Could Brian McBride be set to make a return to Fulham? According to Sky Sports, the Chicago Fire striker could be ready to head back to Craven Cottage on loan, a move that would make him the third high-profile MLS player to go on a short loan to Europe this winter (Landon Donovan and David Beckham being the others).
Fulham is looking for reinforcements after selling Jimmy Bullard to Hull and McBride might be the ideal addition, having been a fan favorite at Fulham for years. The 36-year-old former U.S. national team standout left Fulham last summer before playing in the Olympics and joining the Fire.
Does a loan make sense for McBride? It certainly wouldn't for the Fire, which is into its pre-season now and the regular season less than two months away.
We should find out on Monday if McBride will actually make the move, or if there was ever any truth to the move. For now, what do you think about a McBride loan to Fulham? Like the idea? Hate it? Think it's just another fictitious transfer deadline story?
Share your thoughts below.
Eugene, Don’t get me wrong–they are better than say “News of the World” type sources, but they definitely are manipulated by agents regularly…
That would be awesome. No more Zamora for a while. I’d love to see another American star on my favorite English team.
Oh, I think this is why…
“If the last day of a transfer window is on a weekend, the deadline can be extended to the following Monday at the request of those involved for business reasons”
Can someone explain to me how this could even happen with the transfer window having closed already?
I haven’t seen anything that says that loans are exempt from the transfer window.
Can anyone tell me if when a player gets loaned like Beckham, Donovan, and maybe McBride. Do they get paid from the loaned to club as well as their own club?
No impact for the Fire? Clearly you weren’t following the team. He balanced a club that was centered around Blanco. After he arrived, he opened up the field for other players and even contributed 5 goals in about 11 games. And added that little extra to get the Fire to the conference finals. I’d say that’s pretty good for a 36-year old.
Mickey League Soccer?
MLS is developing some pretty good talent. David Beckham came to the MLS and improved on his form. If that not true look his stature in the English Team.
People that poke fun at MLS all do it for the same reason, they don’t want to see the United States improving at an unbelievable rate in the world’s most popular game. It scares them. Our young players in the US are getting better and more growth than England’s young players. England’s young players either don’t play for major squads or play in League 1 and 2. The Africans develop their players in England.
With that said if this move does go through I hope McBride will be back for the start of the season.
Maybe Fulham should sign me…hahaha
Good to know about Sky Sports News, I’ll take their reports with a grain of salt from now on
Bringing McBride back means one thing, the manager has NO confidence in the strikers he bought in last summer. So I say fire the manager
Posted by: doug | February 01, 2009 at 02:03 PM
Roy Hodgson has Fulham in the top half of the table for the first time in a while. Not sure if firing him is a good idea. Andy Johnson has done pretty well, but it’s Bobby Zamora who has just been dreadful.
Erik Nevland probably has the better finish than Johnson, I’ve noticed how many times Johnson has missed when he’s one-on-one with keeper. I think Hodgson should experiment with the Nevland-Johnson pairing.
Larry – If I were McBride and reading your post, this would only add fuel to my fire if I was serious (provided McBride thinks this is in his interests.
Locker room material.
This looks like it is turning out to be a bad year for the mls, we are loosing alot of big players, and there are more rumors still. What do you think ives, will the quality of play drop this year.
Ives–McBride is NOT a replacement for Bullard and the fact that he was a fan favorite is irrelevant to Fulham’s needs. Fulham is in real need of an energetic central midfielder. McBride won’t help on that score in the slightest.
Mickey League Soccer
John C – I will tell what a joke is, the Detroit Lions and KC Chiefs not being relegated to a 2 Division (if we had one-but never will b/c a culture of love for nothing but $$$$$) and the bottom two MLS clubs being relegated for the top two USL clubs and the top two USL clubs being promoted to MLS. When we get to that point then let’s talk about jokes.
I think it would be a good move, both for him and for fulham. He’d get some good gametime back at fulham. Plus fulham really need a striker to partner johnson, and he might be the right choice.
Can’t those European develop their own talent? He looked old and slow in the MLS last year just like that Beckham guy. Why is it that all these players want to go over to Europe and retire? 🙂
This is a freaking joke. MLS needs to remind the players coming to collect a paycheck in the United States that they have a responsibility to do what is best for their team and that is not go play somewhere else on loan. Can you imagine if during the off-season Lebron wanted to go play in Italy for three months. The NBA would never let that occur. This loan crap with our best players is making the MLS look like a joke and it is really frustrating me (an MLS supporter).
Bringing McBride back means one thing, the manager has NO confidence in the strikers he bought in last summer. So I say fire the manager
does this mean he is looking to get involved with the national team again?
Stupid, stupid move if the Fire allows this
I hope he goes back — purely for my desires though. I’m going to see the Fulham vs Manchester United game and I would love to see him suit up 😛
wtf, you and the reds enjoy those playoffs last year?
As the Special One would say…..”Shutup John Godfrey”.
Once again, an aging former star does a farewell lap in a European league after failing to make an impact in MLS.
Go back to the EPL McBride… show how much TFC ripped off Chicago :)))))
Oopps wrong thread. 🙂
Eugene…i can tell you they have been DEAD wrong about the Hammers many times.
On many UK messageboards the phrase “Sky Sports Understands” is ridiculed..
Complete and utter crap. Must be a slow news day in London.
Wow. Don’t know if I agree with that red card.
It seems like an improbable move at this point. If it were the start of January it would be more believable.
I’ve put some calls in to the Fire and should hopefully have an answer this afternoon.
Maybe McBride realized that MLS is going backward, is still a Mickey Mouse league, and isn’t worth his time. I would love to see him playing for the Cottagers — and for the USMNT.
I thought SkySports was like ESPN in the U.K., i.e., the most reputable source you could get in the news.
Zamora just hasn’t worked out, it makes sense. I wonder why Foolham waited until now though…
Sounds good to me. Wiether he gets injured, tired out or misses part of the MLS season anything that hurts the Fire makes me happy.
I think he’d rather drive his kids to school.
He never should have left Fulham. He is an icon at Craven Cottage. How many Yanks who have played abroad can say that?
I am sure he left for family reasons such as kids schooling, etc. Can’t blame him for that, but it would be nice to see him be able to contribute there again.
From a soccer stand point, McBride has nothing to gain from this. I can only see him doing this as a favor to Fulham. If he goes, I hope he torches the league.
Barry Jive you stole my comment! ha…
but seriously… this is crazy-talk.
If it’s a loan until the MLS season begins, doesn’t make that much sense. If until June I think I could live with it and so could Chicago.
He would be an definite upgrade over a listless Bobby Zamora.
going to the match on march 4th so for selfish reasons i would love it
Is it April Fools Day already?
By all accounts, McBride wanted come back to the US with his family and play for Chicago.
He was able to leave Fulham on his own terms and got what he wanted here.
Why consider going back now?
I don’t see what he has to gain, unless money is a real issue. If Soumare and Conde stay, and with Blanco resigned, Chicago would have to be considered one of the favorites for the ’09 MLS Cup.
That would put a cherry on top of a fine career.
I don’t see it happening…it’s natural that it would come up though.
I would expect Fulham to want him until the end of the season. If he would stay that long he would return to MLS around June.
I think it’s a great move. Captain America returns!!!!!
Good for Fulham, could be good for McBride (at least he and the league would make some money), but it may or may not be good for Chicago — definitely wouldn’t be good for the Fire if 36 yr old McBride got injured ahead of the MLS season.
If I were the Fire, I honestly wouldn’t risk it for a month-and-a-half loan.
While SkySports is much more reputable than some garbage Spanish Newspaper, I still say theres no truth to this.
Well we have learned several things about the Fulham manger over the course of this season – the main one is that he doesn’t like to sub. It is hard for me to believe that this would do either one much good. McBride is not in match form and would struggle for playing time. I assume he’d be away from his family as they are now settled in the US which would be tough and finally, he is getting on in years, has had injuries and I would think his body could might be prone to more injury if he were to jump right into midseason EPL. That being said, I’d love it if he went over and scored a bunch of goals and that brilliant “my hero” video was played again!
This late? Would he back for the start of the MLS Season?