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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

  1. Maybe instead of exporting every possible player abroad, we can raise the quality of the game at home. MLS should not not be a feeder league, and retirement home for European 35 year olds.

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  2. Yes I am….. I dont think it will happen but it could…… Win our group and have mexican win theirs and we could be looking at australia or serbia than mexico and we r in the semifinals its that easy
    Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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  3. Good move for Sacha. I hope he improves his game while he’s over there. I know he’ll enjoy the culture and the sights.

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  4. yeah that’s pretty much my thoughts on him (if you meant to say “Sacha DOESNT fit in the USMNT system”), he’s a decent player but that doesnt always translate into an automatic fit into just any system. but anderlecht seem like an attacking type team, so i’m interested to see how his stay there plays out

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  5. i dont see where i defended his career. what i’m saying is that when a football player goes about his training and preparation, they’re thinking about getting minutes for their club and getting paid, not fitting in perfectly in their national team setup. i never said his int’l career is over either, you’re the one suggesting it’s done if he doesnt move to another part of the pitch. that’s like saying fabregas sits on the bench on spain, he should really consider moving out on the wing and developing as a winger.

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  6. The biggest difference between Freddy and Sacha is that at 6’1″, 170 lbs Sacha has the kind of physical presence that Freddy will never be able to develop. If Freddy were fast that would be one thing but he’s not.

    Slow and weak and not particularly bright, in a tactical sense, is a problem for professional soccer players.

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  7. A little info on Anderlecht. They play a 4-3-3, in the midfield the CDM and RM roles are locked down by Lucas Biglia and Kouyate. LM is up for grabs now that Jelle Van Damme left to Wolverhampton (kinda stupid move by him, but whatever). The guys competing for that spot will be Jan Polak, Maracek, Sare and probably Klejestan. In terms of attack, LW is held onto by the talisman, Mbark Boussoufa, who may leave to a top team in Spain or Germany. He’s small, creative, and to be honest, a class above Klejestan. Lukaku is their striker (topscorer at 16, not too shabby). RW is another place where Klejestan may find playing time. He’d have to compete with Jonathan Legear (Anderlecht’s mister Europe, with 4 goals and 6 assists in the Europa League last season) and a talented Argentine called Mattias Suarez. Plus Anderlecht have bought some other guys this summer already. Klejestan will likely be mostly on the bench this season, though the season after (when I expect more players will leave Anderlecht to bigger clubs), he’ll get his real chance.

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  8. I think the problem is that he’s more an attacking midfielder and neither a holding midfielder (lacks defensive prowess) nor a winger (he plays better from the center). So actually, he could probably already work as a withdrawn striker without much adjustment. His inconsistency on the NT may be attributable to where he was deployed. I’m not blaming BB, I just think Sacha fit in the USMNT system.

    In any case, I think this will do wonders for his confidence, and i wouldn’t be surprised if he starts performing well and gets a few calls during the next cycle.

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  9. Good move. The one thing that’s always plagued Sacha (other than questionable hair/facial hair choices) has been inconsistent play, and I don’t think MLS is/was the place for him to improve that. For better or worse, he was going to start and play 90 in every game for Chivas so long as he was fit. While he could play his way into form, there was also no penalty for having a bad run of games. With Anderlecht there should be enough competition that he’ll need to step up his play and improve his consistency to remain in the squad.

    Even though he’s been a popular whipping boy of late, the fact remains that an in form Kljestan can only help the USMNT.

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  10. The more national team members we have playing in Europe the better. Can’t wait to see him in Champions League games.

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  11. Desparation? More money. Better team. Tough Champions League competition on a regular basis. What’s desperate?

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  12. Why are you worried about what that undersized walking male reproductive organ writes?

    He clearly lacks potency.

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  13. Well the Belgians don’t agree with you and they are putting their money where their mouth is.

    Are you a better talent evaluator than they are?

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  14. It’s not desperate at all. Anderlecht are a champions league team and the best team in Belgium. In my opinion they are better than Celtic.

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  15. As a Galaxy fan, I’ve always been somewhat of a Kljestan hater. I try to look past club loyalties for players on the national team, but Sacha has been pretty disappointing since his hat trick against Sweden so he makes it kind of hard. I think why I’m so hard on him is because I expect more out of him. Sacha doesn’t suck. He’s definitely got skills. For me it’s his attitude, that needs work. He was playing better for Chivas this season, but that team is such crap, so sometimes his efforts are kind of hidden.

    I congratulate Sacha on this move, and I hope he improves his game.

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  16. Trecker is so incredibly unbearable. I can hardly handle reading his garbage 32 teams 32 days report. He gives false dates and stats throughout the entire thing. How he is one of their tenured writers is an absolute mystery to me.

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  17. But I’ve never heard of any of these alleged, eurotrash, so called countries. Like, LOL, ha ha ha, you worked in “England.” Riiiiight. See, I get it! I’m in on the funny!

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