photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
Carlos Bocanegra has found a new club to call home for the upcoming season, and it is one that is currently in Spain's second division.
Bocanegra has signed with Racing Santander on a season-long loan from Rangers, the Spanish club announced on its webstie on Friday. Racing Santander will be the sixth club the 33-year-old Bocanegra has played for in his career, but it will be the first one that is based in Spain.
The deal, which came hours before the summer transfer window closed, means all three Americans who were on Rangers last season have secured moves elsewhere after the historic club went through a financial crisis that resulted in it getting demoted to the fourth tier in Scottish soccer. The U.S. men's national team captain's former Rangers teammates, Alejandro Bedoya and Maurice Edu, moved to Helsingborgs IF and Stoke City, respectively.
The move should help keep Bocanegra in the U.S. team picture as they continue in their qualifying efforts for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, something which had come in question due to him plying his trade with Rangers in the lower depths of Scottish soccer.
Racing, which have fallen on their own hard times financially, are currently last in the standings in the Seguna Division after two rounds of matches.
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What do you make of this development? Think Bocanegra will do well with Racing Santander? Wishing he would have moved to a bigger club?
Share your thoughts below.
SAN STOP DA HATE. Do not use the word d*****
If you don’t like the league comparisons, stop reading. Better yet, read a book.
Better still go run laps around the block.
HATE has been stopped!
Take a step back and try to put this into perspective. Racing Santander has just been relegated, they have the ability to pick up a recognized international defender who is a proven leader (Captain of his country) with multiple World Cups and has played against EVERY major national side out there (Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain,Italy, Netherlands, England) so he is not going to be overwhelmed by the play of the second division of Spain; he can come in and provide some veteran leadership and stabilize your defense as you try to go back up. They get back up and now we are talking about how the US has two defenders playing in La Liga – a league which is more akin to the style of play that Klinsman is trying to institute than that of England. Maybe this is how Boca analyzed this. Plus who knows if this was vetted with Klinsmann ahead of time.
New England or Chicago could have really used this guy.
Loosen the purse strings, Don!