U.S. national team striker Jozy Altidore is heading to Turkish league champions Bursaspor on a six-month loan, Altidore revealed via Twitter.
Altidore leaves Villarreal in search of more playing time after being limited to cup appearances and a substitute role on a strong Villarreal side currently in third place in La Liga.
Bursaspor is currently in second place in the Turkish Super Liga, two points behind Trabzonspor. Bursaspor recently added another forward, Kenny Miller from Rangers, to help bolster the attack.
What do you think of the move? Like the idea of Altidore playing for a strong team? Worried about him going to Turkey? Ready to go stream-hunting to watch him play?
Share your thoughts below.
Interesting — thanks for posting, Not sure I’d put a lot of stock in those rankings. The Scandinavian leagues are really far down the list. I’m surprised to see the Ukranian league ranked above the Dutch and the Turkish, though Dinamo Shaktar and Metalist do well in Europe — 2008 performance really skews in Ukraine’s favor — otherwise Turkey would rank ahead. As for the Scandinavian leagues — for example, Israel seems to be ranked unjustly high. There are some good teams there, but… Ditto for Cyprus, Bulgaria, Belarus, and a few other countries.
I wonder if MLS’ top clubs got to play in European competition, where the league would be ranked.
haters gon’ hate.
good stuff jozy get those minutes… and finish!
I agree, hope for lots of playing time. It will be a great thing to follow the next 6 months.
I don’t hear people saying about Maurice Edu:
“Scottish league? may as well come home to MLS eh?
Dude, London is way better than Boston. NYC and London is a fair comparison, but… Boston and London? You’re delusional.
I guess that’s why Argentina never won the World Cup–Cuz Maradona didn’t play in the Premier League!!! I’m sick of US soccer’s droning, zombie-like England-philes. Some of those teams are pretty good, too bad they’re all in horrible slums of death like Liverpool, Birmingham, and Newcastle. Try Detroit or Buffalo TIMES ONE MILLION, Okay? England sucks, get over it. Even London. What’s so great about it? It’s no New York or Boston. Turkey’s a much nicer country than England, so ENHORABUENA to Jozy.
Their top three goalscorers have 6, 5, and 4 on the season.
I for one am incredibly disappointed. I had soooo many punny one liners for when Jozy went to Stoke City. *sigh* back to my mundane office job it is.
Yeah, but he’s old and pale. The hot Turkish sun (later in the season) will wilt his delicate skin.
Do Jozy and Freddy have the same agent?
In Jozy’s defense — he’s very young and inexperienced…and Hull was gadawful. He got no help there. — but he didn’t get loads of playing time there, either. He got some, and made some nice plays, including a very nice goal. While he did seem to learn a lot about diving there, he’s been showing a lot of growth as a target player — the kind that sets up teammates…witness his good WC performance. In his limited Cup play this year for Villa, he did score. Perhaps that’s a sign that he’s upping the level of that part of his game, too. We already know he can score in CONCACF. Now, he’s just got to do it against stiffer competition.
For what it’s worth, I’ve always been more impressed with Jozy’s potential than Adu’s, There’s a reason why his career has been on a higher trajectory. No reason to lump him in with Adu and no reason to think he’ll be a flop at Bursaspor. Might take him some time to adjust — and time to work with teammates who will be speaking Turkish — but he’ll get it.
Which is to say: pretty much.
UEFA association coefficients:
England 81.070 (1)
Spain 76.329 (2)
Germany 66.936 (3)
…
Netherlands 37.129 (9)
Turkey 35.050 (10)
Greece 33.766 (11)
Denmark 30.350 (12)
…
Norway 14.375 (26)
Serbia 14.250 (27)
Sweden 14.125 (28)
Looks like the only other strikers they have on roster are Sercan Yıldırım, Kenny Miller, and Turgay Bahadır
Understatement.
The Turks are all about the technical and the physical. Fitness is an unused word.
I spent time in Istanbul with Fenerbache (family member was the player, not myself), and I can tell you first hand that drinking/smoking are regular pregame activities.
And the environment is the most hostile I’ve ever seen in all of my travels.
Jozy to Bursaspor = Van der Vaart to Spurs
Rossi is American. Sorry to burst your narrow-sighted bubble, but citizenship goes far beyond the soccer pitch.
Besides, this is the “world of soccer with an American voice,” not “American soccer with an American voice.”
No I don’t agree. Turkish league is better than MLS and if he came to MLS what would you have Jozy be doing from now til the end of March?
Bottom line: If he scores a bunch of goals, its a good move. Jozy has to regularly score goals somewhere — and one of the best teams in Turkey seems like an appropriate test — before he can reasonably be expected to get serious minutes in a top league. Its up to him.
He’s too young for that. If he’s 28 and still doing loan deals, then the moniker fits.
It says they have their own on line network
http://www.bursasportv.com/
I was wondering the same thing. Also, if I’m not mistaken they also just signed Kenny Miller from the Rangers.
With that said, I wish Jozy the best!
A stream-hunting we will go. I used to love watching Josy play for Hull, even in his limited minutes. The Saturday and Sunday matches with Villareal have been so few and far between that I haven’t seen him in a while. Hopefully there will be streams and hopefully they’ll be legit and good enough to be able to discern who is who.
Good luck to him.
Getting PT will be nice before the GC this summer. Would have been happier if it was with a mid-table team in the Prem or Bundas, but a top team in Turkey isn’t bad. Just hope he continues to improve, gets @ least 45-60 minutes on a consistent basis, and builds his confidence. Racking up some goals wouldn’t hurt either. Best of luck Jozy!
Ives, any word on why Bursapor wants Jozy? Are they short a forward? Is he filling in for an injured player? They seem preety good sitting in 2nd place…just wondering…
He’ll only get CL footy if he’s purchased by Bursaspor. It’s a six month loan, and Bursaspor’s been eliminated, if I’m not mistaken.
Still, good move for Jozy…SO LONG as he gets PT.
I think many people on here just want to be able to watch him play and progress, myself included, so we were rooting for an EPL/La Liga move. I think Turkish League is just fine for a 21 yr old American striker.
So does why Ives mention his name. Grow up
Nope…Turkish league is quite good. I would say it is in-between Bundesliga and Scandinavian leagues.
He is going to a team that needs him to perform to win a championship. Jozy needs the PT and the pressure.
Great move for him!
I sure hope he gets minutes. Kenny Miller was a goal machine in Scotland and he’s already netted for Bursaspor on Saturday.
Overall, probably a “bit” better than the MLS. But after the first three or four teams, the quality drops down tremendously. The first three teams plus Gala or pretty good.
This is the THIRD loan spell for Altidore. True he didn’t get ant playing time at Xerex, but he got loads at Hull and in the PREMIER LEAGUE and barely scored and didn’t have much effect on the team.
Should he flop at Boraspor, he may keep Freddy Adu company or be sold to some obscure 2nd division team.
Even though he is 20, he has been given more opportunities, more chances, than even Freddy Adu.
Potential goes only so far, results are needed now.
Never mention his name on an AMERICAN site ever!
Should be a good move for him. The guy needs to play – and more to the point, he needs to score.
Bursaspor is visible, they win a lot of games, and more to the point, they control a lot of games. He’ll get service for once in his professional career and a chance to be a focal point of a very dominant team…and he’ll get Champions League football on top of that.
It ain’t La Liga, but I’ve never really thought Altidore was the guy to break through in La Liga anyhow.
Rossi…oh, nevermind. Won’t even go there.
Barring the last minute loan deal from an EPL club that I fantasized about, I think that this is good. At least he’ll have playing time–he’s still so young, and I think that this is a good step in his development as a player.
As for stream hunting, we’ll see. Although I suppose that a lot of my time has been freed up now that I don’t have to go searching for a BMG stream to watch Bradley.
ew
Is there an option to buy?
Whoa, talking about a heavy news week for U.S. soccer!! I can’t keep track of who’s where and for how long and what is and isn’t anymore.
Wish him the best. Can’t wait to see him scoring goals.
How many more loans before he is officially a Journyman?
The Turks are physical but also technical, not so much about the fitness. Hopefully Jozy excels in the league, but I’m glad this is only a loan and not an ultimatum.
No.
you’re an idiot, or a troll, not that the two are mutually exclusive…. The Turkish league will ideally give Jozy the minutes he needs. Is it as good as La Liga? No, but it had been made clear that jozy was most likely NOT going to stay in Spain. Going to bursaspor puts him on a great team in a good league, and in a position to get some minutes, and confidence.
I think playing regularly will be good for Jozy, especially with so much young talent suddenly in the forward pool
Nooooo! I was hoping for a last minute swoop by a Premier League club.
I would have liked him to go to a different league. But I think playing time is priority for him at the moment. I just hope Villarreal decides to keep him when he comes back.
It will be good to see Jozy get playing time, but I would have preferred the Premier League or the Championship as a loan move. I think he fits in well there.
please don’t stop the music and the haters
Turkish league is probably better than MLS… so no, I don’t.
Not even close.
Mixed bag. Good for him for getting playing time, in an intense environment.
Never had a problem with him sitting on the bench and developing under Villareal either.
meh turkish league, may as well come to MLS on loan, anyone else agree?
Great move for Altidore, I wish him a lot of PT and success