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Cervi set to sign with Celtic

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                                                            Photo by ISIphotos.com

Some nine months after being an MLS first round draft pick, goalkeeper Dominic Cervi looks set to reap the rewards for passing up a minimum salary contract offer from MLS.

Cervi is set to sign a three-year deal with Celtic FC. The 6-foot-6 goalkeeper is seen as a candidate to back-up Polish international Artur Boruc.

Cervi went on trial with Celtic earlier this summer and has been working on trying to secure an Italian passport through his Italian family background, which would allow him to secure the work permit necessary to play for the Scottish powerhouse.

The University of Tulsa product has not been on a professional roster since being drafted by the Chicago Fire with the No. 12 pick in the MLS Draft. His status as a free agent would allow him to sign with Celtic despite the European transfer window being closed.

What do you think of this news? Share your thoughts below

Comments

  1. Hooray for Celtic/Cervi! Hopefully it works out well and Cervi can live up to whatever potential people have seen in him (I’ve never seen the guy play). It’s been killing me that Rangers is signing Americans while my bhoys weren’t. Be worth it Cervi.

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  2. “Celtic wanted Sharlie and Guzan. Looks like they are paying attention all right.”

    Come now, TK, let us not forget their inquiry for the services of John Wolyneic… Right, Ives? hahahaha

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  3. @undrafted

    Maybe YOU need to do a bit more research. Davies was offered $150k and decided to go to Hammarby because it was a better opportunity to be seen in Europe (after he had been passed over by Ajax). Had he gotten more money though, it would have made a better case for him staying in MLS and he had considered it.

    Garber then went on to piss all over the guy, unprompted, at the draft without specifically mentioning him by name.

    The point is that MLS missed out on a top American prospect because they didn’t want to pay enough to make the deal compelling for him. So MLS is missing out on American talent but bringing in foreign talent — kind of goes in the face of MLS developing the American game and American kids for the national team.

    And for the guy laughing about Lapira, Lapira was considered a top talent when he scored 20+ goals for Notre Dame in his junior year. He decided to stay in college rather than take a GA contract with MLS.

    So he didn’t have as much luck signing in Europe as expected, but he has also scored 6 goals in 10 games for his Norwegian 2nd div side. Give the guy a little more time and he will prove his quality, just as Davies also struggled in his first season in Europe.

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  4. Hes going to backup Boruc?

    I see the POTENTIAL but so far his actual play has sucked.

    Im sure Rangers are licking there chops at the thought of getting at the super raw prospect.

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  5. I was just asking myself before I read this, when was Celtic going to sign an American. I will be going to a Celtic game in a month and a half. I will have something to really cheer about now. Finally the Bhoys have a American.

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  6. Why would you “lol” at “missing out on Lapira, given that he’s one of the top scorers in Norway’s second division right now? That’s the same league Goodson went to.

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  7. Cervi was not on the final Olympic roster. It was Guzan and Seitz. Cervi had been in for the qualifying tournament and Toulon. I believe he was even in a senior team camp. (scratches head)

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  8. Eugene, you need to do a bit more research. MLS offered Davies as much if not slightly more than Swedish club Hammarby. Though I think they wouldn’t guarantee him to go to NE. The talk was that Davies’ father thought Europe was better and Charlie was up for an adventure.

    MLS does need to rethink its rules on graduating seniors. The few good ones that remain nowadays.

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  9. I was wondering if this risk that Cervi took by not signing with the Fire would work out. It looks like it has. And not only has he landed on a European team, but a storied one like Celtic. I don’t know if I would be as happy for his move if he ended up at some 3rd tier (European) league.

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  10. FINALLY! AN AMERICAN AT CELTIC!

    C’MON BHOYS

    I was about to post this before SCNewJersey beat me to it. I was sorry Celtic could not sign Guzan but am happy they got Cervi. Given that the other side of Glasgow has signed Reyna, Beasley and now Edu I wondered why Celtic had beeen slow to tap the American market. Hope is the first of many to come.

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  11. Congratulations to Dominic. I’m wondering what the hold-up is in his application for Italian citizenship. The laws for what he is doing are very black and white and when you apply you should know if you will be accepted or not. I know because I’m working on it for myself.

    Is he waiting for everything to be processed or is he ineligible but taking a long shot anyway?

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  12. This guy reminds me of Zeljko Kalac, height and nothing else, mind you i haven’t really seen him play but a handful of games, but he made me cringe just like kalac did when he came in during the ’06 world cup

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  13. “But seriously, if he’s good enough for Celtic,”

    …Euro teams never make errors on players.

    Right? You would think that after all these years of watching most of our young players wash out over there that these assumptions wouldn’t be made anymore.

    I wish him well, and hope he gets his Italian passport or he isn’t getting a WP and this is all moot anyway.

    He has been in limbo for 9 mths. He needs to be on a team somewhere.

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  14. Wow, this is a bloody nose for the league. Cervi signing with Celtic, Davies signing with Hammarby the year before, both likely for more money than they would have gotten paid in the US, MLS also missing on Lapira this year — this is just encouragement for 1st round picks to look elsewhere.

    The league needs to do something significant with the salary cap in 2009 to stem the outflow of top American talent, otherwise the quality of the on-field product will suffer.

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  15. But seriously, if he’s good enough for Celtic, he should have been good enough to sign for a nice contract with MLS.

    We shall see what he’s worth soon.

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  16. This doesn’t look badly on MLS at all. Cervi tried to circumvent their rules by asking for a Generation Adidas contract after the fact, a precedent MLS wasn’t about to set. If they would have done it he’d be in America right now.

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  17. Ives,

    Question- I read somewhere that the work permit situation in other countries can be facilitated by national team duties? Someone like Cervi who went to the olympics and has traveled with the national team to the qualifiers, but never played, does that help his situation with say Celtic? How about Eddie Johnson? Would his situation be the same? Meaning, being a part of the national team like he has been would that help his work permit situation in England? Even though he doesn’t contribute well, he may be given a shot based on his situation and work permit? Just curious?

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  18. With as unimpressive as he was playing for the US (I forget which youth team it was), this is a bit of a surprise to me but good for him, hopefully he’ll turn into another American keeper that does well and becomes a possible National Team keeper in the future.

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