Photo by ISIphotos.com
Two clubs have stepped up their interest in the Jozy Altidore sweepstakes.
Besiktas is hoping to acquire Altidore, who would join former Villarreal teammate Nihat Kahveci should he land on the Turkish club. Besiktas will need reportedly need a five or six million euros transfer fee if it wishes to acquire the U.S. international.
Altidore is also attracting interest from Ajax, which is looking to find a partner for Marko Pantelic. Ajax is targeting a one-year loan, but it appears Villarreal would rather sell.
What do you think of Altidore possibly joining Ajax or Besiktas? Which would you prefer? Hoping he returns to the English Premier League?
Share your thoughts below.
Jozy is what he is. He’ll never fulfill his potential. Tired of people raving about him. He’s done nothing and wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t make the starting XI in 2014 for USMnT.
He doesn’t score goals no matter where he is
Ives–
Any thoughts on Jol staying at Ajax?
Is that better or worse for the Altidore transfer situation there?
In the one competitive game that Buddle actually played, he was easily– easily– the worst American player on the pitch. He created one half-chance early on and then did absolutely nothing for the remainder of his 35-ish minutes on the field.
As is typically the case, picking players based on whether they happen to have had a lucky streak coincide with the period immediately before the World Cup, rather than based on their actual talent, is a terrible idea.
And it seems like those flaws are corrected by playing more, gaining experience at high levels, and getting a feel for the game. I don’t think anyone’s mental game is completely defined at 20, without a lot of minutes at a high level. No other team sport would say that a 20 year-old has no room for mental improvement, no room to gain tactical understanding. In fact, they’d say the opposite.
And, to be honest, Jozy looked better at the World Cup than a lot of other players. (Rooney, for example.) I just don’t understand all the negativity. Because he’s not scoring double-digit goals in the EPL as a 20 year old? Really, that’s reason to write off his career, or refuse to call him up to the USMNT? He’s the best forward prospect in the history of US Soccer, and he still has perhaps the highest ceiling of any young American player (possibly excepting Michael Bradley.)
He didn’t peak as a teen in MLS. He moved from a league he was dominating as a teenager to the highest levels of soccer, and he’s made obvious strides in many areas. How is this a negative trend?
OUT-THE-DOOR is OVERRATED!
Lionel Messi had all the touch he needed when he was about 12 or 13. Read up on the superstars (like George Best, Pele, etc.) and you’ll find that many of them had the basics down by that point. They were just waiting for their bodies to catch up.
They had a lot of Ajax matches at the beginning of the season, but less so near the end.
They had a lot of Ajax matches at the beginning of the season, but less so near the end.
Pantelic and Suarez are reportedly for sale and may be gone soon…or not.
If Jozy knows whats best for his career then he should deffently go to Ajax. They would really turn him into a world class striker. Then I would think after the 2014 World Cup if he scores a few goals and has a real good tournement you could see him signing for a top 4 club in England, Spain, Italy or Germany.
Note my use of the present tense.
Ajax is a good team in a third-tier league. Jozy has already played in the EPL, so he needs to either stay in La Liga or move to another EPL team. Ajax and Besiktas would be a step backwards.
And I’ll “move along” when I like.
Ajax, the Dutch league has been good for Americans.
Seriously? A kid at 16 has the same touch he’d have after going to a college program or club training program for several years?
I think Ajax is a great fit for Jozy. You have to feel that Ajax has confidence in their ability to develop him further so they must have seen something worth investing in. If he responds, he will get cosistant playing time.
Send Suarez to a bigger club and replace Altidore with him. 🙂
That just about says it all.
Of course other than that he is the saviour of US soccer.
When Heskey first came out, the big thing about him was he was a monster, a beast, defenders were terrified of his power snd speed. Somewhere along the way, Heskey lost his confidence and started to look more like Jozy or the Bobby Zamora of two years ago. does today. Defenders eventually realized he wasn’t a threat to score and it all just went south on him.
Jozy has enogh skill and talent right now. It’s all about confidence; so I don’t care where Jozy goes as long as it’s someplace where he can find his confidence. If that’s someplace where he picks up a couple of new positioning and decision making skills along the way fine.
The great players just do, they don’t think. Pele, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird,Cruyff,Maradona, Zidane, those guys just did what came naturally after years of games, work and practice.
Though he is better, Jozy still is thinking too much. He needs to get to where he is all just instinct.
That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve read on here. First, Jozy scored plenty of goals in MLS as a teenager. Second, the only time he was on a team that both wanted him and had decent players, he scored for Villareal (one goal in six games.) Xerez was a joke, and Altidore had no service at Hull, but while there, he refined the other aspects of his game that would serve him very well, and were on full display in the World Cup.
Let him have a full season on a decent team and see how it plays out.
Actually , I was referring to both of them today at the age of 20 but if you want to compare the 20 year Jozy to the 14 year old Adu I’d still say it’s very close and I’d lean towards Jozy mostly because he is a phsyical specimen with skills who mostly needs to get his head sorted out and then he could become Drogba-like.
If so, that would make him a prized player. Note that Drogba started to get attention in France when he was about 24 before he got to Chelsea. So Jozy has about 4 years yet to develop.
It’s hard to say what would have happened if Alex Ferguson had seriously taken Adu under his wing at 14. SAF said a lot of nice things back then, but he often does that and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Freddy wasn’t going to get any faster, quicker or taller. He might have gotten stronger. If he stayed with it he certainly would have had a more disciplined off the field life. And maybe he develops more of a “football brain”.
He doesn’t have one at the moment.
I don’t know Freddy well enough to tell you if he has had bad teachers or is just a lousy student. If so, then maybe he becomes who?,the next Iniesta or Xavi?
Maybe, but what really characterizes those guys are their football “brains” their “vision” and instincts. If Freddy didn’t have those at 14 he was never going to get it, at least not to that level. It was obvious in Messi at 12-13 and it was just of matter of waiting for his body to catch up.
I bet you if Messi had gone to DC United when he was 14 and if he felt at home, he would had a much greater impact than Adu did.
These are not unfair comparisons since Adu was supposed to be the next Pele.
So I still think Jozy is a safer “upside” bet.
Nacional are in Uruguay. Gronigen is in the Eredivisie and were in the UEFA Cup the year Suarez was there.
I’d back either team to beat Jozy’s Hull team. Also, I’m pretty sure Jozy has never scored in double figures for one season, for any team,ever.
Suarez did it twice before he got to Ajax. He’s been at Ajax since 2007 and in 97 appearances has scored 74 goals. Plus, in 36 appearances since 2007 for Uruguay, he has scored 13 goals. To put that in perspective that is a scoring rate for Uruguay of one goal every 2.77 games. Donovan, our leading goal scorer scores at a rate of one goal every 2.82 games.
I think it’s safe to assume Suarez was a much more accomplished goalscorer at 20 than Jozy is at 20.
Jozy has a ways to go to catch up to him.
Uh… what?
Ajax!
An overwhelming…I think unanimous majority want Altidore to Ajax. Same here.
I am no manager or scout but, I think Adu is very skilled but he lacks the quickness to get by people, does not have the strength to deal with physical defenders, he is not a great decison maker with ball and lacks dfensive ability or awareness. But that is just my opinion.
Going to Turkey will either make or break him. While I know he had the headbut at the end of the season, he has always seemed a bit care-free and passionless…which might explain his other main problem: a lack of hustle (which is not encouraging as people generally get lazier with age). That care-free attitude will not fly in Turkey, especially with the fans in Istanbul.
As the benefits of Ajax are more than apparent, I thought I’d share a bit of perspective about how things are in Turkey.
Just my two cents.
Ives,
Can you contact the 10+ coaches who have coached Adu throughout his Benfica/Belenenses/Monaco/Aris stay and find out whether Adu is a terrible influence in the locker-room, or just simply not cut out for top-tier footbal? If not, based on what? Lack of speed, lack of defense?
Enough managers have looked at him and decided to pass…. something is going on other than managers hate American players, blah, blah blah
not from a technical standpoint they don’t. That’s something thats perfected before you hit 16.
Besiktas is also rumored to be looking at Guti, Raul and Eduardo. They allready spent a bunch on Quaresma and aren’t going to spend $10+ million on Altidore if they land one of those three. Altidore would really have to work for time at BJK as it is. Bobo is an automatic starter. He’d have to compete with Mert Nobre, Nihat and Holosko for playing time. Fortunately none of those guys have a starting spot staked.
They’ve also got a pub near Craven Cottage called McBrides. That should be enough.
By the way— what makes people think that Bradley and Hodgson play similarly?
I just don’t see it.
Bradley plays destroying soccer.
Hodgson plays possession.
Bradley plays with wingers fairly wide.
Hodgson plays with attacking midfielders who switch from outside to inside and operate as 3 playmakers in front of a holder.
I really don’t see the similarity other than the fact that they both play 4-4-2.
Its quite obvious that God is American and hates soccer.
“Well we prob have some Messi out there but he won’t be in the system because his family doesn’t want to pay $800 to join system, or if he is already playing organized ball, the coaches (e.g. soccer dad) rejected him because he’s not strong/fast enough to play kick and run.”
I agree with some of the points in your first paragraph but the rest is just a hysterical oversimplification that fails to acknowledge the real progress made in American youth development and naively overlooks the realities of the modern youth game.
The tired argument that all American soccer needs is to put an end to “kick and run” ball is usually put forth by zealous soccer dads who have recently finished reading “Football for Dummies” or the latest Cruyff biography.
Totally agree man.
Hull was the worst team i had ever seen.
He scored against Man City in the EPL. I watched the game.
I don’t listen to anyone saying Insha’Allah. God has nothing to do with it. If it did then it’s quite obvious god is either Italian (an Inter fan) or Spanish (Barca/Spanish National team fan).
That’s because no one is sold on Jozy Altidore. He has still yet to prove himself.
I couldn’t agree more! Jozy is so overrated. He has done nothing impressive in his entire season at Hull nor the World Cup.
Look, Bradley made a mistake, just like with Eddie Johnson.
Jozy may not make the cut for the 2014 WC team.
+1
Jozy is champion’s league? Wow…
not saying it was Findley’s fault jozy didnt score. Instead of insert Buddle for altidore…Buddle/gomez for findley
Findley was the worst choice we had out there. I would still have altidore over any of the Buddle, Gomez, Findley trio. He didnt score but he looked a hell of a lot better than findley running the ball out of bounds.
Patrick: I say false back at ya!
As a Redbull, Josy would get a ball wide, make a good first touch and drive at, and beat, defenders. He wasn’t polished technically, but he was alright. It was when he was confronted with more physical defending and less space to operate that he had problems. He has been on a great learning especailly the last year on doing that so that he is now part of the attack even when not scoring. Now he needs to learn to create goals while dealing with physical play and closed space. That’s where he will make his living.
I’m afraid the more wide open spaces in the Dutch league (where most of the teams are pretty ordinary) he will revert back to the player he was in MLS. What he needs is a place where he can combine the player he was with the physical play he learned. Ideally, that would be Spain. But I think Turkey would be better for that process than Ajax – as much as respect their history. (That said, Ajax would not be a disaster by any means.)
ben: Yup. Exactly. My money is on Drogba
I think Ajax is the better option.
Soccer intelligence cannot be gained by playing in the US system. It is gained from the surrounding “soccer” culture, .e.g., watching soccer 24/7, playing soccer on a daily basis without coaches telling you want to do in a structured environment.
Do you see this happening anywhere in the US? Well we prob have some Messi out there but he won’t be in the system because his family doesn’t want to pay $800 to join system, or if he is already playing organized ball, the coaches (e.g. soccer dad) rejected him because he’s not strong/fast enough to play kick and run.
Xavi also has a very high work rate. No one covered more ground (in terms of kilometers) the last World cup.
Well, that’s the thing isn’t it? Josy is on course to become either Drogba or Hesky. Stay tuned . . .
+100
Ajax would be awesome. I’m actually surprised Jol left that place.
I lived in Turkey for several months, caught a few Besiktas and Fenerbache games… most intense environment I’ve ever been in, hands down.
I’m split on this. On one hand, the most important thing is that Jozy actually gets minutes abroad. However, this kid also needs to play with some top talent. People complain about his laziness or air-headed attitude on the pitch for the USMT. I don’t think its him being lazy or stupid, but I do think he greatly lacks pure soccer instinct. Where it might come off to us that he quit when he couldn’t get to the ball. It often is just Jozy taking a bad angle or moving to the wrong space. His decision make is very questionable and I think this could all improve under the tutelage of some talented mentors. But, if he can’t get on the field, its pointless. A 1 year loan is really the best option for him. But, sounds like he is going to be sold.