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Kljestan signs with Anderlecht

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photo by John Dorton/ISIphotos.com 

Sacha Kljestan is finally headed to Europe.

According to RSC Anderlecht's official site, Kljestan has signed with the Belgian League champions on a four-year deal. The 24-year-old Kljestan has already passed all his medical tests and will be presented to the media at the end of next week.

The move comes nearly a year and a half after Kljestan went on trial with Scottish powerhouse Celtic, only to see a move fail to materialize. Kljestan ends his time with Chivas USA having scored 15 goals while assisting on 33 others.

What do you think of Kljestan signing with RSC Anderlecht? See it as a good fit? How do you see Chivas USA doing without him?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  3. Before you start defending his European career before it even starts, I’ll remind you that much of what we do on this site is discuss and bicker over the USMNT. Ask yourself (since you probably can’t ask him), at the age of 24, is his international career over? Boca, LD and Dempsey often play different positions between club and country. How old was Demps when he first came onto the scene for the NATS? Boca?

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  6. yeah i guess playing on a champions league team is really bad. Especially since Dempsey, Donovan, Cherundolo, Feilhaber, Clark , Bradley, and Bocanegra are playing there. I mean at the same age, Gooch played in Belgium. The league must really suck. There is so much unwarranted hate for Kljestan it is ridiclous. Anyone who actually understands soccer, knows he hasnt played his natural position since the 2008 olympics. He has worked hard to get himself into a very good position. People should be congratulating him.

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  7. Is that offer good for another American fan? I work for a Belgian owned company in the US and get to travel there from time to time. It would be great to tour with someone knowledgable. I’ll buy the beers.

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  8. Yeah smoked g, I know, but

    a) I prefer to try to forget such people exist

    and b) consider the audience. I’d think most everyone who reads this or any soccer site knows about the existence of Belgium, and especially the Netherlands. Plus, I’d bet that a person who doesn’t know about those 2 countries also wouldn’t know what the USSR was (sadly, the break up isn’t as recent as we who remember it would like to think). I’d even bet that the person who said Anderlecht played in the Netherlands just had a brain fart, and knows what’s up.

    Perhaps I should have just gone with my first thought for a reply: “Netherlands? Flanders? What’s the difference?”
    (please, not looking to discuss Brussels’ place in Flanders, Wallonia, etc 🙂

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  9. desperation would be signing with the railhawks. moving to anderlecht is a clear step up and a great acheivment. clearly they rate him, which tells you something about the eye for talent on SBI comment sections.

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  11. I am sick and f-ing tired of people bringing up the 1 goal in the EPL…. DUDE GOT NO SERVICE…. he got 8 assists and drew many penalties and free kicks…. Did you watch the games? Altidore abused so many centerbacks on a team with midfielders that are not selfish he would have had 10 goals

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  12. Sure, Anderlecht are a decent side. But I had thought he was focusing on a stronger league. Just with the timing and everything it seems a bit off.

    He obviously has to strike while the iron is “hot” and maybe move to a bigger league later. Hopefully he can get back to where he was before

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  15. It’s a great move for Sacha, who is still my favorite American soccer player despite not being in great form or on the World Cup roster at the moment. I think this whole thing people are talking about with Kljestan being sloppy in possession is true, but I feel that he’s not the kind of player who should be expected to make a living off of connecting passes like Torres or Pirlo. He’s a creative, skillful, dynamic player who has the potential to change the game with his guile and attacking prowess. His best games have come while playing next to or behind a pure defensive midfielder like Ricardo Clark in the Sweden game, or even out wide on the left in that Guatemala game back in 2008. I’ve compared Kljestan to Kaka, not because he’s just that good, but because they play similar roles, operating as the creative force in a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 diamond, or a flat 4-4-2 on the wings. Neither’s job is to simply connect passes. Their job is to find ways to get the attack rolling and find ways to crack the defense. Hopefully Sacha get’s the chance to play that role in Belgium, which I feel will be a great place for him to not only improve his skills, but boost his confidence as well.

    For all those pointing out Kljestan’s poor play in the Mexico and El Salvador games, Sacha had an ankle sprain that kept him out of preseason and I don’t feel that really helped his chances out much. Neither did not getting sold to Celtic.

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  18. I got it, but in his defense, sarcasm in type is not always a science. There probably are dumb people who think those countries didn’t exist before 1994.

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  20. +10. I don’t think we’ll need to wait 40 yrs though. The US has improved at home, and if we can get a WC in the US, we may have a chance. If people step steps up now, and if fans are encouraged by our play, we can do it. We can’t really succeed in the long run with citizens who don’t care about real football.

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  24. First of all, I’m not a Sacha fan…far from it. But, how does moving to a quality club smack of desperation? Aaron, with all due respect, he has a career outside of the USMNT. Just saying.

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  28. Good for him. Who knows what would have happened if he had gotten to go to Celtic. Could be in the 23, we just don’t know.

    Kind of smacks of desperation at this point, but hoping he can get back on track.

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  29. Really, hundreds of years? Are you sure about that? I actually attended 5 matches at Euro 2000, and I’m not sure if these 2 nations had even formed by that year.

    (And to think when I worked in England a few years ago, the people I worked with said that they’d thought Americans didn’t understood the concept of sarcasm. I wonder where they ever got that idea from. I can say that we still don’t seem to know the actual definition of irony. Thanks Alanis. And if you didn’t get the oblique reference to 1994, there was a World Cup held in the US that year, which both of those nations attended)

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  31. I think we would all benefit from forgetting about Kljestan in a USMNT shirt. He has had brilliant moments, and icy cold moments. Hopefully we can let him focus on his club career ala Johnson/Adu and maybe he will suprise us with a call up in the future.

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  32. This is a great move for Kljestan. Fans give him a hard time for his bad form over the last year, but we all want him to succeed (or should want him to succeed). Anderlecht are a good squad and massively popular in Belgium. At home, he’ll be playing in front of 40,000+.

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  36. He was quality for Hull if you dont believe me go here and check it out http://www.castrolfootball.com/ there is more to scoreing goals being a striker…also that team was complete trash if we threw Altidore on a side like Man City Everton Fulham Etc bet it would have been more then 1 goal in 28

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  37. It seemed like a world where the Americans had taken over and become a facist regime.

    If you’ve never read the book, do yourself a favor and pick it up. Good stuff, and a clever take off on where the America of the 1950s was headed.

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  40. Sure, that would have helped, but if you’re saying Jozy is the reason that team was relegated, you’re full of it. Hull’s defense was atrocious and the midfield play was also quite weak. I don’t disagree that he could and should have found the back of the net a bit more, but to say he was “sent packing” when his one-year loan deal expired and the team was relegated is a misleading statement

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  41. I agree with sread on this (except the comments about people resenting Kljestan and why they do so). For me, Kljestan has not shown he is ready for the international level yet and I have been critical of his performances for the USMNT. That said, I think he has promise, and I hope this move helps him get to the next level. I think this is a much better move than Celtic as I think there is much more chance for him to develop his type of game at Anderlecht. I wish him well.

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  42. Good move for him, I hope he plays and continues to develop. My one big complaint with Kljestan is that he is sloppy in possession, that he gives away the ball too much. He does have a good range of passing though, if he learns to clean up that one aspect of his game, he can be a very good centermidfielder.

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  43. Since neither of these countries popped up after the USSR broke up, I hope that was intended to be irony. If not, you should take a geography class at your local community college.

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  48. Brazil can handle that depth. For the USA, and possibly our coach, 7 players that play the same position may overload some circuits. We’ve never had depth so once we have it, what do we do with it.

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  50. Anderlecht is a top tier 2 side, full of history, and had a stadium in the EA FIFA games until recently.

    Great move for him and hope he does well.

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