Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By DAN KARELL
According to one of American soccer’s most prominent soccer pundits, Toronto FC is set to unveil one of the most shocking signings in club history.
While plenty of attention has been heaped on the chase to sign Jermain Defoe, ESPN’s Taylor Twellman said on Wednesday that U.S. Men’s National Team star Michael Bradley could be heading north of the border as well, stating on Twitter that Toronto FC is closing in on signing the AS Roma midfielder.
Ready for a blockbuster? I'm hearing @torontofc on the verge of signing Michael Bradley. Would be a huge coup for @MLS and @torontofc #USMNT
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) January 8, 2014
If true, it would not only mark the return of Bradley to Major League Soccer but would be a huge coup for TFC, which is likely adding Defoe this offseason as well. TFC’s starting lineup next season could include Michael Bradley, Dwayne De Rosario, Gilberto, and Defoe, among others, and would elevate them to playoff contenders immediately.
Nothing official has been announced by either Toronto FC or AS Roma, and it remains unclear whether the deal is a permanent transfer or a loan.
Bradley had been rumored to be leaving Roma this month to find a club that could guarantee more playing time ahead of the 2014 World Cup, where Bradley is a sure starter for the USMNT. Roma also just signed midfielder Radja Nainggolan, which gives the Italian club at least five options in central midfield.
In his second season at Roma, Bradley has scored once in 11 games, with only five starts. Bradley missed nearly two months of action after suffering an ankle sprain on international duty with the USMNT.
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What do you think of these developments? Stunned to see Bradley move to TFC? Do you believe that it’s the right move for Bradley? Would you rather see him move to England?
Share your thoughts below.
Bradley’s first hello to Klinsmann after this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COAvbDK2S5s
Absolutely terrible move. What could MB be thinking? Surely there are other teams in Serie A, or in Germany or France or England, who would be thrilled to have him. But Toronto? In a World Cup year? The very thought of it is mind-boggling.
This is a nightmare move for most US fans. Most could care less about him playing for Toronto FC. Hope he enjoys his payday because he will get lost in anonymity playing for MLS. Lets all hope this is a joke.
His relative anonymity will only be due to ignorance of majority of American soccer fans. They will wake up at 7am to watch him play on some internet stream, but will not watch him play on ESPN in prime time
Ugh. It’s bad for both he and the national team, but good for MLS and TFC. We need him playing against world class players and there are exactly zero of them in MLS. I’d rather him train at Roma and get his spot starts in a top tier league than get competitive minutes in a fourth tier league like MLS.
I think this works out great…for all. MB will come to Jan camp and then go into a pre-season….he will be in mid-year physical form when the MNT camp starts before Brazil. Otherwise he is at the end of his season…and though it may have been against better competition…his body would be pretty worn out.
Plus, you can’t help but be excited about what MLS could be becoming…let’s enjoy this possibility, rather than worry about it!
Hahahaha I got you guys. Should have seen the look on your faces. Okay okay it was just a joke to see how many people still care about me. But in all seriousness I’m leaving A. S. Roma for Chivas U. S. A. and so is Jozy. No one knows about the Jozy thing yet so keep that a secret. But we manage to show Chivas the 0.4% Hispanic heritage we have so L. A. HERE I COME!!
LOL !!
Bradley destroyed the mls all stars. Can’t wait to see him play week in and week out. he will raise the level of play in mls. By the way better to move to MLS than ride a bench or play for a garbage team knowing that you are a great player that should get an opportunity at playing at a top team but will probably never get a chance until the end of your career. Lets be serious he was a great player at Chievo then Roma and the best offers for his future were teams that were not only mediocre and unstable but teams that are perpetually ruining careers!
More likely is that the quality of teammates destroys him. Roma wrecked MLS all stars–not Bradley.
hahaha. good one. what is up with your inferiority complex? bradley is going to lead this team just as he deserves to be leading a team at this point in his career.
What the heck????? Bradley, your potato head has become a hard boiled eggs with nothing in the middle. I guess your dad is the real potato head. You need to stay in Europe right now not MLS… not even if it’s for a loan.
Right. Mr. “potato head” just earned a massive pay increase, more playing time, and a better quality of life for his family.
Rome >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Toronto. And it’s not close.
If only MB would keep riding the bench for Roma be would totally win the world cup!!1!!1! Stupid mls!
he is not basing his decision on how nice the cities are…
This is obviously great for the MLS. By retaining top players like Donovan and Gonzalez and bringing back USMNT leaders like Dempsey and Bradley in their prime it shows that the league is growing and becoming more legitimate.
This isn’t great for the USMNT. Bradley could have definitely found consistent playing time in a league better than the MLS. Sure he will play consistently, but when you are surrounded by less talented you wont develop at the same rate.
Being that I am bigger USMNT fan than MLS fan I am disappointed by this move. I thought Bradley had more ambition than this.
Part of me wonders whether this might be the first a number of USMNT player pool players making moves back home in January. If it is, then it may not be a disaster after all, and in fact, may be a net positive.
While MLS still lags behind Europe in speed of play, player technical skill, and tactics, the gap appears smaller than it was years ago. If multiple teams can add a significant number of fringe USMNT players who aren’t getting playing time in Europe (e.g. Edu, Parkhust, Onyewu) to the collection of MLS players who are USMNT first 23-quality and already in the league (Dempsey, Donovan, Besler, Gonzalez, E. Johnson, Zusi, Beckerman, Goodson) and now Bradley (and good-but-not-star foreign players like Defoe), they could actually create a pretty good environment for a World Cup year after all. MLS isn’t a huge league size-wise (at least in comparison to other American sports leagues) so the addition of a decent number of players could easily boost the quality of the league overall. And if there are a couple dozen USMNT player-pool players in the same league competing for World Cup roster spots, knowing that every few nights they will get to go up against guys who may be just ahead of or behind them on the depth chart, that will be sufficient motivation for those players to push themselves in training and in games. Every game would essentially be USMNT audition. While the quality of play would be lower than Europe, that might be mitigated by players logging fewer miles travel-wise (thanks, unbalanced schedule) and by the chance for players to develop familiarity with eachother (either by being on the same team or seeing eachother up-close repeatedly over the course of several league games).
The question to me is whether MLS will be able to add a critical mass of players that would make this scenario a reality. If they fail to do so, then yes, Bradley’s move is a bad one. But if this is just the first of many signings of American players, maybe this will be the surprise twist to our World Cup preparation that leads to positive results.
This move would have been just as retarded if BOB Bradley were the one making it. Unreal.
MLS, not Toronto FC, is paying the $7 million transfer fee.
not surprised by this. MLS gonna be MLS
What is the matter with all of you bed wetters? Do you want a domestic league that can be at least discussed with others? Well, this is how you do it- you get the best players you can. Don’t kid yourselves, there are tons of Euro starters that would jump to the US in a heartbeat if they could get paid. Time to become a buying league, not just a selling league. It’s a damn shame MLS doesn’t get more respect from the home fans…get on board and support our league or get the hell out of the way!
you cannot have a quality side when you give two players a combined $14 million and the other 23 players a combined $3 million.
It cannot be done.
Tell you what, give me that $17 million – screw that- give me $8 million and I could field a much better side in MLS than the current wage structure allows.
This is what happens though when you have NFL guys running a soccer league. They just don’t get it.
Just for clarification’s sake, the only league in the world that is not a selling league is the EPL.
The only time in recent memory that I can remember them selling a top class player to go on to bigger and better things, and this is a big one, was Christiano Ronaldo. I’m not sure if Xabi Alonso fits that description.
Being a selling league is hardly a bad thing.
Rosicky? Bale?
Mr.chin,
How many La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Lige 1 players moved to the EPL at the beginning of this season?
How many went the other way, voluntarily?
I think you will find the majority went to England.
Stay in Europe and compete, Michael!!
At 1/4 or 1/5 the salary? Easy for you to say.
I’m pretty distraught about this. Not necessarily for the same reasons as others – I think Bradley will be fine. He’s not going to forget how to play soccer. Let’s remember that our greatest player of all time has basically spent his entire career in MLS. It’s also great for the league.
But not having our top players in Europe makes things tougher for Americans generally. As much as I despise Eurosnobbery, what the world thinks of American soccer players has a direct effect on the opportunities that American players will receive to play at high levels in Europe. The more guys we have playing at high levels in Europe, the more the bias against Americans will erode. The more top Americans go back to MLS when they can still play at a high level, the more the bias against Americans is reinforced. It will have a negative (perhaps slight in isolation, but still negative) effect on opportunities for other Americans in Europe in the future. Even if that bias is slowly eroding anyway, this still doesn’t help the process.
Don’t worry, we still have Jozy tearing it up…. oh wait.
You are being a little overly pessimistic.
The genie is out of the bottle.
European clubs now know that good, CHEAP players are available here. There is no turning back. Unless American kids start turning out to be crappier.
Their problem will be what to do when and if MLS ever decides to pay a living wage to their average American player. You know so they can afford to buy a car or eat out at any place other than Micky D’s?
Yes, but your comment highlights the problem. Americans are regarded as cheap. Their prices are deflated because of the bias. Teams aren’t willing to spend as much for an American as a European or a South American, all other things being equal. And that means that at the margins, there are some worthy Americans that European clubs aren’t willing to pay for at all.
how did Toronto FC land both Defoe and Bradley anyway? Doesn’t the MLS have some kind of allocation lottery DP draft or whatever nonsense they call it?
Nope. Returning USMNT players are not subject to the allocation if they are signing DP contracts.
No such thing as a DP allocation. Each team has 3 DP slots, they do what they will with them.
so Bradley could have signed with any MLS team? Even the Galaxy?
Gals have all 3 slots used though.
Theoretically, yes, but as Pause points out, the Galaxy already have all 3 DPs filled (Omar, LD, and Robbie).
Unless they unloaded one of those guys or renegotiated their contracts, the salary cap for non-DP players applies, thereby hamstringing the Galaxy’s efforts to sign a guy like Bradley.
No weighted lottery if you use a DP Slot.
MLS doesn’t know how to run a soccer league. You don’t give 3 players on your club huge wages and then the rest of the squad a combined $2million.
MLS is doing this because they think it will increase TV ratings. If bringing in Beckham, Henry, Keane, Dempsey and keeping Donovan hasn’t increased TV ratings, then why would bringing in Bradley do so?
This is great for Bradley because of the contract and kinda cool for MLS fans who already watch the league. But its not going to move the needle at all. And in fact it harms the league because there is a huge opportunity cost. Those millions should be going to fielding a higher quality balanced roster, not just one player who will not change the quality much.
If you think the DP system hasn’t changed the quality much, you haven’t been watching.
LA became a “destination” location not just for Beckham/Donovan/Keane but also because there was sufficient quality there a lot of other players with very good quality were willing to play with those guys. $200K buys you a very good South American soccer player. LA was able to bring in a ton of very solid players in the $150,000-$300,000 range who were looking to play with a good team and weren’t necessarily in demand in Europe…guys who were not necessarily interested in playing with, say, Chivas, DC United, or (ahem) Toronto.
Now TFC can say…”hey, we’ve got Defoe and Michael Bradley”, and plenty of guys in that range, who wouldn’t have touched TFC with a ten-foot pole before, are going to listen.
You can build good teams in a variety of fashions, but players are attracted to stability, dollars…and fan support. LA Galaxy has its act together, has for years. Seattle is getting to be a destination for the same reason. Portland isn’t splashing huge dollars (yet) but Caleb Porter’s built a nice system there is just one year and he’s getting some good-to-decent players to turn their heads his way. Jason Kreis was able to get solid players at RSL – and keep them, for the most part – and Sporting KC has built something very good, and you see how it attracted guys like Benny Feilhaber there. The Red Bulls have been willing to splash the cash for years and now seemingly have a manager who can put a consistent team on the field…and their attendance and results are way up this past year.
Now TFC is throwing their hat into the ring. When NYCFC and Miami come into the league, they’re not going to come in cheap either – they’re going to be throwing cash around and making big signings too. Orlando City is probably going to take an approach more like Sporting KC’s but I seriously doubt they’re going to come in amateurishly.
I agree there’s still a ton of work to be done on the bottom levels (Chivas USA is a problem that needed fixing five years ago and it’s even worse today) but there’s little doubt the quality of the league is headed straight up. It’ll jump even more precipitously as the academies start churning out players, the “homegrown” system starts replacing the MLS Superdraft as the preferred method of obtaining young players, and lower divisions like USL Pro become a means for developing club’s young players.
By Russia 2018, MLS will probably have 26-28 teams, and will probably be punching evenly with the Mexican League in CONCACAF Champions League…and incidentally, sending MLS teams to the Club World Cup.
This has to be a joke. TFC?? Shoulda went to the Metros and let Petke use the 3rd DP slot on him.
Now everyone can turn off the MB90 hype machine and turn on the Bacon hype machine. AJ is still in Europe and right now looks like he is going to have to carry the torch for USMNT there.
Who here is glad they didn’t drop some serious coin on a Bradley Roma jersey? (Even though those jerseys are pretty sweet.)
WHAT????????
Hilarious how some people think that the potential difference in Bradley’s play actually means something at the WC. Realistically, the difference between us advancing, or not, will be greater than the difference between Bradley playing some for Roma or all the time for TFC. Short term vision never creates long term success. Good on MLS if they bring in Defoe and MB at the same time. My guess is that they are trying to bring in as much star power as possible ahead of the next round of TV contract talks. As for this being TFC? Well they won’t be the same TFC, will they?
How dare you be rational?! This is an SBI conversation.
Confirmed Done Deal by NBC Sports! Unreal. What a signing by MLS. Leiweke gets his man (as he always did for the Galaxy).
I miss Leiweke.
Totally agree. Sigh. 🙂
Like most everyone else here, I wasn’t so pumped on this trade for the same reasons folks have already said. Thinking about it more, I’m actually really excited.
The only way for MLS to ever get better is to bring in quality players. I know we’re all collectively still looking for that first american breakout world star. Unfortunately we’re just not their yet.
10-15 years ago we had a generation that made headway by being the first Americans to break into the top leagues in Europe (Harkes, Wynalda, Keller, McBride, Reyna, etc.)
Now we have a generation of players who despite having the ability to go “make it” in Europe are opting to remain/return to MLS.
I’m actually really proud of these guys (Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley) for that decision regardless of the financial motivations.
Plus I haven’t really had an MLS team since I lived in KC. Now I look forward to watching more Galaxy, Sounders, and Toronto games.
All of this business gets me really excited about the future of our league.
And there ya go!
it’s actually bad for the league. It will do nothing to move the needle as far as TV ratings. And it will do very little to raise the quality.
If you want to raise the quality of MLS you get rid of this NFL style salary cap and replace it with something that gives clubs more flexibility and something that is more compatible with the sport of soccer.
Toronto FC has the revenues to spend 13mil on two players. Take that 13 mil and spread it around the team and you have a quality side that people will want to watch on TV. But MLS doesn’t get it because they are run by NFL guys who don’t understand the sport of soccer.
I hear ya Bob.
Reality of it is though, is that we’re still a far ways away from a salary cap. The dp system is what we got for the time being. As for tv ratings – we can agree to disagree. I for one will be watching that many more MLS games just to keep tabs on duece, donovan and bradley.
Shoot I live in Montaana and would be willing to drive ten hours to see Seattle vs Toronto (as long as dempsey and bradley are both playing).
It’s all got a start somewhere and I think this is a step in the right direction.
I actually think that the salary ca is a very good idea because it promotes parity and promotes the dispersion of talent. The issue the quality of average players is not high enough. What they should do is (1) raise the salary cap to $5 million or so for the 1st team players (any players on the USL squad for development do not count) and (2) require that a certain percentage (e.g 20/25% ) match of your total salary spend should be spent on development. Therefore, if you have 10 million on annual salary, you have to send $2-2.5million on youth development etc. I think this will do more to raise quality in a few years.
Well considering the league was only founded in 1996 and it will soon have 24 teams, higher per game attendance than the NHL and NBA and increasing TV revenues, I’d say the people running it know what they’re doing.
Can someone explain to me how one player could/can make the entire league better?
That argument doesn’t seem to hold any water. One player can hardly make A TEAM better, unless you are the best of the best in the sport, so how does the argument go that Bradley will make the league better.
Seems like bogus reasoning to me.
I’m just one person but when Toronto FC comes to town, thats something I’d go see.
Talk to Tim Leiweke, TFC’s big guy.
He brought Beckham to LA and seems to be a big believer in the big name signing.
I’d say the Beckham thing worked out pretty well, though this would not be on that level.
Still, make no mistake, MB30-20 is a big name here.
The man I am waiting to hear from is JK .
As far as I can tell, only soccer fans know who MB90 is, not the average Joe Six Pack who is watching football (American style) or basketball.
Becks was one of the most famous footballers of all time and a major player in the gossip world, mainly do to his wife and good looks. Even when he came over, most Americans knew little of him.
I too would argue that his stink in the MLS was successful but comparing the two is naive. Bradley won’t make much of a difference to the league as a whole nor will those who don’t all ready care for the game be drawn in because of him.
I bet most Americans don’t even know there is a World Cup this year.
stint* not stink…haha
but if you’re going to stink, then stink like Beckham.
“I bet most Americans don’t even know there is a World Cup this year”
There are about 300 million Americans. Even if most of them , say 200 million, don’t know about the World Cup that still leaves a lot of Americans who do.
I think you’re wrong about most Americans not knowing there’s a world cup. While soccer as a sport has a ways to go, the world cup is a pretty mainstream event.
In 2010, my office put the US games on a big screen in a conference room and let everyone watch it because they knew everyone would be watching it at their desks anyway.
I am sure that is true.
However, I doubt that most Americans know about the World Cup until they very last moment, simply because ESPN CANNOT ignore it.
Just ask around. I doubt five strangers in the street know it’s happening.
People are forgetting another thing. Apparently Bradley’s salary at Roma was 800,000 euros ($1.1 million). I guess all you eurosnobs expect him to turn down a chance to make six times that much?
That was last yr it’s at 1 mil euros now, maybe more. It’s supposed to increase every yr he is under contract. Buy yes, no way roma should match it.
Ok so even if he’s making $1.5m, he’s going to be making 4 times that at least. I think this should make it pretty obvious why he’s leaving. I guess the people disgusted by this transfer turn down 400% raises at work too right?
Looking at it from the perspective of MLS, this is great. People seem to forget that in order for MLS to improve the league needs to sign better players. For some reason, certain people want those better players not to include Americans. I don’t understand why. While it may be helpful to play some time in Europe, I think Landon has proved you can become an excellent player in MLS. I’m all for MLS signing the best players possible, both American and foreign.
MLS needs to either add more Dps or increase cap
Fine when the better players include Americans, but when its ones who have such potential to rise to very high levels in Europe, its disappointing not to have that fulfilled. Yes LD has been successful, but maybe he would have been even better had more Americans paved a better path for him in the EU.
“I think Landon has proved you can become an excellent player in MLS.”
No, he has not. He proved HE could do it. But Landon might well have been an exceptional soccer player not matter where he came from or where he played.
It’s fascinating how Landon’s singular, exceptional excellence is so taken for granted by people like you. Maybe you’ll appreciate him when he is finally gone.
Name me all the other US soccer players at or near his level of excellence to come out of Ontario, CA in the 80’s?
Why would it be limited to Ontario, CA? Landon is awesome and I for one certainly do appreciate him and the USMNT will find him impossible to replace as things stand. My point was if a player has the ability, he can become a top player without spending extended periods in Europe, as Landon has demonstrated. That’s all, calm down.
Mr. arm,
You really do not understand Donovan’s exceptional nature do you? Remember the old saying that the exception proves the rule?
Name me another American player with Landon’s ability who did not spend “extended periods in Europe”and has accomplished as much as he has? Who else has demonstrated that “he can become a top player without spending extended periods in Europe”?
And keepers don’t count.
Because he was a child prodigy and was so much better than any other American, the USMNT became LD’s personal playground. So he always had access to the best that America had to offer at the time in soccer terms. Arena famously was quoted as saying the problem with LD was where to play him since he played every position well. LD, Reyna and JOB are the only non keeper Americans I have seen who have had near dominant performances at the World Cup and Donovan did so at 2 out of 3 World Cups.
What you and most everyone miss about him is that he is and always has been really, a USMNT player first, last and always.
The club he happens to play for is there to keep him in shape for the USMNT and the World Cup.
Landon himself has said himself that growing up he always believed the most important thing in the soccer world was the World Cup. He arranged his career so that performing well in the World Cup was priority #1.
Mikey and Deuce move to MLS to get PT to prep for the World Cup? BFD. LD did that almost 14 years ago when he forced a loan back to the Quakes and never left.
Here is what you miss about LD’s exceptionalism. Mikey and Duece had to hone themselves to a sharp point in Europe to get to the level where they can do this and still be considered for the USMNT World Cup team.
Landon could just turn it on and off w/o the benefit of the consistently higher level of coaching, training and competition that those two needed to get the best out of them.
In other words, Landon is that rarest of things a “natural”. And you think that is an easily repeated thing. How arrogant.
I don’t believe he would have gotten better moving to Europe because it’s clear now that was very unlikely to be happy away from home. And an unhappy Donovan is not a good Donovan. The man is a true Diva but the thing about true Divas is they can behave that way because they produce. Perhaps if he had met Moyes or even SAF earlier, who knows, but he did not and it’s a shame because I can’t imagine how much greater he could have been with the benefit of the proper situation.
Maybe he might have been spoken of as one of the best players ever instead of just the best American player ever. He’ll always be a B+ instead of the A he might have been. But B+ is still pretty damn good.
So how could a B+ player be so good in a World Cup full of A players? Because it’s a Cup tournament, seven games at most if you make the final. And as Cup competitions all over the world have shown, a well organized, disciplined, fit and hungry underdog can often do well.
If you are a talented American teenager now the opportunities to become a high level player are much, much better than when Landon was growing up. However if you think this “system” is likely to churn out a bunch of LD’s or even one more, w/o any serious European component, I see little evidence of that. American players are getting better all the time but LD is one of a kind.
Three things here:
1) I agree that MLS has to add DPs or improve the salary CAP until or in conjunction with better youth player and junior player development – that will only increase the product on the field
2) While everyone wants to increase the quality of the product on the field, this is not down by having 2/3 high-priced DPs on the field or each team. As with most things, the outliers are just that…outliers. You have to increase the quality of the middle-class player. Looking at the median player (or in statistics median or any group) will tell you most of what you need to know about the quality of the product. Adding 2/3 DPs is simply applying wallpaper over the cracks. If I were the MLS, I would raise the salary cap by 2 million which help address this instead of granting big money DPs ($5.5-6.5 million/year). Additionally, whatever your told salary cap & D spend is, require that you must match a certain percentage (e.g 25%) on youth development.
3) I agree Landon is an excellent player, but he is an exception. I would put some serious money that he would have been a better player had he (1) played against better competition (2) with better players and (3) better technical and coaching staff over the previous 10 years. I really do not see how one cannot agree with that. For the good of the USMNT, I want our elite of the elite in those environments. That is why it is disappointing that MB90 is back. Don’t you think that Chievo, who is sitting in 15th would not want him back. The problem is that AS Roma is demanding a lot.
This is a wonderful move because of the hysterical posts it will generate on SBI and other forums.
If it happens then it is unlikely to have any negative effects on MB90’s WC performance. He’ll get the PT he feels he needs. And he should know, based on his Aston Villa experience. He’s not going to become dramatically better even if he starts the next five months at Roma or another “big “ club.
Unfortunately , while Serie A helped make him more consistent, if he is rotting on the bench at Roma then he could lose that edge, mentally and physically, in the next four or five months and have a sub par WC. Then we will be calling him MB30-20.
MLS is step down but it beats inactivity and the resultant loss of form and confidence. And it has more certainty of playing time than moving to Sunderland or Stoke. And I don’t think AZ or Stabaek can afford him. Plus he is fluent in Canadian.
And if he has a good World Cup, well, I hope he has an “out” clause in his contract.
What this really tells you is that it seems like everyone in the US player pool is all in and is taking this WC about as seriously as a heart attack.
Fascinating.
If you don’t like the move to MLS why would a move to Stabaek or AZ be any better?
I did not say I did not like Mikey moving to MLS.
I said it would be a step down, which refers to the quality of the opposition he would face and the quality of his teamates. Dero is not to be confused with DDR.
I like the move in the sense that it should generate lots of controversy.
Mikey is a big boy and he knows better than I do what his career priorities are. He certainly knows more about the difference between playing in MLS and Europe than most so called experts ( such as Taylor, Alexi, Eric and the rest).
And after the World Cup I don’t care what Mikey does. If he wants to visit Cambodia, I’m fine with that. LD will tell him where the best spots are.
I did not say moving to AZ or Stabaek would be better or worse.
I said they probably couldn’t afford him.
Those clubs were mentioned because AZ knows Americans can be useful and AJ might be a good guy to team up with MB30-20.
And Stabaek was mentioned because the manager there is ambitious and could use a reliable midfielder that he trusts. But again I doubt they can pay his wages.
You could throw in Nuremburg who are in relegation trouble, have Chandler and are managed by a guy who knows MB30-20 very well. He’d probably make him MB90 again.
At all three clubs Mikey would probably get his #1 priority, regular playing time.
As far as I’m concerned the end result of all this should be a net positive for the USMNT WC effort, which is all I care about. Roma and MLS are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.
GW: these are two of your more interesting and intelligent comments in recent weeks. Nice work.
Can’t say I didn’t post that Bradley was going to leave as soon as Roma made a bid for Nainggolan almost 2 weeks ago while everybody was saying that there was no difference between him and the rest of Roma’s midfield. In reality as a Roma fan, he is expendable. He’s a model professional but nothing more than a competent defensive midfielder who often gets caught out of position, and offers little more offensively than simple sideways and backwards passes (goal against Udinese notwithstanding).
That being said MLS is a surprise. Apparently an 8 mil Euro offer and big contract for Bradley from Toronto. Roma will never be able to match that. However, I’ve still been reading Wolfsburg in the mix so who knows anything can happen.
This is horrible move for the US Soccer in general. It may be great for Bradley and his family, on a personal level if what I am hearing is true ($6.5 mill/yr & guaranteed playing time). My reasoning is while you want to improve the technical, tactical and speed of play in your league, this is not the way to do it. It does not matter how good the 3 designated players are at a club as much as it matters how good the other 8-12 players are as well as the strength of the opposition.
The issue is the MLS does not develop enough high quality technical and tactical players to bring up through system nor does MLS not pay enough to attract a significant number of high quality players on each team (the clubs that do have the money are restrained and only spend it on 3 designated players). Given that situation, why would you want your key players competing against sub-par players with sub-par teammates just prior to the World Cup.
This is a MISTAKE! This is coming from a HUGE MLS fan. This is not Dempsey who is done improving and is on the other side. Bradley has not hit his peak yet.
The idea is to improve the league by signing better players. You’re right that eventually all of the players need to be better, not just three per team but this is a start. If MLS can get some more TV dollars coming in (and moves like this certainly help) then eventually the salary cap can increase and more money can be spent on non-DP players. It takes time but this is a great step forward for the league.
We don’t know all the details but on the surface this seems like a bad move. I think the MLS i s greatly improved but how would Sporting KC fair in Serie A? We are an improving country in the sport but until we have several players at the top levels I don’t think anyone I will be satisfied…and the MLS is not close to that top level.
I was kind of surprised to look back and see the 2010 US squad only had 4 MLS players and only 2 started in the opener against England.
Why were you surprised?
The best American players have always tended to try their luck abroad. Not to mention they are also interested in being able to afford luxuries like clean clothes, rent, and decent food.
What would be more telling of the importance of MLS would be how many of the 2010 squad had serious MLS roots.
I see 6 out of 23, Dolo, Spector, Demerit, Gooch, Benny and JF Torres being the only guys that I’m fairly certain had no serious MLS roots, at that time. That is about 27 percent; call it about a quarter of the team.
2010 USMNT WC SQUAD
Tim Howard, Jonathan Spector, Carlos Bocanegra (c),Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu
Steve Cherundolo,DaMarcus Beasley,Clint Dempsey,Herculez Gomez,Landon Donovan
Stuart Holden,Jonathan Bornstein,Ricardo Clark,Edson Buddle,Jay DeMerit,José Francisco Torres,Jozy Altidore,Brad Guzan,Maurice Edu,Robbie Findley,Clarence Goodson,Benny Feilhaber,Marcus Hahnemann
IanDarkeESPN Ian Darke
RT @RaeComm: Lex Luther hits Toronto, eh?
___________________
Ian Darke wins.
So the best of the “Yanks Abroad” now is……..
Freddy Adu
Yes, I went there.
HIs contract just ran out, I believe. So he technically is not eligible until he signs for Stabaek.
Does this mean the Toronto mayor will be at the TFC matches?
LOL…I truly, TRULY hope so.
This is awful. Now we (US) have 0 actual American players playing in Europe for decent teams. First Dempsey bolts for money and mediocrity and now the most high profile American player in Europe runs to Toronto?! Why not go back to the Bundesliga or try to land at a mid-table EPL club? This is even more depressing than Dempsey because Bradley’s just entering his prime 🙁
TFC is willing to pay what Bradley is worth. Roma wasn’t.
…or go on loan to mid-level Italian club (CHIEVO)
it would be hard to turn down $6.5 million a year vs riding the pine in Europe… and Roma couldn’t get a higher transfer fee from anyone else…really a no brainer on both parts…
so I’m guessing a press conference in Toronto later this week followed by him reporting to the USMNT January Camp is the best course of action…
Like I said ( below), I think it’s great for him personally, but horrible for him professionally as well as horrible for US soccer
Additionally, I was told years ago, that I should not always let money guide my choices. I think that he could have gone a loan to someplace in Serie A to get playing time. Then Roma could have shopped him in the Summer when more teams are spending
Why isn’t DCU getting dibs on this?
Allocation does not apply to DPs
Look at almost every interview, the difference between the MLS and the top leagues in Europe is “speed of play”. And what does everyone say is the difference between club and international play? The “speed of play”. This is horrible news for the USMNT. Having all your top players play in the same league is not good, see England. (Grant it, having your entire team play for Braca and Real Madrid seems to work out fine.)
Italy-2006, entire team played in Italy as well
It does not matter if your entire team is playing in the same league. It matters how good the league is and how good your players are.
Bad for MB, but even worse for MLS.
The league does not need a few players with massively expensive salaries on teams where other starters make only $50k/yr. The league needs to bring in more money, and I’m not convinced that bringing in American stars (Deuce, MB) will really garner long-term interest from more North American viewers, nor will it encourage more viewers from other countries to tune in.
In economic terms: the MLS needs a middle class.
could not have said it better.
And the only way they get to that point is to up TV ratings and increase the salary cap. The best way to do that is to sign the best players to raise the leagues profile.
Matt: I disagree. For the price of one very expensive Bradley, a team could afford a couple very solid players—DP-level players (e.g., Osvaldo Alonso). Who wants to watch a few great players like Bradley surrounded by mediocre players?
Before you answer: “me!” remember that this isn’t about winning over American soccer fans (because they are already won over). It is about winning *new* fans.
I can bet you that no more than 30% of people who consider themselves American soccer fans also consider themselves MLS fans. So, it’s a huge battle to win over 70%+ of the American soccer fans
Doug McIntyre of ESPN on twitter –
Source tells me that Michael Bradley to @torontofc is a done deal. Just, Wow.
Its dempsey all over again
worse
The writing was on the wall with the Nainggolan move by Roma.
Might be the best way to put it: “The writing was on the wall”.
All you whinging tits will be the first in line to buy tix when TFC comes to town.
Obviously if this comes to pass, Bradley was not happy in Rome, or thought that it wasn’t working out, or that the Toronto deal will make him wealthier. Bradley will do what’s best for his own personal goals.
Seems to me the only people this hurts are eurosnobs.
and our world cup hopes
I fail to see how it’s really connected
Really?
So you really think Bradley is going to play worse at the World Cup because he plays for Toronto now instead of Roma? How does that work? He actually gets worse at soccer because he isn’t in Europe any more? Do you really believe that?
He doesn’t “get worse” overall, but his form will likely not be as sharp.
Competing day in and day out with Serie A players for playing time will cause you to push yourself and your ability significantly more than playing against someone who you know is below you in the pecking order.
MB will still play well. He’s a good soccer player, period. But it is possible that he won’t be at his best.
Sad, but true.
Sorry, don’t really buy that.
Agree to disagree. At least he’s American (not German-American), right Slow?
(I say in jest)
I won’t believe this till I see him in a Toronto uniform. This would be a career killer for Bradley, he
was doing well with Roma and regardless of the money Toronto’s offering this just wouldn’t be a good move. On another note if this does happen then I guarantee we lose every game at the World Cup. USMNT players should push themselves to play at the highest level and MLS is certainly not the highest level
Believe it. It’s done.
I disagree, however, that this changes our chances at the WC. Of the remaining 4-5 months before the WC, he will spend a good amount of time with the USMNT, where the level is adequately high. In the long run, however, this does not bode well for MB’s development.
This reporting is a little different on “tuttomercatoweb.com” web site which is Italy’s leading transfer news site.
All it stated was that Toronto FC were allowed to make an offer for Bradley, but only if it’s a legitimate offer of around 8 million Euros. They are given Bradley the green light to make his decision.
Up to this point Roma was adamant in stating that Bradley “was not for sale whatsoever”.
So my guess would be that Toronto FC must have made or plan to make a ridiculous money offer for him.
The key thing many here are missing is Bradley PLAYING what good does staying in Europe do for the world cup if he’s on the bench. This move is guaranteed playinf time. We dont need him to be tired, we need him in form confident and ready. I cant wait hope this deal is real.
Oh Canada!
And I thought DC was improving!
This has to be the worse possible soccer/football news of the New Year.
Bradley is at his peak, or moving into it. No way he takes this huge step backwards. Even a lower end BPL team would be better than back in the MLS.
Remember when Sunderland was calling his name. That sounds SO MUCH BETTER than the MLS.
Please, for the love of God, don’t do this if it’s true Mikey! You are better than the MLS.
People were really excited the last time bradley joined a BPL team too. How’d that pan out?
He didn’t go to “join”. He wasn’t signed. They were looking at him as a player. It didn’t work. Since then, he has proven everyone wrong.
Stop with the BS man. Bradley could easily play in a top league for mid level team.
Why do so many people on here actively root against Americans doing well in European leagues. What is that all about?
THANK YOU!!!
You are welcome! 🙂
lol okay man.
The fact is MB went to aston villa for four months and made 3 league appearances. That’s what happened.
It’s possible that during that time he was the best center midfielder on the team, but for whatever reason (incompetent management, anti-american bias, training issues) he didn’t play.
If something has happened once, it seems really naive to believe it can’t POSSIBLY happen again. There are factors outside of a player’s control that affect his career.
So he could take his chances with another team like villa (midtable in a top league)… or he could be a lock for playing time at TFC in the three months leading up to brazil.