Photo by ISIphotos.com
Brad Guzan is on his way to England and the English Premier League is about to add another American goalkeeper.
The Chivas USA and U.S. national team goalkeeper is heading to Aston Villa for a transfer fee of $1.5 million after Villa and Major League Soccer agreed to the fee and completed the transfer on Friday afternoon, sources with knowledge of the negotiations told SBI on Friday afternoon.
The Los Angeles Times and Sideline Views were the first to report today that Guzan would be leaving MLS via transfer.
Guzan had a transfer move to Villa blocked because of his inability to secure a UK work permit, but sources with knowledge of Guzan’s case believe he will secure his work permit now after playing in five of the U.S. national team’s eight matches this year.
The $1.5 million transfer fee is a fraction of the almost $4 million fee Aston Villa agreed to in January, mainly because Guzan is in the final year of his MLS contract and could have left on a free transfer on January 1 had a transfer deal not been made.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 MLS Draft, Guzan was the first draft pick in Chivas USA history and overcame a rough rookie season to develop into one of the best young American goalkeepers in the U.S. national team pool. He posted a 0.93 goals against average, including 13 shutouts, to win MLS goalkeeper of the year honors last season.
The 23-year-old goalkeeper had drawn interest from clubs ranging from Arsenal to Celtic, but set his sights on Aston Villa, where he will instead join fellow American goalkeepers Friedel and Tim Howard in the English Premier League.
Now Guzan is headed to Aston Villa, where the goalkeeper situation is wide open since the return of Scott Carson to Liverpool after spending last season on loan with Villa. Several goalkeepers, including Brad Friedel and Paul Robinson, have been linked to Aston Villa but Guzan appears to be the first goalkeeper signed by Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill.
It remains unclear whether Guzan’s transfer will affect his status as a candidate to be an overage U.S. Olympic team player. The Olympic roster is set to be unveiled on Thursday.
Let’s just be honest about this…
Villa have bought themselves a second or third-choice goalkeeper who has a small potential to become something more. The transfer fee reflects that.
Again, I hope it works out for him, but Hannamen was a much better goalkeeper when he went abroad and it took him many years to get settled in the Premiership.
rick- with a few months left in his contract, of course they can offer a lil’ bit and get more bang for their buck
The fact that AV didn’t have to outbid others helped keep the fee low. Guzan made it pretty clear he wanted to go there, so they didn’t have to worry about the other suitors.
If 1.5 million is true, it seems way too low for an EPL quality player.
Great for Brad and great for our Country! I hope he wins the battle to be the starting keeper. When are the deals for Bradley and Adu going to happen?
while this is amazing for brad amd very good for our national team, i am a bit baffled at the timing of this transaction
1) its the middle of the mls season and chivas is on top
2) only 1.5 mill?? the original offer in the winter window was 4 mills
what gives?
“Any idea of who is the highest earning US player in Europe? Is it Brad Friedel, Tim Howard or is it Clint Dempsey? Just wanting to know. I know EJ gets like £500,000 a season.”
I thought I read some where McBride was offered a million pounds a year to stay at Fulham. If Bradley gets a big money transfer to England I would think he would be very well paid.
Everyone of our national team goalkeepers in recent memory has made an impact on the international market and there is zero reason to think that will end anytime soon.
So for the foreseeable future %10 of the starting goalies in the EPL will be from the USA. Is that not good enough for you?
CD, that may be so. But that won’t be the case in the near future.
Keller – 38
Friedel – 37
Hannamen – 36
Howard – 29
Any idea of who is the highest earning US player in Europe? Is it Brad Friedel, Tim Howard or is it Clint Dempsey? Just wanting to know. I know EJ gets like £500,000 a season.
Congrats to Brad! Premier League better be ready for him. Any ideas on his contract or weekly wages?
At the end of last season %20 of the starting keepers in the EPL were from the US. With Guzan and Howard you potentially have the starting goalkeepers for the National team for the next 4 World Cups. I am not worried at all about this country having a problem producing great keepers.