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Bradley completes move to Chievo

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Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

Michael Bradley is officially out of team limbo.

According to Bradley's agent, Ron Waxman, the 24-year-old U.S. international midfielder has completed his move from Borussia Monchengladbach to Chievo Verona, ending a frustrating spell on the sidelines and beginning a new chapter in his club career. Terms of the transfer were not disclosed.

Bradley had fallen out of favor at Monchengladbach last season, during which he was sent on loan to Aston Villa. Upon his return, manager Lucien Favre made it clear that he was not in the team's plans going forward, further necessitating a transfer despite him having one more year on his contract with the Bundesliga club.

What do you think of this development? How do you think Bradley will fare in Serie A?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think it has to be stated that MB simply wasn’t able leave a mark in Bundesliga. He got decent playing time in the beginning, but had some distrastrous defensive plays. Fleeing a club in distress in winter was also rather not well taken. All the best for him in Verona but I am not too optimistic…

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  2. With all due respect, Dennis, I think the the last match against Mexico showed quite clearly that MB is better suited for a defensive role than an offensive role. Not to say that he is not capable of the occasional attacking foray, but that should not be his primary role. We have better offensive midfielders than MB and, thankfully, we now have a coach that will utilize them.

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  3. I found a few stories in Italian and used online translation tools. Several of them say it is a two-year contract with the club having an option for a third year.

    http://www.larena.it/stories/556_chievo/283335_il_chievo_a_stelle_e_striscegran_colpo_c_bradley/

    This article says the transfer fee was 2 million euros. The online translation makes it appear as if Bradley is paying the fee himself, which, I assume, comes from a bad online translation. Anyone out there read Italian? Anyway, here is the link to the 2 million citiation.

    http://www.newnotizie.it/2011/08/30/calciomercato-chievo-rinaudo-e-bradley-piu-vicini-caracciolo-tentato-da-genoa-e-samp/

    I think Italy would be a great place to play soccer. I do no not understand all the snide comments here about Italian soccer. A history of great players and great teams in a nation that worships the game. The Italian national team has never lost to the mighty Germans in a World Cup knock-out match. If you want to see some high drama, go to U-tube and search “Germany Italy WC2006,” and you will see the epic semi-final match by the Klinsmann coached German team against Italy in front of 80,000 screaming fans in Dortmund. One of the videos shows Italy’s winning goal in the 119th minute–incredible stuff (if you can stand the awful play-by-play from the announcers). My dream is to see the USA one day beat Germany in a World Cup knock-out round game.

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  4. Trite but true. People can say that Serie A is declining: Bahumbug! They just lost the highest paid player in the world (Eto, NOW is the highest paid and such a lethal striker). They have won Champions a couple of times in the last 5 years. .. . and c’mon, even though I don’t like their football culture, they are passionate about the game.

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  5. It’s an upward move, IMO, because it represents a different style of play, and will force MB to adapt, and thus learn, new techniques and modes of thinking.

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  6. Yes, there’s a lack of consistent, quick thinking on MB’s part. He’s showed flashes of midfield brilliance, and equally mediocre play as well. Hell, we’ve all seen him play so much, lol, which is a little ridiculous. The best midfielder we have, and the one to emulate in MB’s case, is Stuart Holden.

    I want to be optimistic for MB here. . . he’s a baller when he’s on, and he has the passion. HE NEEDS TO GET BETTER.

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  7. I’m concerned of this as well. There’s probably no single country where American footballers have the least respect.

    I think MB is a good player, but I do worry that he won’t get PT on this midlevel Serie A team.

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  8. Agreed 100% with your statement regarding the quandry we’ve seen USNT players in (Gooch at AC MIlan, Jozy at Villareal, Adu at Benfiica – although he seemed to do well there other than not playing).

    I say go mid-table and get playing time.

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  9. Vacek has gotten all of one international cap. He’s good, not great. Bradley’s probably not a lot worse or better than him. Can’t imagine the Finnish kid is better than either one of them, although I could be wrong, but Finland’s not exactly brimming with lots of soccer talent.

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  10. Congrats to Michael. It will be a new experience for him and he should continue to grow. At only 24, he has several prime years ahead of him. I hope they ask him to be more involved in getting forward rather than the more or less 100% destroyer role he played for ‘gladbach. He showed in Holland and for the USMNT that he can score goals if he is put in a role that allows it. (His skills running at defenders with the ball could use some work though.)

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  11. I think you meant any league in the world. Diving is prevelent in all leagues, MLS included.

    That said I think that Garber has done a good job instructing the refs to be less lenient with the attacking players when calling fouls.

    As a DC united fan I have seen this first hand. Charlie likes to draw fouls and would earn free kicks on just minor contact by going to the ground.

    In the past five weeks either something has changed (possibly nothing has changed just different refs) because Charlie has continued to try and draw fouls on minor contact and he has not drawn any of them.

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  12. Glad the Jersey Shore cast didn’t completely kill the chances of a Garden State native being signed by an Italian club!! Good luck MB!

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