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Palermo officially sign Gonzalez to three-year deal

GiancarloGonzalez1

Photo by USA Today Sports Images

By FRANCO PANIZO

The I’s have been dotted and the T’s have been crossed. Giancarlo Gonzalez is now a member of Palermo.

Palermo officially announced on its website on Tuesday that Gonzalez has completed his move to the Serie A club from the Columbus Crew, signing a three-year contract. The 26-year-old centerback is in the process of flying back to his native Costa Rica to finish the paperwork needed for his visa and other formalities.

His exit was made all but certain in recent days, but Gonzalez leaves the Crew after just six months at the club and following a strong World Cup showing that helped the Ticos reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

He started in each of the 17 MLS matches he played in for Columbus, and scored one goal.

How do you see Gonzalez faring with Palermo and in Serie A? Still think the Crew should have kept him, or was it smart to sell high? Who is the next international player Columbus should target for a six-month stay before selling him for a profit?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Was this the best Gonzalez in mls? It’s between Giancarlo and Omar. Omar G of LA is still more dominate in league play and he already has a large contract. CR made a bigger splash at the WC and Giancarlo is benefitting.

    CR seems to be on the rise but the next gold cup will be the determining factor of who’s got the best players between the US CR and mex.

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  2. how much is he making?

    if i were to guess i’d say he was making 150-200 K in MLS and maybe 100 K back in NOrway. Is it fair to say he’s now making 500-600 K a year? either way, way to go. Not many of the costa rican players play in the big leagues. QUITE a boost for them

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    • Hate to break it to you but there are more Costa Ricans in hbig leagues and big clubs than Americans. There’s a good chance two Costa Ricans will play in the UCL knockout stage. No americans will.

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      • slowleftarm, you probably don’t follow Bundesliga or Bayern closely. If you did, you would have known that Green is with Bayern’s Munich’s first team. You check out the club’s official website, where Green is listed as the first team player or the match report for their first Bundesliga game- Green was in the 18 that dressed for the game.

      • Costa Rican exports in top 4 leagues:
        Navas – Real Madrid
        Campbell – Arsenal
        Junior Diaz – Mainz 05
        Giancarlo Gonzalez – Palermo
        Gamboa – West Bromwich
        Oviedo – Everton

        American exports in top 4 leagues:
        Howard – Everton
        Guzan – Aston Villa
        Geoff – Stoke
        Jozy – Sunderland
        Shea – Stoke?
        Cropper – Southampton

        players like Johnson, Green, Chandler, Brooks, etc were born and/or raised in Germany so they shouldn’t be considered exports

      • No one said anything about exports. Just Americans in Top 4 leagues. Johnson, Green, Chandler, Brooks are all American citizens.

      • by law yeah but in soccer terms they barely have a relation with the US and play with the USMNT only because it is convenient. It is sad that there are more players born in Europe playing for the US than players exported by the MLS developed in America.

      • I think there is value in both statistics.– Netting out the players who have been at Euro academies prior to turning full-pro is a meaningful statistic if the trend of players at the U17 level becomes more commonplace. This gives a basis for quantifying how these clubs value a European pedigree vs. the “base model” rating allocated to the league and country of origin.

        But right now it’s something of a minor point as neither of us has really created enough momentum to raise the profile of our guys materially there. As far as many of these clubs seem to notice,we are both just countries that feed decent if unspectacular 20-somethings of ~$3-7 million variety into the system once they have become senior pros and amassed some NT credibilty. Besler/G. Gonzalez… Tomato/tomatoe.

        Been about the same for the last 15 years or so, with some peaks and troughs for both countries. A small permanent contingent seems to have been the theme, with a few shiny objects popping up to provide some pride and a sense of progress. Nobody is going to pull away without a new idea. We just live on different floors of the same hostel, as we always have.

        Time to bang on some other doors. Not everybody needs to do the Europe thing– but the ones that do need to be coming through better and more diverse channels. The idea to push more 17 year old players into the top European pool via their academies before they become pros is a good start….. What else can we do (that doesn’t involve Stoke City setting our our prospects loose like mice all over Europe)?

      • If CR are sending more players to Europe, I say good for them. This region needs to be more competitive. The last Gold Cup and Hex did not feel like great achievements and while the less-than-lethal competition afforded an opportunity to assess plenty of new players without sacrificing our regional dominance, it’s time to get some real rivalry back in CONCACAF. Costa Rica are stepping up. Mexico? We know they’ll be back up if they aren’t already. It only makes us better to have top individuals playing all over the region.

        And it should be noted that the performance of all of these emerging CONCACAF exports in Europe matters for US players in an indirect but real sense. Everybody from this region outside of a few Mexican clubs takes a significant discount on the purchase price when a player moves abroad for a fee.because of the uncertainty — it’s safer to buy a player from a known Euro academy or familiar neighbor, than to import a prospect of untested pedigree from the frontier. But each successful export means another relationship cultivated amongst clubs, another recent data point, and a better sense of certainty amongst a greater number of buyers with regard to valuation.

        It’s all good to see — it’s only sensible that these clubs want more CONCACAF/MLS players, they just don’t want to be the guy who pays throughbred money for a mule. Once we get enough CONCACAF products with MLS ties over there making noise, they’ll teach themselves the difference or pay Spurs to do it for them.

  3. “My heart was pounding as I crossed the dance floor. In a few minutes I would be free, or dead, … or Rodolfo Laspari of Palermo, Sicily.!”

    Clark Kellogg, of the Great State of Vermont

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  4. I heard Gonzales actually wanted to play for Juventus, but due to Serie A’s allocation rules, they had to call in the President of the Italian Football Federation to pull a name out of a hat and that’s how he ended up in Palermo…

    At least Jermaine Jones was able to pick his team..oh, wait…

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    • The allocation process is not for everyone. Something of a “new school” mechanism that is yet established as a top “force for farce”. I can see the concern.

      Serie A has the rustic charm of match-fixing.. and really, has anybody ever truly improved on this?. Beauty in simplicity.

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      • I’m pretty sure that the translation for ‘bribe’ in Italy is the same as ‘performance bonus’.

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