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Rapid Vienna confirms Boyd transfer to RB Leipzig

Terrence Boyd

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

Terrence Boyd is now officially moving back home to Germany.

After two strong seasons with Rapid Vienna, the club announced that the U.S. Men’s National Team forward has left the club’s training camp and is in the process of completing a transfer to recently promoted 2. Bundesliga side, RB Leipzig. Although the transfer amount wasn’t disclosed, the a statement on Rapid’s website said that they’ve “agreed a deal in principle” with RB Leipzig and that the Rapid board of directors have signed off on the deal.

A report last Saturday in German publication BILD stated that a fee of €1.5 million had been discussed between Rapid and RB Leipzig. Leipzig have yet to officially announce the signing, though a formal announcement is expected in the coming days.

“Terrence has recently greatly improved and scored lots of goals, but also his attitude is an important reason that we were able to complete the last season as league runners-up,” Rapid sporting director Andreas Müller said in a statement. “His contract with Rapid was set to run until next summer and in principle we would have liked to keep him long-term with us. He had be a very good offer of an early contract extension, in our opinion, but this he declined and expressed his wish to leave this summer. Since we are now able to agree with Leipzig on the transfer arrangements,we thank Terrence for his achievements and wish him every success on his new destination in his career.”

Boyd, who signed with Rapid in 2012 from Borussia Dortmund, played 80 games for the Austrian club, scoring 37 times, including five goals in the UEFA Europa League last season. Boyd was part of the USMNT’s 30-man preliminary World Cup roster but he was one of the seven players cut on May 22.

“I want to thank Rapid and numerous fans for two outstanding years,” Boyd said in a statement. “Unfortunately it did not work with a title win, though the time in this very special club was enormously important and beautiful for me.

“The decision I made was not easy for me because since I came here in the beginning, I have been very comfortable both at the club and in the city. For my career plans now seems to me the time to step up to a club with big ambitions to climb into one of the best leagues in the world. I express two thumbs up to Rapid in the future, and a part of my heart will always remain green and white.”

Only founded in 2009, RB Leipzig have rose through the ranks of German soccer thanks to the financial support of Red Bull, who of course also own the New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg. RB Leipzig finished as runners-up last season in the 3. Liga in Germany and were promoted to the second division as a reward.

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What do you think of this news? Do you expect to see Boyd play every week in the 2. Bundesliga? Think he can dominate and help take the club to the Bundesliga? How does this affect his USMNT status?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I like this move a ton, but the Joe Gyau move has me all tied up in knots. He mastered the reserve level, has little to nothing left to learn at B teams and can’t get first team playing time at Hoffenheim. He should absolutely be competing for starting minutes there this upcoming season, but that stigma against American soccer players continues. Now he gets shipped to Dortmund’s reserve team, which should end any hope he had of playing in the Bundesliga. He’ll never get playing team at BVB…never. Maybe he’ll make a sub appearance in the first round of a German Cup match, but that should be the full extent of that.

    Joe Gyau and Sebastian Lletget have impressively climbed the ladder at each one’s respected academy, but hit a stigma-imposed ceiling after conquering the reserve level. Senior team managers just don’t give American kids playing time. This MUST change, but when? The same thing went for Jared Jeffrey before this? He sucks now, but didn’t always. He was a hugely sought after teenage prospect who was signed by Standard Liege, did well, couldn’t get first team playing time…went to Mainz, same cycle repeated…lost development and now he sucks. Brek Shea isn’t such a good example, because he created many of his own problems, but he didn’t get much of an opportunity either at Stoke. The situation isn’t a whole lot different in Mexico. Stevie Rodriguez, Alejandro Guido, Alonso Hernandez, Daniel Cuevas, Greg Garza all can’t find playing time. Benji Joya left after his frustration boiled over. Joe Corona has spent far too many minutes on the bench over the past couple of years. It never ends.

    If this trend persists into the future, it will be very bleak. It could literally turn me off of the sport if this whole generation of youths we have playing in and often starring for European and Latin American academies, effortlessly move up the ranks, mastering reserve/B team level and then hitting dead ends. We’ll never fulfill our potential as a soccer nation if we aren’t ingratiated into the wider, world soccer community.

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  2. This guy has seen a lot of his USMNT U23 team mates from the London qualifying debacle get burned by moves that were just a little too ambitious.

    I almost see the advice of Klinsmann in this. Boyd and his Agent clearly are going for steady moves that allow him to keep getting big minutes and grow into a bigger role if RB Leipzig gains promotion from Bundesliga 2 to the Bundesliga within say 3 years. If RB Leipzig DOES get promoted, and Boyd has a hand in it, the club is unlikely to drastically reduce his minutes….leaving Boyd as a well regarded starter in his Bundesliga club.

    So it is a high upside low pressure move if all goes according to plan.

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  3. Did some research, I actually think this is a good move. The team is owned by Red Bull. It started in the 5th division in 2009-2010 season. Its been promoted every year since and is now in the 2nd division. Red Bull is spending a lot of money and they have a great 44k seat stadium that’s renovated. The chances of them being promoted to Bundesliga are pretty good.

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    • The linked article was written on Mar. 6, 2014. What did DFL do when RB Leipzig turned in their compliance certs in mid-March?

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  4. would love a behind the scenes expose feature on all the dealings and offers that a player wades through to come to the decisions they do on choosing a team.

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  5. This is a tough one. RB Leipzig is one of the most disliked team in Germany, right up there with Hoffenheim. Teams will step up to try to beat them down. Hopefully he gets some playing time. Good luck Mr Boyd.

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    • I don’t get the dislike of Hoffenheim so much. Billionaire buys the club where he played as a boy. Makes them a B1 club and play fun suicidal football.

      It’s not perfect but its not Man City either.

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      • The Germans are not down with that. Hoffenheim break the 50+1 rule and they don’t play in Hoffenheim. RB Leipzig is a lot the same. At least they play in Leipzig I guess, but they are still disliked.

  6. imho, an important question is just how much RB Leipzig is willing to spend to put pieces around Boyd. If this is a club that at least on paper would be favored to compete for promotion, this is a positive move; but if this is a club that is expected to linger in the 2nd tier for a few seasons, I’d be worried that he’s not sufficiently challenging himself. I am aware that it took them only 5 years to go from the 5th to the 2nd division, but I’d think that at their current level it’s a whole different ballgame. Look forward to learning whom else they’re bringing on board.

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  7. Super move by Boyd. He can be an integral part of a team with big ambitions and enough monetary backing to make a run for 1.Bundesliga this season.

    And Leipzig is a great town with a lot of history and culture (Boyd probably rubbed the toe of Faust when he visited) and is only a little more than an hour drive south from Berlin.

    I wish him well.

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    • Replacement?? Where is Aron going? I’m not quite convinced Aron is ready for a bigger move just yet and they are two completely different players. One wouldn’t be a replacement for the other and I don’t see Aron as heads and shoulders above Terrence personally. Of course I’m a big Boyd fan….hope both succeed though.

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    • This Joe Gyau move is hugely disappointing. He has been on the precipice of Hoffenheim’s first squad for two years now, but can’t first team playing time. He progressed very nicely and rather easily through Hoffenheim’s youth ranks, has consistently been one of the best players on his team and can’t or won’t get senior playing time. How the hell is he supposed to break into the Dortmund first team? Will it be Aubemeyang, Kuba or Reus he will displace? Then there are the depth guys behind them, like Ji-Dong Won and Kevin Grosskreutz…

      Gyau has nothing left to learn at the reserve level, but this stigma against American soccer players persists around the world. Our kids can’t get a chance. The EXACT same story is unfolding in at West Ham United with Sebastian Lletget. Both Gyau and Lletget are ’92s who have been in Europe since they were in their mid-teens, have mastered the reserve level and can’t get a first-team opportunity. Managers just don’t trust American soccer players. When is this crap gonna change? It simply isn’t fair. Lletget has been complaining about this very thing. He more than deserves to play at West Ham…at least a shot. But it never comes.

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  8. I don’t know enough about the technical staff or club setup at RB Leipzig to comment on his development there, but it would have been nice to see him progress through the setup at Dortmund. They are obviously a top club with great staff under Klopp, and top players as competition. And they now have a couple of Americans there–Joe Gyau and **cough** Neven Subotic.

    To the SBI staff–I would love to se an article on Gedion Zelalem–if anyone knows who he was rooting for when US played Germany?

    He is the player that could really be the tipping point for US competing with the top echelon of teams. I believe.

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  9. Is this a positive, negative, or neutral? First thoughts are that he’s going down a league (i.e. first-tier club to second-tier club) but to a stronger country.

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    • If you look at from “going from a first tier league to a second-tier league” this move is like going from a top team in the American Samoa Premier League to the 2nd Division J League – it’s definitely a step up, even if it’s a ‘2nd tier’ league. Also, he’s going to RB Leipzig, a very ambitious team and will likely be in the Bundesliga (to much consternation) in 2-4 years. I know people would love to think he’s ready for a Premier League move, but we’ve seen how those have backfired in the past. Let the guy make incremental moves up and continue to prove himself at each level.

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      • BradJMoore’s second point; that Leipzig is very ambitious – is better than his comparison of leagues. Boyd must realize that he will be able to integrate in to the club next season and then quite possibly be a starter in the Bundesliga the following season.

      • You guys need to think of the Club more like an AS Monaco on probably a smaller scale or QPR or Leicester City or Cardiff. They were second division clubs bought by very wealthy owners with the eye to be promoted.

      • You’ve clearly haven’t watched much of the Austrian Bundesliga or Bundesliga 2. This is probably a fairly lateral move given that both leagues are pretty comparable. He’s clearly thinking this is a club with resources and ambition and he wants to hop on board that train. The only plus with staying at Rapid would have been the possibility of Champion’s League and Europa League play.

    • Positive move in my opinion. He’s coming back to a stronger country (also his home country), with a league strength probably at least on par with the Austrian league, if not stronger, once you take out Salzburg (another RB team). I think it’s a move with a lot of potential but everything of course relies on how much pt he earns. If things go right he could be a starting Bundesliga striker in the next couple years and just entering his prime years. Also he’s easily in view of other top German clubs…and people wondering about the strength of the 2. Bundesliga, a big club like Hamburg just barely avoided being a part of it after this season.

      Reply

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