John Brooks’ days with Hertha Berlin could be numbered.
A report from German outlet Kicker says that Hertha Berlin will explore the possibility of selling the U.S. Men’s National Team defender should he not sign a new deal with the club in the coming weeks. Brooks is currently set to see his contract expire in 2017, and the club is hoping to reach an extension before Christmas.
Should a deal not be reached, Hertha Berlin would have few options, as the club would not want to risk letting Brooks enter the final year of his deal. If he does, the club would be forced to either sell on the cheap or risk losing him altogether.
Hertha Berlin has been negotiating with Brooks’ representatives for more than a year, but a change in representation saw talks fall apart last year. According to Kicker, Brooks has an interest in playing in the Premier League should a move come to fruition.
Brooks has started the past four games for the German Bundesliga club while contributing a goal this past weekend.
What do you think of the Brooks reports? Should he stay with Hertha Berlin? What clubs would be better fits?
Share your thoughts below.
I understand the need for money, but young players should not conflate getting well paid with playing in a place that is good for your development given your level of play and talent level. For example, as much as I like MLS, he should not come here even if they give him Giovinco money. He can play at a higher level.
I don’t know how much Brooks lets his bank account make the decisions for him. He turned down a big-money move (big-money by prospect standards) to Bayern years ago to stay at his hometown club.
Move to stoke and get paired up with Cameron!?!
I could support this. I am very impressed with the direction Stoke is going. Much more technical and smarter play than when Pulis was the manager.
He needs to stay in Hertha and become a regular consistent started. Then think about moving.
Portland Timbers baby
too bad, I like him at Hertha Berlin.
if he moves I can see him doing well in the EPL.
Go to the Fire. He will hone his skills there.
Given that he’s in a contract dispute, I think you can all stop your dreams about him being sold to a club who can’t pay well.
Hertha’s doing so well (kinda). If you beat everybody except for the big four, you can have yourself a nice season.
Brooks has gotten a lot better and I’d like to see that continue. If he moves, he needs to consider playing time as much as money
Berlin is doing wellish. Why leave?
Well, because this season is more of a high point than a regularity. Hertha are usually bouncing around the bottom of the table, sometimes in a relegation battle, sometimes comfortably lower mid-table. In fact I think the only team in all of Europe who are exceeding far more expectations is Leicester City right now.
I think he should be cautious and really weigh his options. He’s in a good situation, getting plenty of minutes. Playing well and getting consistent game time is important, but at his age it isn’t the end all be all. At 22, he’s still very young for a CB, and has a lot to learn. Maybe a move to a club who could provide him a great CB mentor to learn from would do far more to his development than just continuing to play and hope he can get it together. Just my two-cents.
sassuolo, torino, Lazio, empoli, Udinese, Milan (AC)
He needs to go to a mid-table Italian team… where they know how to defend and be tactically aware.
So he needs to go to a league where his weaknesses will be exposed? Makes sense.
Yep, Serie A is not for developing players. You better produce if you’re on the field or else. Remember a young Roberto Carlos at Inter; he could attack but forgot that he was a defender first. Didn’t last too long in Italy.
I’m not sure if this is right about Roberto Carlos. His coach at inter was Roy hodgson. And he went from inter to a much bigger club
Yeah I gotta disagree with that example. Quite the opposite actually; Hodgson thought he was an attacker, Carlos considered himself a defender.
Carlos left/was sold (to Real Madrid where he excelled and became the best LB inthe world) because he disagreed with Hodgson’s philosophy. Hodgson wanted Carlos to play winger, using more of his attacking strengths; but Carlos wanted to continue playing left back, because that was his national team position, as well as where his attacking strengths are maximized.
Go play in La Liga for a small team (Eibar, Rayo Vallecano), and he will dominate with his size and learn to dribble out of the back like John Stones. Then he will be sold to one of the bigger teams (Sevilla, Valencia, Malaga, etc…) but not the big two.
If he dreams big then maybe the big two but lets be realistic here. 🙂
This is a pretty terrible ides. He can already play out of the back fairly well he needs to become a more disciplined defender. Moving to a crappy club in Spain isn’t going to help him do that.
Point of moving to small teams is to get consistent playing time. He will start week in, week out vs
what he is getting at Hertha. As a young player, he needs the minutes and not sit on the bench. He will get better playing on a small team against the bigger teams as most of the time he will tested thoroughly as a defender.
Did you watch the Ukraine game? If you think teams like Valencia, Malaga, Sevilla, etc… are ready to start him, you have no idea.
I’m not against him going to La Liga per se, but he’s getting plenty of minutes at Hertha when he’s in form, which is exactly the kind of minutes you want to be getting: earned minutes.
What I am against is the notion of moving to teams purely for game minutes. Where and what kind of training matters at his age as much as, if not more than, just getting minutes. Who cares how many minutes you’re getting, if you’re learning the wrong way to play. For example, I’d bet the tactical approach Brooks would learn under Tony Pulis is Route 1, boot he ball upfield and away from danger ASAP. Contrast that with Wenger, where he’d learn to play out the back, keep the ball on the ground, and accurate long balls with purpose.
He’s still a young player, very young for a CB; he’s still got a lot to learn if he wants to reach his world-class potential. A great mentor and leader that he could look up to would also be beneficial. I think at Hertha, like this summer’s Gold Cup, he’s being given a little too much, too soon, which may be the cause of his constant dips in form.
With that said, you can’t really go wrong with La Liga or Bundesliga for that matter. Almost all teams across the table in those leagues have great trainers and smart managers. The only difference is in their facilities and training grounds, which the bottom clubs of La Liga really suffer from.
He should stay as Bertha is in a really good spot in the league