Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan isn’t leaving the team and MLS just quite yet. Guzan was about to make a move to England to play with EPL team Aston Villa on a $2 million transfer, but a work permit was denied. Now Guzan says he is excited to remain with Chivas USA for another year.
This made me wonder what goes into determining if a person gets a work permit and why would Guzan not be able to get one? With only minimal research, I’ve found that sports & entertainment is one of 6 types of work permits that can be granted for the UK. I’m not sure why Guzan would be denied a work permit. Maybe they have too many American goalkeepers over there already? Who happens to know the answer to that question?
Eddie “The Juice” Johnson is on his way out of Kansas City – on his way to London – to Fulham. It is a continuing transformation of Fulham into the US National team. Johnson joins Kasey Keller, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey on the Fulham roster.
Johnson has mixed success recently. This past year with the Kansas City Wizards was a really good year for The Juice, but the previous year he didn’t produce much on the field. Hopefully Eddie can be as successful in London as his past year for the Wizards was.
The terms of the deal are not yet known to the public. One rumor was that Eddie himself bought out the remainder of his contract with the Wizards and that there was then no transfer payment. This is supposedly just a false rumor.
So what is next for the Wizards. They’ve lost a few veterans and have a lot of empty spots to fill. After getting rid of two veteran defenders the Wizards drafted UCLA defender Chance Myers with the first overall pick of the draft. They will probably need a little bit more than Chance Myers to fill the shoes of the 3 that were recently shipped out of KC. With Johnson gone they should have plenty of money to bring in a big name – maybe even a DP.
The defending champions Houston Dynamo are losing strikers left and right. Paul Daglish was released at the end of last year. Nate Jaqua is supposedly looking for a job in Austria and it was just announced that Joseph Ngwenya is on his way to Austria.
Ngwenya has just signed a deal with SK Austria and keeps him there until the end of the current Austrian season with an option to add another full season. SK Austria is currently at the bottom of the top Austrian league approximately half way through their season.
Assuming Jaqua goes as well, this leaves the Dynamo with Brian Ching as the only real proven striker on the roster. As of right now Corey Ashe, Dwayne De Rosario, Brian Mullan, and Erik Ustruck are the only players on the roster listed as forwards or M-F. De Rosario and Mullan are more suited to play in the middle. I don’t know much about Ashe or Ustruck. Dynamo fans – you want to depend on Ashe or Ustruck to partner with Ching this year, or do you move De Rosario and Mullan share time moving forward to partner with Ching?
Along with the recent departure of Nick Garcia, the news that Jose Burciaga Jr is going to Colorado for more draft picks reveals signs that the Wizards will be looking to play a new formation. The lineup will feature 1 defender (who needs more than Jimmy Conrad anyway?), 6 in the midfield, and 3 strikers.
Jose Burciaga Jr is headed to the Colorado Rapids. In exchange for Burciaga Jr the Wizards will get a second round draft pick in 2009.
The Wizards may also be losing Eddie Johnson to Fulham. It seems the US National team is just moving to London. Now Fulham, who already has 4 Americans, is after Eddie Johnson and Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Who will be the next American to head for Fulham?
Carlos Ruiz on on his way out of FC Dallas and going back to his first MLS team the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy paid an undisclosed amount of allocation money as well as a 2nd round draft pick to bring Ruiz back to LA.
The Kansas City Wizards have sent a quality defender, Nick Garcia, to the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for the first overall pick in the expansion draft that will take place this Friday. It is rumored that the Wizards will Patrick Nyarko to replace Eddie Johnson who is rumored to be on his way to Fulham. Nyarko is a native of Ghana playing for Virginia Tech. He is one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s best player. Nyarko has college eligibility left but will be coming to the MLS rather than finishing his collegiate career.
Is Eddie Johnson on his way out of Kansas City to play for Fulham?
The Daily Mail reports that Eddie “the Juice” Johnson has left the US National team training camp which is a sign that a deal with Fulham is near. Johnson has had an up and down career recently with the Kansas City Wizards. Right now he’s on the up side of that roller-coaster.
If this does happen and Johnson does end up playing at Fulham, he will be the 5th American to join the team. Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Kasey Keller currently play for the London club.
There has been lots of talk about Americans playing in Major League Soccer to be moving to Europe recently. If Taylor Twellman and Eddie Johnson both go to play in England, will that be good for the US Nationals? Will it increase their chances of getting more time with the National Team? I think it they did make the move and got significant playing time it would have to help them.
So we’ve already heard about Twellman’s transfer to Preston North End not once but twice. Now Twellman is mad about the situation he’s in. Preston is willing to buy Twellman from MLS for $2.5 million but the offer has been rejected. When Twellman asks the Revolution about it, they say MLS has rejected the deal. When Twellman asks MLS, they say the Revolution stopped the deal from taking place.
Now this doesn’t set well with Twellman because apparently he would be making 3 times his current salary if he were to make the move to Preston. Thinking about that really made me realize where the big difference between the United States and the rest of the world stand when it comes to their soccer leagues.
Twellman is one of the best players on one of the best teams in all of MLS. He’s a multiple time all star, twice member of MLS best XI, US Open Cup Champion, MLS MVP winner, Golden Boot winner, and has 101 goals in all MLS competitions including some awesome goals. A guy with thoe credentials probably earns a good chunk of money.
Now we look at what Preston was willing to pay Twellman. They were going to pay about 3 times as much as the Revolution. But who is Preston? Preston play in a league with 24 teams rather than 13. Preston play in the English Championship, which is not even the top level league in the country. Preston are currently one point away from last place in the Championship.
So the Revolution are pretty close to the top of American soccer (somewhere in the top 3 at least) right now. Preston are about 40th in England (if we go strictly based on the current tables). England is only one small country in Europe that has high caliber soccer leagues. Preston were going to triple Twellman’s salary.
Maybe it doesn’t really mean much but it seemed like a reminder of where MLS sits when compared to other leagues of the world. MLS is a cheap league that doesn’t treat their stars very well, but I still love it, I have ever since San Jose Clash beat DC United 1-0, and I always will.
This sounds just crazy – more crazy than Figo coming to play in MLS. AOL Sports has a story about Seattle possibly choosing the dumbest name ever for their upcoming MLS team that will begin play in 2009. They claim that the Emerald City Greens is a potential name for the new Seattle team.
Is this for real? Where did this idea come from?
I’m glad I’m not living in Seattle just waiting for an MLS team to come only to find out that they could be called the Emerald City Greens. But it seems that might not be a top candidate and Emerald City FC might be more likely. It is a little better at least.
What would you name the new Seattle team? I’m sure a lot of people would like to stick with the Sounders, what do you think? Do we have any readers in Seattle?
Just a couple days ago I wrote about MLS rejecting a bid for Taylor Twellman. Well they’ve done it again. This time Preston North End has offered over twice their inital offer. They upped the $800,000 up to around $2,000,000 and the MLS has again rejected this offer. Preston have no intentions of going any higher than that.
Clint Mathis on the other hand is on his way to Europe. Mathis is headed to Greece to play for last place Ergotelis. Half way through the Greek Super League season Ergotelis has scored only 9 goals in 15 games. Hopefully Mathis can turn that around and keep Ergotelis in the Super League!
It would be hard to argue that American goal keepers are the hottest soccer export going out of the United States and thus out of Major League Soccer. Brad Guzan is the next potential target for big European clubs to take away from MLS.
Yahoo! Sports reports that teams such as Celtic, Liverpool, Arsenal, Olympiacos and Auxerre might be some of the teams interested in last years MLS goalkeeper of the year.
This would be a huge loss for Chivas and MLS, but probably a great gain for some other club, and aslo for Guzan’s career. Guzan is only 23 years old and should have a wonderful career ahead of him.
Carlos Ruiz on on his way out of FC Dallas and going back to his first MLS team the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy paid an undisclosed amount of allocation money as well as a 2nd round draft pick to bring Ruiz back to LA.