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MLS News & Notes: Cooper transfer looking inevitable, Donovan’s loan done (or not) and more

  Kenny Cooper 1 (ISiphotos.com) 

                                                                                                 Photo by ISIphotos.com

U.S. national team fans weren't the only ones who caught a glimpse of Kenny Cooper's performance against Guatemala on Saturday. Scouts from several European clubs, including German club Eintracht Frankfurt, were also in attendance at Dick's Sporting Goods Park and the interest in Cooper should only continue to grow as it becomes increasingly unlikely that Cooper will be signing a new deal with FC Dallas.

Cooper is preparing to head into the final year of his current contract and negotations over a new deal with FC Dallas have stalled, sources with knowledge of the talks told SBI on Thursday. With Cooper seeking designated player money, and FC Dallas offering in the $325K to $375K range, look for MLS to do it's best to sell Cooper in January in order to avoid losing him for nothing after the 2009 season.

Here are some other tidbits to go over in the MLS scene:

Depending on who you believe, Landon Donovan's loan move is either a done deal and the first step toward a permanent transfer, or a possibility still being worked out. According to an LA Galaxy spokesperson, no Donovan loan deal had been finalized as of Thursday, but as we learned from the David Beckham to AC Milan loan, where there is smoke there is fire. The real question at this point is whether Bayern Munich will offer a price suitable to MLS and the Galaxy for Donovan.

For those of you who missed it, here is my piece for ESPN.com on the Donovan loan, with some very interesting comments from Bayern Munich manager Juergen Klinsmann, including the following quote:

“Now (Donovan) comes in as a mature player, as captain of the U.S. national team, as a World Cup player,” Klinsmann said. ‘He’s a far more confident player. He has the physical capabilities, he has the technical capabilities, and at the end of the day it’s like any other sport. It’s a mind game. Are you really confident enough? Are you a fighter? Are you a warrior? Are you hungry enough inside?

“I think he brings all those things and it’s going to be interesting to see in the next couple of weeks how he’s going to decide his future.”

Sounds like a coach who really wants Donovan. Now can he convince the Bayern board to buy Donovan?

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Galaxy boss Bruce Arena was in Jamaica for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier between Jamaica and Canada. No word yet on specific targets, but you would imagine defenders are high on the Galaxy's shopping list.

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Rumors are starting to swirl over Alan Shearer's potential move to become Newcastle's manager. If that happens, you can all but pencil in current Toronto FC John Carver as Shearer's assistant. Sources tell me that if Shearer is appointed to replace Joe Kinnear as Newcastle manager, Carver would stand a very good chance of joining him. Stay tuned for more on that situation in the coming days.

That's all for now. I'll check in with more news and notes throughout the day so be sure to check in.

Comments

  1. Al17- you certainly sound like a fire fan.

    Few TFC supporters dislike Carver and even the ones that dislike him see little value in him leaving. The one thing we need in this up coming season is stability and Carver leaving certainly would not contribute to that. I cant think of a bigger blow to the team/season. We would most definitely find ourselves back to basics.

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  2. Twellman is under contract and is going nowhere unless the Revs want him to go

    I thought Cooper’s goal was good. I watched a tape of the game a second time yesterday and although it’s not popular to say this, the rest of his game wasn’t that good. He may go to Europe but ask youself this… if players like Altadore or Adu, players with real skill, can’t get many minutes in Europe, why would Cooper think he would? He is not skilled and can’t really dribble. His biggest attribute is his size. He’d be better to be a star here than a bench player or worse in Europe

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  3. KO’d… first off…don’t ever insult me again…. I playe the game all my life including a summer stint with Chelsea’s youth team in the mid 90’s. I like many people on here know the sport and also read a lot of different blogs and messageboards to find our rumors. Including ones in foreign languages as well. Most of the people that actually read this more in-depth site/log are well informed and quite qualified to post, so piss off.

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  4. JB said: <>

    Yeah, but Stalteri said earlier this week he’s not interested in MLS yet. If he did, it would be on the same basis as McBride, to play at home.

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  5. i wonder how much bradley’s goal this last week opened the eyes of bundisliga clubs. of course, their scouting has fingers everywhere and i’m sure many clubs have been aware of us/mls players, but with everyone seeing mb’s header for a crucial tie maybe some minds were nudged just a little bit more.

    i’m sure it helps us player stock having klinsi so high on mls, too.

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  6. Who was Arena scouting at Jamaica-Canada? Makes one wonder. Is Tottenham still shopping Paul Stalteri? Rodolph Austin or Issey Nakajima-Farran both playing in Scandinavia would be nice additions to the Galaxy too.

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  7. Given the cooper has indicated he’d stay in MLS for DP money, another team should trade for him and give him the loot; who cares if he’s not as well known as JPA if he scores more goals?

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  8. I don’t have a clue who might go overseas or where they’d fit best, but what I do know is that the dollar/euro exchange rate has changed quite a bit since last year and the US players won’t be nearly as cheap this winter.

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  9. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stuart Holden make a move after this next season.

    Of course he was born in Scotland, but grew up in Sugar Land near Houston.

    He’s already played over in England as a youth and it is pretty well thought that he wants to go back eventually.

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  10. I heard that “Wagner” himself flew in from London to check-out Cooper, that Cooper will be the new captain of Arsenal, and that Cooper could be a top candidate for the Balon d’Or in 2009.

    Jeezus, and I thought the Lil Mikey fanboys were bad.

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  11. Al17–

    Ok, so maybe I don’t agree with the “arrogant” thing, but you have hit the nail on the head. I don’t understand why posters say these things. It’s like they want to be the experts, but don’t have the qualifications for it.

    American soccer fans, almost universally, are not very knowledgeable. I like the fervor, but watching soccer on television doesn’t entitle one to make the recommendations (such as the ones you referred to).

    In sum, “Amen.”

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  12. Some of the crap people say on this blog continues to amaze me – shouldn’t but it does. Someone stated “…Perfect. Our young talent should head to Holland to better their skill/touch but our establish talent should head to England or Germany/Spain…”

    Hunh???

    This makes no damn sense, not to mention pretty damn arrogant.Bottomline is that these guys need to PLAY, no matter where they go and hopefully it’s a step up in regards to the league. But if they’re not playing it’s hurting them bigtime. Newsflash, wherever they’re playing I’m pretty sure they’re developing as players.

    “..But overall perfect and hope for the best for Cooper. I also read Marseille are close to grabbing Gooch in January…”

    Oh,

    Marseille is as close to getting Gooch as Grampus 8. They’re checking him out, like a few other clubs, no more, no less.

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  13. Oh…and the English papers are reporting today that Carver has been approached about coaching, with former DM Rob Lee being approached about being his assistant. Given that he was seen with Shearer two weeks ago, his denial today should be given serious credence.

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  14. Carver has gone to the extent of putting out a recoded message to season ticket holders today to say he will be back next season, so anytime you want to offer me that 8-1 odds again, Ives….

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  15. Donovans chances of starting in my mind just improved a lot. Klinsmann may have players like Ribery or Schweinsteiger(sp?)

    but I think Landon could be a great striker for running at players that way Toni and Klose will have some one to pass to when they draw the attention with that all-important hold-up play.

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  16. Twellman might be destined for Scandinavia or a lower 2nd division English club.

    Kljestan is probably heading to Holland/Germany.

    Parkhurst is probably heading to Holland.

    Wynne i imagine would do well in say Scotland.

    No idea about Franklin/Marshall. Maybe Scandinavia as well.

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  17. So, which MLSers are currently rumored to be going abroad soon?

    (Donovan)

    Cooper

    Parkhurst

    Franklin?

    Marshall?

    Kljestan

    Twellman?

    Wynne?

    anyone else?

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  18. Cooper to a mid table team in the Bundesliga? Perfect. Our young talent should head to Holland to better their skill/touch but our establish talent should head to England or Germany/Spain. But overall perfect and hope for the best for Cooper. I also read Marseille are close to grabbing Gooch in January.

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  19. Hey there just wanted to add on Bruce Arena scouting I read somewhere that he might be interested in Pablo Ricchetti from FC Dallas which it could be a good deal. Still I think Bruce should look into Carlos Marinelli to help out Beckham in the middle, and also he should look at Eric Brunner form Maimi FC. Now I know this is a long shot but I think they should try and get Marvell Wynne for defense too. Just wanted to say that.

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  20. If Cooper goes, PLEASE let it be to a decent league. I would hate to see him make a move to Norway/Denmark/etc just because MLS doesn’t pay.

    Actually the best quote from the Donovan article was Klinsi pointing out emphatically that Donovan is a different type of striker than they currently have on the books with a game based on speed. I like his chances for playing during the loan period, but don’t know if it would be enough for me to hope a full time transfer.

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  21. Ives for some reason this post appears buried after posts that were from yesterday – maybe that’s why there are so few comments? Is this just me?

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  22. Ives wrote: “Sounds like a coach who really wants Donovan.”

    In the video of that interview Klinsmann looks down right giddy about Landon.

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  23. Eintracht Frankfurt is a much bigger club than Rosenborg Trondheim or Cardiff City. Cooper appears to have improved his stock in the second half of the MLS season.

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  24. god as an eintracht frankfurt fan and a HUGE kenny cooper fan…nothing would make me happier…

    im salivating at the concept

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  25. I can imagine Bayern is going to move cautiously with Landycakes after his previous trips to Germany. To me a loan with a purchase option makes most sense. That way if he cries and gets homesick again he can just head back to sunny LA without pissing off another major German club, again.

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  26. Hopefully Donovan and Cooper will be on their way to new clubs for bigger and hopefully better adventures. Someday MLS will be one of the top leagues but right now we’re doing the next best thing, importing the brand.

    TFC fans can only hope Carver’s ass is gone. I don’t care for TFC – I’m a Fire fan but I do feel that they definitely can do better and deserve a better manager. Question is who comes in next? Hopefully, Mo won’t screw it up by getting another whack job. Can someone tell him that there a few good managers in North America whom would love to manage in the MLS?

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  27. I don’t think Kinnear is doing badly at Newcastle at all…given what he inherited.

    As to Cooper….why not? Going to another team may force him to be a bit more of a target striker when needed. Given his size, that role should be a bigger part of his game.

    Happy Friday.

    Reply

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