his four goals and two assists, he was the engine that really drove the midfield.
According to the translated report, Juninho fell out of favor with Sao Paolo's coach shortly after signing his new contract. The team then tried to sell him to a French team to no avail.
If the Galaxy already weren't the favorites to win the CONCACAF Champions League and MLS Cup, the addition of Juninho surely does that. The only loss from last year's double-winner is Omar Gonzalez, and the Galaxy will have Leonardo back after he missed most of last season with a knee injury.
For more on Juninho's situation, be sure to check out Galaxy blog LAG Confidential.
The New York Red Bulls' offseason is suddenly not looking so bad. The latest piece of positive news comes in the form of Luke Rodgers receiving his long-delayed visa, according to the team website.
Forward Luke Rodgers, whose arrival to preseason camp was delayed due to immigration issues, had his U.S. visa approved. It is unclear when Rodgers will join the team in Mexico, but we’re happy to say that he will be a Red Bull in 2012.
This is a pretty significant development for both parties. Red Bulls coach Hans Backe had recently expressed some doubt that Rodgers' visa situation would ever be resolved.
If Rodgers had been unable to join the team, the Red Bulls would have been without one of their most consistent scorers from the 2011 season. Rodgers was the Red Bulls' second leading scorer with nine goals, despite playing in just 23 matches. With Rodgers, the Red Bulls' attack suddenly looks quite strong, even if Juan Agudelo is transferred.
For more on the Rodgers' situation, be sure to check out Red Bulls blog Once a Metro.
Edson Buddle could be back in a LA Galaxy shirt when the MLS season opens in March. The striker, who left the Galaxy a year ago for Ingolstadt in the 2.Bundesliga, has been released from his contract by the German club and is now a free agent. Recent reports now indicate that he will make his way back to the Galaxy, who he shined for and help to the 2009 MLS Cup final and 2010 Supporters' Shield.
Not long after it was announced that Ingogstadt had released Buddle, Alexi Lalas tweeted that Buddle was likely on his way back to the Galaxy. More sources confirmed that they were hearing the same about Buddle's MLS return, which is not surprising after Ingolstadt allowed Buddle to explore his options in December and the striker struck out after a trial with Everton.
Buddle spent four years with the Galaxy and he scored 44 goals for the club. His best season came in 2010, when he scored 19 goals en route to MLS Best XI honors. That fantastic season also helped him earn a spot on the United States' World Cup squad and offers from overseas. Because he left the Galaxy on a free transfer and the club did not receive any compensation for him, they retain his MLS rights, making a return to LA very likely if Buddle returns to MLS.
The Galaxy were heavily dependent on Buddle in 2010 and often played him as a lone striker or with a poor strike partner, leaving him to battle alone for 90 minutes, week after week. If the Galaxy can bring him back for 2012, they will not have to depend on him nearly as much thanks to Robbie Keane, who will partner with Buddle. Along with Keane, David Beckham and Landon Donovan, Buddle would give LA one of the most potent attacks in MLS, which the team will need considering their defense has been severely weakened by the major knee injury to Omar Gonzalez. Of course, this is all assuming Buddle to LA is completed, which is hardly assured.
The transfer saga of Sebastien Le Toux appears to have taken a highly unexpected turn. Citing an anonymous source close to the situation, Brotherly Game is reporting that Le Toux is heading back to MLS, but that the Philadelphia Union may trade him to another team. Right now, the most likely trade partner appears to be the Vancouver Whitecaps, although Le Toux is reportedly trying to remain with the Union.
News first surfaced a little more than a week ago that Le Toux was heading to Bolton on a possible transfer. But after trialling with the team for about week, Bolton has apparently decided to explore other options. That seemed to herald his return to the Union, who are facing a bit of a potential logjam at forward. In addition to Danny Mwanga continuing to press for minutes, they signed Saprissa standout Josue Martinez in the offseason.
Making Le Toux the odd man out in that situation would seem to be an odd choice, being as he's excelled as a forward. During two seasons with the Union, Le Toux has scored 25 goals and registered 20 assists, most of which have come while playing up top.
What was once looking like a very strong offseason for the Philadelphia Union may have just got a little tougher, as goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon is reportedly leaving the team in order to return to Colombian club Deportivo Cali. Mondragon is quoted in Colombian publication Nuevo Estadio as saying he has signed a one-year contract to finish out his career with the team for whom he made his professional debut in 1990 (h/t Brotherly Game).
"I'm very happy because things have worked out, I am going to Deportivo Cali with a one-year contract, I feel I identified with the new Board and I have decided to agree to return to my beloved team," said Mondragon.
While there seems to be some details still to be worked out, the story indicates that this is essentially a done deal. Of course, the Union also told Philly Soccer Page on Sunday that there had been no contact between the team and Deportivo Cali. These would seem to be mutually exclusive versions of the story, so clearly someone is not being entirely honest. For the sake of this conversation, though, let's assume Mondragon's quotes are not completely fabricated.
Mondragon's absence would leave the Union with one of two choices. The simplest would be to hand over the starting reins to Zac MacMath, who doesn't even turn 21 until this summer. MacMath performed admirably during Mondragon's injury last year, going 3-0-3, allowing eight goals and stopping 67 percent of the shots he faced. If that is the option Union coach Peter Nowak goes with, he would be counting on MacMath making history. No MLS goalkeeper younger than 24 has ever won a playoff round. If any goalkeeper is capable of bucking that trend, though, MacMath could be it.
The other option would be going out and finding another goalkeeper. The MLS transfer window remains open until mid-April, so the Union have plenty of time, but they'd basically be looking at acquiring someone from Europe who's basically out of contract or trading within MLS. Neither is exactly ideal, but could definitely yield a useful player.
The unfortunate part of this for the Union isn't so much losing Mondragon. MacMath may very well have been the better goalkeeper both now and in the future. The problem is that this seems to have caught the Union by surprise, or at least that's what we're left to believe as MacMath would be the only goalkeeper on the current roster.
For more on this situation, be sure to check out Union blog Brotherly Game.
Michael Ballack has fallen far out of favor at Bayer Leverkusen and he doesn't even appear to be an option at the Bay Arena. Now, a war of words has broken out between his agent and the club as the midfielder's time in Germany dwindles. That just opens the door for another move for Ballack, who has long been linked to MLS and now is being linked to the New York Red Bulls with a move maybe coming as soon as April.
The former Germany captain returned to Leverkusen in 2010 after a disappointing stint at Chelsea, but things have been rocky at the Bay Arena as he has struggled to stay healthy. With the club down to sixth in the Bundesliga and Ballack benched, things have got tenuous. The player met with sporting director Rudi Voeller, although the meeting was not a success and while the club has said publicly that the decision to bring Ballack back into the club turned out poorly, Ballack's agent has accused the club of making his client a scapegoat.
Ballack's contract with Leverkusen ends after the season and nobody expects him to return to the club, however now that he and the club are feuding, some believed that he could leave the club as soon as this April. With Ballack on the outs and him being the highest paid player at the club, it wouldn't be a shock to see the club let him leave earlier than the summer and his former coach Klaus Topmöller says that a move to MLS is a possibility.
"It sounds so as if Michael will no longer play at Leverkusen," Topmöller told Bild. "And perhaps even changes in the U.S."
It's no surprise that Ballack is being linked with a MLS move now with his contract running out and the door seemingly shut on a Leverkusen return. Bild had no explanation for the Red Bulls link beyond the speculation of his joining MLS, but a move to New York would make sense. With Frank Rost gone, the Red Bulls do have an extra Designated Player spot that they could use to bring him in and now that Ballack could be available before his contract runs out, it just makes things easier on all parties involved.
Ballack is done at the Bay Arena and his exit could be earlier than originally anticipated. A MLS move has always seemed likely and this appears as good a time as any for the 35-year-old.
With the Tim Ream transfer now finalized, the New York Red Bulls appear to be moving quickly to find his replacement. That player is former Chicago Fire centerback Wilman Conde, according to MLSSoccer.com.
"With Conde coming in, to me, he’s one of the league’s best center backs," Backe said. "I think he’s massive with his experience, his physical ability. With the Swedish guy, too, we’ll have two solid center backs."
"The Swedish guy" would be 6-foot-3 Markus Holgersson. Combined with the 6-foot-2 Conde, the Red Bulls would have one of the bigger centerback pairings in the league.
Conde's MLS rights are still controlled by the Fire, who tried to re-sign him before he left for Atlas of the Mexican Primera. The Red Bulls would have to compensate the Fire in some way for Conde's rights, most likely with allocation dollars or a draft pick. That's likely more of a formality, though, as the league tends to help facilitate these kinds of moves.
During four seasons with the Fire, Conde established himself as one of the league's top defenders when healthy. Since signing with Atlas in December 2010, he's made 13 Primera appearances and even scored two goals.
For more on this move, check out Red Bulls blog Once a Metro and Fire blog Hot Time In Old Town.
Scotland international Kris Boyd will not be joining the Houston Dynamo after all. The Scottish Premier League standout striker has apparently turned down an offer from the Dynamo and will presumably start looking for work back in Europe (via MLSSoccer.com).
"We tried our best to bring him here," Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear told reporters after training on Monday. "Unfortunately I think the move was just something he didn’t want to do in his career right now, but I can’t fault us in being very aggressive in our approach to sign him."
The Dynamo now will have to go back to the drawing board to find a seasoned scorer. That's a void Boyd could have surely filled, as he's scored at just about every stop he's made. Without Boyd, the Dynamo are without a clear No. 1 goal scorer, as no one currently on their roster has ever scored more than six goals during a MLS season.
Check out Dynamo Theory for more news and analysis.
The Philadelphia Union are preparing to sell forward Sebastien Le Toux to Bolton, according to Ives Galarcep. That report was bolstered by a Tweet moments later from Le Toux himself, which said "On a jet plane to England."
If true, this would culminate a rather remarkable rise for Le Toux, who was playing in the USL as recently as 2008. During his MLS debut season with the Seattle Sounders, he scored just one goal and was left unprotected in that year's Expansion Draft.
Once joining the Union, though, his career really took off. In two seasons with the Union, Le Toux has scored 25 goals and registered 20 assists. A big part of that success, was his move back to forward, the position at which he excelled in USL.
Even if the Union were able to fetch seven-figures for Le Toux, this would surely be a blow to their 2012 chances. Le Toux is the only player to score more than seven goals in a season in the Union's two years. During that time, Danny Mwanga is the team's second leading scorer with 12 goals. That said, the continued development of Mwanga and Jack McInerney, as well as the additions of Costa Rican forward Josue Martinez and recent SuperDraft pick Chandler Hoffman could fill that void.
At Bolton, Le Toux would likely be able to compete for playing time, but probably only as a third forward. Kevin Davies and Ivan Klasnic are old and neither has played well this season. Tuncay Sanli is on loan. David N'Gog is young. Klasnic is bad enough that Le Toux could be the third striker option, but Davies is the captain and N'Gog will be ahead of him as well.
For more reactions to this story, be sure to check out Union blog Brotherly Game and Bolton blog Lion of Vienna Suite.
The long-rumored deal that would send Tim Ream from the New York Red Bulls to the Bolton Wanderers appears to be close to finalized. Bolton officials are apparently confident a deal will get done and have raised their transfer offer to £2.5million (close to $4 million), according to The Bolton News.
The biggest hangup on the deal appears to be Ream's ability to gain a work permit. Ream has not come close to appearing in 75 percent of the United States national team's competitive matches over the past two years, but Bolton is apparently confident they can secure the permit on appeal.
Ream's addition to Bolton would essentially come in tandem with Gary Cahill's expected move to Chelsea. Ream would be expected to compete for starting minutes with David Wheater and Zat Knight, neither of whom have really distinguished themselves of late. At the very least, Ream should be able to see some first-team minutes as long as he performs well in training over the next month or so.
The situation Ream leaves in New York is not as clear. Rafael Marquez is expected to move back to defensive mid this year and Stephen Keel is the only other player on the roster who has seen minutes at center back. The Red Bulls have reportedly signed Markus Holgersson out of Sweden, but nothing has been officially announced yet.
For more on this move, be sure to check out Bolton blog Lion of Vienna Suite and Red Bulls blog Once a Metro.
Nobody expected Robbie Rogers to be with the Columbus Crew next year and now it looks like we might know where he'll be. According to Ives Galarcep, Rogers is likely to sign with Leeds United and make the move to England's Championship after turning down the chance to stay in MLS with a new team. If the move happens, it will be a return to Europe for Rogers, who has made no secret of his desire to play there after he started his career with Heerenveen only to make no appearances before spending five years in Columbus.
Rogers' play dipped last year and with it went his playing time, making it a foregone conclusion that he would look to move elsewhere, a move the Crew were happy to give him. He spent much of the winter on trial abroad, including at Leeds, who appear to have seen something they like. Rogers won't be walking into an easy situation though, with Tottenham Hotspur's Andros Townsend on loan and playing well on one wing, Robert Snodgrass on the other wing, Ramon Nunez a wide option and captain Jonny Howson also an attacking player, albeit more centrally. Even with Snodgross and Howson injured, there doesn't appear to be much of an opportunity for Rogers to play unless there are further injuries.
Exactly how Rogers plans on getting a work permit remains a mystery. He certainly doesn't qualify under the work permit rules that require a player to play 75% of his country's national team matches, meaning he will have to appeal for one, but he could argue that he has been a bigger part of the national team under Jurgen Klinsmann. If Klinsmann helps out and pledges to the appeals board to make Rogers a fixture in the squad going forward, maybe Rogers will have a chance, but it appears to be a stretch considering he still had just five caps in 2011.
Kris Boyd may not be a household name among Major League Soccer fans, but his resume should be enough to perk up some ears. The 28-year-old Scotland international is reportedly considering an offer to come to the Houston Dynamo.
We're told Kris Boyd considering offer from MLS Cup finalists Houston Dynamo. Interest from three English clubs too.
— Bryan Swanson (@skysports_bryan) January 10, 2012
Boyd is a player well known to observers of European soccer. As recently as 2009-10, he scored 23 Scottish Premier League goals with Rangers. A year before that, he scored 27. In 143 league matches with the Glasgow giants, he found the back of the net 101 times. During five seasons with Kilmarnock, a much smaller SPL team, he scored 63 times in 153 matches. He's also scored seven goals in 18 senior team caps with Scotland.
The reason Boyd is even available, though, does raise some questions. Boyd is currently unemployed after he reportedly had his contract terminated with Turkey's Eskişehirspor. Boyd claimed to have never been paid by the club and has now started legal proceedings against them.
Prior to his time in Turkey, Boyd spent a season in the English Championship where he played to mixed results. In 37 matches, he scored 12 goals but he did it with two clubs: Middlesborough and Nottingham Forest. Those numbers might not seem bad, but it seems his stint in the Championship was deemed mostly a disappointment and there are signs that his work ethic has been questioned.
Still, it would seem that a player like Boyd could succeed in MLS. He appears to have the kind of size that plays well here, even if he's not a prototypical target forward, and the style of play in the United Kingdom tends to translate.
For more on Boyd's potential signing and all things Dynamo, be sure to check out Dynamo Theory.
Tim Ream may be just a few steps away from joining Bolton, according to an ESPN report. Bolton has reportedly placed a formal transfer offer for the New York Red Bulls and sometimes United States center back, in hopes of bringing him to the Premier League.
The transfer offer is supposedly in the $2.5 million to $3 million range, which would be the highest transfer for a MLS player since Jozy Altidore was sold to Villareal for $10 million in 2008 and would be one of the highest transfer fees in league history. A source close the negotiations is quoting as saying the two sides are not very far apart on accepting the deal.
What remains to be seen is if Ream could actually get a work permit to play in England. Generally speaking, a player must have appeared in 75 percent of his national team's matches in order to be granted a permit or they must appeal for one. Ream is well short of that benchmark, almost no matter how you measure it. He played in 6 of 17 games during 2011 and has only played in two games since Jurgen Klinsmann took over. He also only played in 2 of 6 games during the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
For the latest MLS transfer rumors, be sure to follow this StoryStream. For more on Ream's situation, be sure to check out Red Bulls blog Once a Metro.
The Columbus Crew are reportedly close to signing Chile international Milovan Mirosevic, according to reports out of Chile. If true, this could be a rather significant signing. The 31-year-old midfielder most recently played for Chile in matches against Uruguay and Paraguay in November World Cup qualifiers. He was a 87th minute substitute against Paraguay and a 67th minute substitute against Uruguay.
Mirosevic most recently played his club soccer at Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates. He had previously played for Universidad Catolica, a team in Chile's first division, where he scored 46 goals in 108 appearances. Mirosevic could play anywhere in the midfield and could provide some scoring punch, something the Crew have lacked in recent years. As recently as the 2009-10 season, Mirosevic was a prolific scorer as he netted 19 goals in 32 league matches.
For the latest MLS transfer rumors, be sure to follow this StoryStream. For more on the Crew, check out Massive Report.
It looks like the Colorado Rapids will finally name a head coach, with FC Dallas academy director Oscar Pareja apparently the man for the job, according to a report in the Denver Post. The move comes with less than two weeks before MLS teams are allowed to open training camp and would signal a significant change in direction for the Rapids.
Assuming this report is true, this would seem to be a positive move for a team that has gained a reputation as one of the more physical in the league under the guidance of former head coach Gary Smith. Pareja is a product of South American soccer, having played professionally in Colombia and for the Colombian national team. At the same time, he's much more of a MLS insider than Smith, logging more than 170 MLS appearances from 1998-2005 and working with Dallas' academy.
The Rapids, who have undergone a rather significant amount of change this offseason, reportedly interviewed Dennis Hamlett, Tom Soehn and Richie Williams in recent weeks. Like Pareja, and unlike Smith, all of these candidates had significant MLS experience.
For more on Pareja's signing, be sure to check out Rapids blog Burgundy Wave and FC Dallas blog Big D Soccer.
What has been a very quite offseason for the New York Red Bulls may finally be heating up if reports out of Sweden are correct. Markus Holgersson has reportedly turned down an offer to remain with his Swedish team in order to join the Red Bulls.
The 6-foot-3 26-year-old would provide some much needed help for the Red Bulls, who are in massive need of center backs. As of right now, the only three players with center back experience on the roster are Rafael Marquez, Tim Ream and Stephen Keel. Marquez is supposedly moving to defensive mid this year and has been rumored to be looking for a move to Mexico and Ream continues to be linked to rumors sending him to Bolton, despite denials from the Red Bulls.
Holgersson's Swedish team Helsinborg is coming off a season in which they won their league title. Holgersson started in 26 of 30 games and earned his first national team call-up for Sweden's friendly against Qatar later this month.
For the latest MLS transfer rumors, be sure to follow this StoryStream. For more on the potential signing, check out Red Bulls blog Once a Metro.
Former German international Gerald Asamoah has apparently told the the website GhanaWeb that he is preparing for a move to Major League Soccer. Asamoah was mum on which team he would be joining, but depending on his price any number of teams could be interested in the 33-year-old forward/midfielder who has spent most of his professional career in the Bundesliga and made 43 appearances with the German national team.
Asamoah most recently played for St. Pauli, but does not appear to have made the move with them after being relegated back in May. Presumably, Asamoah is a free, so there would be no transfer fee in order to bring him to MLS.
The question is how much would Asamoah cost and how much does he have to bring to a MLS team. During his last Bundesliga season, he scored six goals and had six assists in 27 matches. Those are not bad numbers, but he does not appear to have been playing since May. During his 306-game Bundesliga career, he scored 50 goals after spending the bulk of his career with Schalke 04. He also appeared in two World Cups, playing in a total of four games in 2002 and '06.
For the latest MLS transfer rumors, follow this StoryStream.
David Beckham's future in Major League Soccer is still not decided. But if he does, in fact, leave that would free up a significant amount of money that could be spent elsewhere. According to a Report out of the United Arab Emirates, that money could be spent on luring Samuel Eto'o to MLS. It hardly seems likely that MLS could actually retain Eto'o's services, though, as he's arguably the best striker in the world and still securely in his prime.
The story claims that MLS has already placed an transfer bid and is prepared to match Eto'o's €20 million salary. Eto'o is currently playing in Russia for FC Anzhi Makhachkala. It also says that Eto'o would almost certainly go to either the New York Red Bulls or the LA Galaxy. Even at that rather enormous sum, though, it's not clear if that would be enough to secure Eto'o's services. The Russian team reportedly made Eto'o the highest paid player in the world. Machachkala reportedly paid $38.9 million to secure his transfer for Inter Milan last August and would be unlikely to sell him for any less.
Assuming this deal could get done, though, it would be an absolute coup for MLS. Eto'o is one of the top strikers in the world and is still just 30. He has scored eight goals in 11 league games this year and is coming off a season in which he scored 37 goals across all competitions for Inter.
For the latest MLS transfer rumors, be sure to follow this StoryStream.
The Seattle Sounders may not be bringing in the biggest foreign names this offseason, but the transfer rumor mill has once again linked them to a European player. This time, it looks like they are close to signing Christian Sivebaek, a 23-year-old who currently plays for Danish Superliga team Midtjylland. A Danish report even quotes Sivebaek, whose father played for Denmark in the 1986 World Cup, as saying he has agreed to terms with the Sounders. For their part, the Sounders have confirmed interest in the midfielder/full back and acknowledged that he visited the team earlier this month.
Sivebaek has been a starter at Midtjylland, helping lead the team to top six finishes in each of the past three years, but this year appears to have fallen out of favor. A couple of injuries may have contributed to his playing in just 3 of 18 league matches this season.
The Sounders would most likely be looking at Sivebaek as more of an insurance policy at several positions. While their starting XI seems pretty set, Sivebaek could find himself in competition for minutes in the midfield and on defense.
Sivebaek would be the third player the Sounders have signed from Europe this offseason. It has already been announced that they signed former Austrian international goalkeeper Michael Gspurning and Swedish international Adam Johansson has been all but officially announced as being signed.
For more analysis of what Sivebaek's signing could mean, check out Sounders blog Sounder at Heart.
The Seattle Sounders have apparently signed Swedish full back Adam Johansson, a 28-year-old who has made nine national team appearances since debuting against the United States in 2009. The signing would fill the Sounders' biggest hole on their roster after they lost James Riley in the MLS Expansion Draft.
The news was first broken by former Sounders midfielder Erik Friberg, who revealed the signing's identity in a series of Tweets. That news was confirmed in an article in the Gothenburg Post.
"It's really fantastic," Johansson was quoted as saying in the Post (via Google translate). "I knew very little about the American league, but I talked to several people familiar with before I decided and finally felt like this as the right choice."
Johansson most recently played for Swedish power IFK Goteburg where he was starter when healthy during his seven seasons there. Although he scored just one goal in that time, he's thought to have good technical ability and should help meet one of the Sounders' biggest offseason goals: better possession from their fullbacks.
For more insight and analysis of Johansson's possible signing, be sure to check out Sounders blog Sounder at Heart.
Omar Bravo says he is leaving Sporting Kansas City because of problems with coach Peter Vermes, according to ESPN Deportes' Jorge Ramos. Bravo's problems with Vermes have been a poorly kept secret for quite some time, and they seem to have been exasperated when he was benched for Sporting's Eastern Conference final against the Houston Dynamo. Despite declaring himself fit, Bravo did not enter that game until the 85th minute.
@ESPN_JorgeRamos
Jorge Ramos & Banda Omar Bravo. No jugara mas en el @KansasCity, por problemas con su DT. Destinos ? Equipos en #Mexico; uno de el… (cont) http://t.co/TbjI02rm
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The report did not say whether or not Bravo would definitely leave MLS, but did seem to suggest that a return to Mexico would be his most likely destination. Bravo scored more than 100 goals during 10 seasons in the Mexican Primera, most of them with Chivas de Guadalajara. During his one season with Sporting, Bravo scored nine goals, but did seem to struggle at times with the physical nature of the league and battled several injuries.
For more on Bravo's future, be sure to check out Sporting KC blog The Daily Wiz.
Lee Young-pyo says he has signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps for one year with an option for another year. The 34-year-old full back is the second-most capped player in South Korea's history and has played for such clubs as Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund. He arrived in Vancouver on Sunday, but the team has yet to make an official announcement.
"I've been impressed with the professional of the club and how it is run," Lee told reporters in Korea . "From next year, I will do my best to help my new team get some good results."
During an interview on the podcast "It's Called Football," Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi seemed to indicate that Young-pyo would be the team's second Designated Player. If true, that would make Young-pyo the backline player to be signed as a DP. Although Rafael Marquez was eventually moved to center back, he had originally been signed to play as a central midfielder.
Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson has already earned himself a reputation as one of the more accessible owners in Major League Soccer. Since joining the league last year, he has gained a reputation for sharing a level of insight into the team that's rare for American sports owners. His latest salvo was news that the Timbers were close to signing a 19-year-old who would be a Designated Player.
Considering the Timbers' history with Colombian players, speculation began that the player was likely from there. Soon enough, another tweet came out from Colombian club Santa Fe FC that strongly indicated that player was Jose Adolfo Valencia, the son of former MLS player Adolfo "El Tren" Valencia player. The rough translation of this Tweet is that Valencia is leaving Santa Fe to join the Timbers:
@SantaFeCD
Voz Cardenal La ida de José Adolfo Valencia al @TimbersFC de la MLS, se da en parte, porque así lo solicitó el jugador a la directiva cardenal
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Signing Valencia would certainly be an interesting and bold move on the part of the Timbers. He would be the first player signed under MLS's reworked DP rule, which means he would count just $150,000 against the salary cap without having to pay it down with allocation money. FC Dallas' Fabian Castillo also falls under this rule, but he was signed before the rule was actually put into place.
Similar to Castillo, Valencia's probably best known for his play on Colombia's youth national teams more than anything he's done at the club level. Valencia has played for Santa Fe, a first-division team in Colombia, but just how much he has played differs wildly depending on where you look. He did make five appearances in last year's U-20 World Cup, scoring one goal.
Assuming he is the player the Timbers are signing, he could very well be brought along slowly. The 6-foot-1 forward could eventually make for a decent pairing with fellow Colombian Jorge Perlaza, who scored six goals in 31 games during his first MLS season in 2011.
For more on the Timbers' offseason moves, be sure to check out Timbers blog Stumptown Footy.
Lee Young-pyo may not be a household name, but his reported signing by the Vancouver Whitecaps could end up being a rather significant move. The 34-year-old South Korean fullback would instantly qualify as the biggest name player to come to MLS from an Asian country. He has also played for the Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur, Holland's PSV Eindhoven and the Bundesliga's Borsussia Dortmund, while becoming the third most capped player in South Korea's history.
Of course, Benjamin Massey over at Whitecaps blog 86 Forever is not exactly impressed. Massey notes that Young-pyo was not exactly a star at any of his stops, that he likely comes with a considerably price tag and was most recently playing in the Saudi Premier League.
Lee comes with less recent first-class experience than our other ex-Premier League defender, Jay DeMerit. He may well be more expensive, is certainly older, and has had some injury concerns in recent years. If Lee is expensive it's difficult to see the value in such a signing; ominously, it may just be Paul Barber intervening for an old buddy from his Tottenham days.
Massey's pessimism aside, the move might not be as crazy as he thinks. There are nearly 600,000 people of East and Southeast Asian decent in the Vancouver area and a player like Young-pyo would be highly recognizable to the soccer fans among them. At 34 years old, Young-pyo might not be in his prime, but he should have at least a few more good years in him.
Red Bulls Appear To Be Closing In On GK Luis Robles
The New York Red Bulls may finally have an experienced goalkeeper if reports of them closing in on Luis Robles are accurate. The one-time capped United States national team goalkeeper has apparently been given permission by his 2. Bundesliga club, Karlsruher SC, to seek other opportunities.
That Robles would not have to go through some sort of allocation method is a bit curious since there would be ample precedent that a similarly qualified player would have to. Lee Nguyen had just three national team caps to his name -- and from farther back than Robles' 2009 cap -- and had to go through lottery. One explanation could be that no other team wanted him, but that seems unlikely as he has yet to sign.
Assuming he does end up in New York, the Red Bulls would seem to have a perfectly capable goalkeeper. The 27-year-old has made 49 2. Bundesliga appearances since going to Germany in 2007 when he chose to head there instead of joining D.C. United, who had drafted him.
For more on the potential signing, be sure to check out Red Bulls blog Once a Metro.
Feb 15 11:58a by Jeremiah Oshan - 0 comments