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Grella on verge of Leeds deal

MikeGrella (Duke Sports Information)

                                       Photo courtesy of Duke Athletics

By DYLAN BUTLER

Following a successful two-week trial, former Duke University standout Mike Grella has been offered a contract to play with English League One side Leeds United, sources told SBI on Friday.

Grella, who turned 22 last week, scored a hat-trick for the Leeds reserves in a 4-0 win against Barnsley at Elland Road and immediately opened the eyes of manager Simon Grayson. The native of Glen Cove, L.I., who holds an Italian passport, is still in contract negotiations with the club, but a deal is expected to be finalized soon, according to sources.

Grella, a first-team NSCAA All-American this year, bypassed the MLS Combine, but was still selected by Toronto FC with the 34th overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft two weeks ago despite letting it be known that he would pursue a contract in Europe.

Comments

  1. Leeds is lucky to capture Grella. I think he’s well worth the risk and has the ability to stay on the international market for a long, long time.

    I’ve noticed this comment of ‘cancer in the locker room’ on other boards, too. I’m thinking somebody obviously has a personal grudge against this guy and is trying to poison Leeds fans into hating the new player. We haven’t seen any episodes from him so far. Let it be.

    As for his hair, it ain’t bad. He’s a good looking kid. Just keep it out of the way when you’re scoring the goals, Grella, and we’ll be fine!

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  2. This one seems like the plot of Goal, the movie. In this case, it’s a team 2 divisions down. It’s not a bad gig if one can get it. Not bad at all.

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  3. Good for him. As has been mentioned before here, he has skill, but an unbelievably bad attitude. I’ve seen him play dozens of times in the ACC, and found him to be the very definition of cancer in the locker room. If he ever grows up he has a future at least at MLS level. But unless he’s running circles around the competition, nobody’s going to put up with him for very long.

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  4. simon grayson seems to be a good judge of a player so if leeds are offering him a contract he must be a decent player even if it takes untill next season for him to get used to the english game he should be worth the wait he scored another 2 goals in a closed door game recently 5 goals in 2 games get him signed leeds + anyone who says leeds utd are an average lg 1 club are nut`s only team in lg 1 that when playing away get full houses and tell me which other club has a training complex as good as ours half the prem and most of the teams in the rest of europe would kill for what we have leeds. Haters your just green with envy leeds are on their way back united are back

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  5. Lapira? He failed to make one of the Scottish teams and now plays second tier Norwegian football.

    As for Grella, good for him! He’s got a good crack at seeing first team action with Christie leaving, Kandol being loaned out again and Showunmi suffing through a bloodclot in his lung.

    B’oh

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  6. Leeds is not your average League 1 team. They got way into debt and went into administration a few years ago, but are working their way out and have a huge audience. They pay better than most of the league and are likely to be promoted in the not-too-distant future.

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  7. Have fun sitting on the bench of a third division side. I’m thinking we’ll hear from this guy again in summer of 2010, when he signs his new contract with TFC.

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