With less than nine hours to go before the MLS roster freeze deadline, the New York Red Bulls are closing in on the target striker they have been chasing for weeks.
The Red Bulls and Atlanta Silverbacks have reached an agreement in principle on a loan deal for striker Macoumba Kandji, with the last remaining hurdle to a deal being Kandji agreeing to terms on the contract he will play for if the Red Bulls choose to buy him, sources with knowledge of the negotiations told SBI over the weekend.
The Red Bulls and Silverbacks have agreed on a loan deal with an option to buy. Though details of the amount of the purchase option were not available, one source told SBI the amount is slightly less than the $200,000 the Silverbacks had been seeking for Kandji.
The deal is still contingent on Kandji agreeing to the terms of a contract with the Red Bulls. The sides have until 5pm today to complete a deal.
If the Red Bulls cannot reach a deal with Kandji, the club is expected to offer a contract to Crystal Palace USA winger/forward Matthew Mbuta.
A 23-year-old native of Senegal, Kandji has scored 11 goals for the Silverbacks this season, the third best total in USL-1.
Any update??? 5pm has come and gone…
woly is a heart and soul player…but he sucks…thats just a FACT…maybe he didnt always suck…but at this stage of his career…he sucks…its OVER…sorry woly fans.
Not to bash Woly too much, but the fact that he started off making $60,000 it shocks me he wasn’t cut.
personally i dont like woly at all .. dont think he should be employed by any MLS team as he has no technical gifts whatsoever but in response to your question he did have an assist to jozy in our 2-0 home win vs SJ earlier in the year
i challenge you guys to give me one positive stat that woly has put up this year…can you give me a goal…a coupla assists…anything?
Can it be that RBNY is actually being shrewd here? Fulfills the immediate need w/o being stuck with a terrible purchase should this guy not pan out.
And Woly does not suck.
Wolyniec won an USL title. (And scored the key goal in doing so.) What did Kandji win?
understood you lack understanding! Woly does not suck… he had three game winners for the BUlls last year 2nd only behind Angel. I agree he has had off games this year but he made excellent passes last game and deserves to play more. That said I still would like to have other options for the future as Woly is in his 30s.. and Oso has been 90% correct with is new additions…
Walker, feel free not to visit this site if you don’t care for MLS commentary. Better yet, feel free to take a long walk on a short pier while you’re at it. And kpugs, trust me, Wolyneic is a U-12 rec player compared to Kandji.
pugs…love ya…but you either gotta be wolyneics brother or his publicist…yes he works hard…but he sucks…sorry…hes a homeless mans dirk kuyt…let me bring you back to reality:
who works as hard as he does: YES
pass: NO
He can finish: Heck NO! what games have you been watching the last two years
win 50/50 balls: theres a difference between winning a header and winning a header and actually directing the ball towards a teammate
hold the ball up: Sure, but what does this matter when his next touch is guaranteed to be a turnover
I’m curious to know what the Red Bulls are expecting out of this kid. The optimistic part of me is hoping he can step in, lessen Angel’s workload, and score a couple of goals while freeing up the other attacking players.
The realistic part of me isn’t the least bit impressed with 11 goals in ULS-1, for every Brian Ching there are a dozen never-heard-of-busts.
No, John Wolyniec is not a superstar, but there is something to be said for a guy who works as hard as he does and rarely makes a mistake. He can finish, pass, win 50/50 balls, and hold the ball up while his teammates join the attack. Why would some kid from a lower division be better?
I hope the first part of me is right…but at the same time I don’t see why Woly can’t just keep playing. It just seems logical to me that he’s going to be better than any random discoveries the club might make.
(Again nothing against this kid, I hope it works out well and he seems promising.)
Doug, bad choice of words on my part. There are sites that report no original news and basically steal news from various outlets without any attribution. I have a general ban on people placing links in comments, but sites such as the one you mentioned are even more taboo since they never are the original sources for the news.
sorry didnt realize it was a rumour site. It referenced a story froma Brazilian newspaper. My apologies
Wow Walker perhaps you should run your own website and write a story. For a free website Ives goes above and beyond. Show some respect.
can we please have less commentary on crap MLS matches and have more on altidore playing his first 45 minutes in la liga?
oh wait…red bull are signing a USL-2 GK!!! That’s the real news!
Some of these are not the highest quality video, but for those of you NY fans wanting to see a little bit of what this guy can do:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Mac+Kandji&search_type=&aq=f
There’s a couple of his “Goal of the Week” selections there, and they’re certainly top notch in my book.
HEY LVES
WHY CANT WE GET KANDJI AND MBUTA IF ITS A LOAN DEAL THEN WOULDNT THAT MEAN THERE HAVE THE MONEY TO GET THEM BOTH
As for the actual deal itself, I’ve never seen Kandji so it’s hard to be comment on it, but JCO has bought really well this year so I feel confident that this will be a good move for the Red Bulls going forward.
With Atlanta looking more and more like a pretender instead of contender, you may now have him. I’ve enjoyed his play in a Silverbacks shirt, thank him, and wish him the best of luck in NY and wherever else he may end up in the future.
Hey Ives,
Great work, as usual. Have you heard any rumors coming out of New England regarding their one open senior roster spot?
Thanks!
Ives, read a report saying Ronaldo, former Milan Ronaldo, will be joining City in the winter transfer window. Any truth to this. Ive been searching for another report but cant find any
MLS only allows loans with the option to buy, which is what this would be.
Ives,
You rule. REALLY excited to see how this goes!
Ulrich: MLS allows loans only when MLS holds a buy option for the end of the season.
How does this “Loan” deal work within MLS rules of not signing players on loan?