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Grella joins Motherwell on loan

 

American striker Mike Grella has joined Scottish club Motherwell on loan, the club announced on Thursday.

Grella joins Motherwell from English side Leeds United, where he has struggled for playing time. Grella most recently went on loan to Carlisle United, where he scored three goals in 11 appearances.

The former Duke University standout passed up a chance to sign with Major League Soccer in 2009 to sign with Leeds, but after a promising first season he has been unable to find a place with the League Championship side.

Comments

  1. Sorry, 25 is prime time.

    Okay peak is often at 27/28 when they are old/mature; and for most probably on their last big contract.

    For a US player just testing themselves in Europe in their late 20s….well for most it is too late.

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  2. Well, if you are talking about Cervi, keepers are different. 25 is still quite young. Cervi should go where he gets the best combination of keepr coaching and playing time, wherever that is.

    As for Grella he’ll be 24 in a couple of days. which is not old but it ain’t young either especially in Europe.

    He’s 5’11” but other than that I don’t know much about what kind of player he is,having never seen him play.

    That said, Leeds seems to think enough of his talent to keep loaning him out in hopes he will develop, so he must have somethng. If he is going to make he’ll make it as a goal scorer. I’m not comparing him to McBride but if his style is anything like Bake’s then, if he stays at it and works hard, he could play a long time.

    If you can score someone will always find a place for you. Look at Wondo.

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  3. i don’t know too much about how loan deals work financially but i bet it is difficult to loan one of your higher paid players to a lower division team.

    plus it might be better for him to fight for game time here and there than to jump straight into being a starter every week.

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  4. It certainly looked that way even when they picked up Billy Paynter as a direct replacement for Beckford. When they sign Somma and he started producing was when Grella was cast off as a long shot for first team play.

    He’s still a good talent though, and I bet he’s making more money on loan to Motherwell than he would be if he were in MLS.

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  5. the deal is Grella is a dangerous dude with the ball inside the 18 yd box… gotta think he will have a chance to nail down a spot in the starting line up for Motherwell. They are really young so Grella will have an edge on experience … all in all its a good loan for Grella because he will get to show if hes got the skills to be in a top flight league, even if its Scottland

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  6. by world footballing standards, he’s certainly not. Guy’s going to be 24 this week. How many 24 year olds are on loan that are actually worth a damn? Not many.

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  7. To be fair, in his time with Leeds, Grella hasn’t been bad, he’s just gotten stuck behind forward pairings that were scoring and the team was winning. There just has not been a lot of reason for the manager to change anything.

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  8. I thought when Beckford signed with Everton Grella would see more of the pitch. Hard to argue with him not playing, leeds has been scoring goals in bunches. Motherwell has a shortage of forwards so I hope this works out for him. I think he turns 24 this month.

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  9. Professionally, he certainly is, and building on that point I wholeheartedly agree with Lorenzo’s ideal route for maturation.

    Cervi is great example of a “young” professional that people seem to rate, yet, can’t even get first team action on a bottom feeder SPL club.

    Generalities would suggest he could be better served, likely, starting for an MLS side for a few years.

    Americans aren’t exactly producing prodigies left and right and keeping that in mind, 25 is still could be considered “young” for our professionals development.

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  10. To each his own. I am a big proponent of young americans starting in MLS, but I think for some it is better to go to europe.

    I think a lot of players like Kitchen, Nagbe, Bunbury, Najar… these kids have lots of goods and it’s more benifical for them to start getting 1st team playing time and maturing as a pro. Kids like Grella, Lichaj, Doyle may benefit more from training than just straight up 1st team playing action.

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  11. I believe Charlie rated he didn’t want to be loaned that he wanted to fight for a spot. I see his point staying with the team but I also see benefits to going on loan but without the guarantee of playing tome he might as well stay.

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  12. Dude should have signed with Toronto. His career is going in the wrong direction. Besides Bunbury and Agudelo would both have played more first team games at the end of this season then this Guy has in three years.

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  13. Good move for Grella. Now if he can just get through the rest of the season without breaking a leg.

    I’m surprised there has been no news about Charlie Davies. Sochaux publicly stated that they wanted to loan him out. There has to be some Ligue 2 clubs that would love to have him in their squad. Is he still that far behind? If he doesn’t start playing he won’t be on the Gold Cup roster.

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  14. He is an interesting prospect. I hope he does well, it can only help our player pool. Plus it would further the good reputation of American players throughout his stops in europe.

    I hope Davies gets a good loan as well.

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