Brad Guzan is officially bound for Atlanta.
Middlesbrough announced on Wednesday that Guzan is set to join Atlanta United at the end of the Premier League season. Middlesbrough also announced that Guzan has signed a multi-year deal with Atlanta United after weeks of speculation regarding a move.
Guzan joined Boro following Aston Villa’s relegation at the end of the 2014-15 season, but has found minutes hard to come by. The U.S. Men’s National Team goalkeeper has primarily served as backup to Victor Valdes, making just five total appearances for the recently-promoted Premier League club.
With the move, Atlanta United secures a starting goalkeeper to join the previously-acquired Alex Kann and Alexandros Tabakis.
No mention next season in the Prem will be the 1st time in 21 years without an American keeper? (If my quick research and math are correct ). Sad.
Nobody has brought up who starts the March WC qualifiers yet. The options are not looking good right now. Do u go with Howard who might not be fully healthy, guzan who is riding the bench, old ramando, bingham, Robles, possible one step a way from injury Hamid or give it to yarbrough? Two big games with some questions now.
Horvath, at Brugge now. Not sure if he’s playing, though.
Unless Howard’s healthy.
Horvath was on bench today and this past weekend. He could break into first team but they are sitting top of table right now so I wouldn’t expect it till next season or they get so far ahead of second place that they’ve him mins
More good business from Arthur Blank. This team is immensely tough right down the spine…and they look like a possible playoff squad right out of the gate.
Wow these guys were built right. Just shaking my head how intelligently this squad was put together.
Does the credit go to Blank or to Bocanegra?
I’m genuinely curious who’s pursuing these deals and setting them up. Paper champions are a real phenomenon, but they’re having a fantastic approach…on paper.
Credit goes to everyone, honestly. Blank for setting the tone that winning is the goal from day 1 and that the team will spend what is appropriate to do that. It also goes to Blank for hiring Darren Eales, who has global connections from his time in EPL front offices, including at Tottenham.
It goes to Eales for using the Tottenham connections and the Tottenham “system” focused on developing talent from within and buying the right type of younger player who can be played for a few years and possibly sold on for profit to then be used on the next guy. And then mix in a few veterans to provide the leadership.
It goes to Bocanegra for using his US connections and reputation. Every USMNT player and prospect knows Boca and knows what he’s made of.
And lastly, some of it definitely goes to Tata for using his connections and reputation in Argentina and Paraguay.
You would think MN United would have been all over this, with 1 goalie on their roster, a kid they drafted out of Wake Forest. Just have no idea what MN United are trying to accomplish. Maybe their looking to finish last and get a high draft pick and save money. All I can say is, it’s a good thing there isn’t Pro/Rel in MLS, cause they would be going right back down.
or their “bet” will pay off that you dont need a super high priced/big name GK to navigate the season and that a journeyman-type (seitz, rowe, macmath, saunders to some extent) or young guys (bono, mccarthy) can keep things from crashing and burning in the interim
you also mention that if there were pro/rel in MLS that MN would be going down, but you do realize that the newly-promoted teams are often the ones in the relegation battles in the rest of the world so that comes with the territory….
Atlanta is top of the allocation order, Minnesota could not get him even if they wanted him. Unless they just vastly over paid to trade up to take our spot at the top of the list.
Wow that could be a mistake depending on how much they are paying him, but I guess it worked for Colorado last year. They still stayed great, even after adding and paying Howard.
Its not a DP contract, the front office has stated numerous times it would use the last DP spot on Guzan. It will be a TAM level contract that uses a lot of TAM I would guess.
Well if they can make it work….great keeper