photo by Ben Queenborough/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
A day before the U.S. men's national team friendly against Brazil, Jozy Altidore revealed that although his club future is uncertain, he'd like to stay with Villarreal.
Following Monday's training session at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Altidore told the gathered media that he hopes his future lies in Spain with the Yellow Submarine.
"Of course," said Altidore when asked if he would like to stay. "It's the club that gave me the opportunity to play in Europe, so if I had it my way I'd love to be there and prove my worth."
The subject of much speculation, Altidore has been linked with multiple clubs throughout Europe, including Ajax and Besiktas, the team he scored a goal on this past weekend in a friendly.
Even with the long list of suitors, the 20-year-old striker plans on being with Villarreal when it begins competitive play later this month.
"Do I expect to be there? Yeah I expect to be there…when's the first game," joked Altidore. "The Europa League game is the 16th or 19th so I'd like to be there."
While Altidore favors staying with Villarreal, there is no time table for a decision on his future, and he admits could still find himself playing elsewhere this season.
"Things could change overnight," said Altidore. "Nothing is for sure."
Feilhaber's Future
Speculation about a possible AGF Aarhus departure for Benny Feilhaber was fueled even further this past weekend as the midfielder was left out of the club's season-opening scoreless draw vs. Vejle on Sunday.
Feilhaber has been linked with a move away from the club ever since Aarhus was demoted to Denmark's second division in May, and at the Empire State Building on Monday he hinted at a possible exit.
"The situation is ongoing really, at least until the end of August," said Feilhaber. "We'll see what happens. I'm training with the team and focused to be playing with the team. I think maybe next week I'll be playing with them because I don't know how many more weeks they're going to keep me out of the team to see if something happens."
Feilhaber also confirmed that there is at least one potential suitor in Spain.
"There's a team in Spain I have heard is interested," said Feilhaber. "There hasn't been any official offers from any teams yet, so as of right now it is only an interest. Nothing much to talk about. Once it becomes something more official then I can actually think whether it's worth it, what would be good for me and everything."
Feilhaber did not want to specify which club it was.
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What do you think of Altidore wanting to stay at Villarreal? Believe the league would suit him and help him improve? Feel he should move elsewhere? What club do you think is interested in Feilhaber?
Share your thoughts below.
Danny Szetela may be the worst actually… I mean Freddy Adu’s hype is pretty infalted but Szetela was the super young signing that amounted to…..
at least Adu did stuff with DCU, and logged some goals with Benfica and goals/assists in Greece, not a real failure for a 20 year old prospect.
Not that I’m saying Adu will reach the hype but if it was any other young prospect people would be drooling over a 20 year old American doing that.
People get excited about Mikkel Diskurod, so come on.
Goodson too. Heard rumors from Denmark. Odense I want to say?
This is not true. Feilhaber was one of the worst rated players in the WC according to the Capello Index. He is a turnover machine. He is a good player in the second division in Denmark, which is equal to top NCAA soccer, and not more. The guy will not move back into the EPL because he gives the ball away too much, and is not a good enough defender to win balls back. There is no interest in him in Spain, unless from the 2nd Division, and I doubt that. This kind of story is put out by his agent: Feilhaber claims there is interest means nothing, nada, zilch. He would be playing for Aarhus if they really wanted to move him. He is just too risky to put on the field. He’ll be playing in front of less than 10,000 fans the rest of his career unless a nitwit like Bradley continues to put him on the field with the USMNT in a laughably misguided attempt to inject “creativity.”
Yep. Well said.
+1
I’ve always thought the Championship would be a good place for our young talent. They still get more exposure than in Scandinavia and in a league that will help them develop.
How talented is he though? Balotelli is a real head case. Lazy and petulant. And after all the documented cases of him displaying his lack of maturity he is still commanding 20M+ pounds on the market. And to top teams. And Jozy can’t find a club right now.
Sure he is talented. About as talented as 100 other prospects.
He has time to develop so we’ll see.
Get ready for the onslaught of comments bashing you for stating your own opinion. Happens on here quite often. If you don’t agree with these people you must be a troll, stupid, 16-years old, or just a hater.
quit being such a frickin homer. jesus. i am a fan of altidore but he’s clearly UNDERperformed considering the level of hype and expectations placed on him. FACT.
You see no difference in the expectations between Wayne Rooney and Josmer?
As a fan why is it important to criticize? Fan comes from the latin fanaticus (maddened, inspired by a God), thus a zealous appreciation seems more in line with the definition of a “fan”. 🙂
It seems that we all agree Jozy is at the very least a good player. You and Andy seem to want to be allowed to criticize Altidore which is certainly fair and I think even the most diehard Jozy fan will acknowledge that his game is not all there yet and he definitely has work to do.
The conflict between the Jozy “haters” and everyone else seems to be that while the Jozy haters seem to agree that Jozy is a good player they do not think Jozy has had good performances. If this is the case, what do the Jozy haters (at least the ones who think Jozy is good) base their belief that Jozy is a good player on? If they do think Jozy has had good performances, then why are they complaining?
If a player has performed well, then it seems foolish to criticize him. The consensus seems to be that Jozy has performed well, thus the outcry at this Jozy “hate”.
Criticizing a player because he doesn’t live up to one’s personal expectations (which if not based on the player’s previous performances are clearly worthless) is the stuff of bad fandom.
I don’t disagree with anything you said, except the idea that Jozy should be in the conversation with some of the best young talent in the world, which seems contradictory to me with the idea that there are better talents who are the elite of the elite. The elite of the elite are the best young talent in the world, and Jozy is not quite in that conversation. The likes of Ozil, Mueller, and Pato are way, way ahead of him.
That said, he’s 20, he’s big and strong, he’s quick if not fast, he knows how to go at people, and most importantly, he can finish, even if hasn’t scored a ton of goals lately. People seem to forget that he used to score plenty of goals at the tender ages of 16, 17, 18. I don’t think he somehow forgot how to do it.
Perhaps most promising of all is that in this World Cup, he finally showed signs of being able to handle the target striker position. I still don’t think it’s ideal for him, but playing in England clearly helped him learn a little bit about what to do when coming back to receive the ball with his back to goal. This only makes him more versatile and dangerous.
I’m going to wait at least another four years before I even start to worry about him. He is indeed coming along well.
True. I think the point is Jozy had a good enough WC to be in the conversation with some of the best young talent in the world.
Jozy plays like a man. Crushing defenders, drawing fouls. He can be tricky with the ball on his feet and can surprise a defender with a quick turn and run on goal. He causes problems for even the very best teams. All this at the age of 20.
He’s coming along quite well. Are there better 20 year old talents in international football? Yes and they are the elite of the elite.