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Michael Bradley appears to have played his last game for Borussia Moenchengladbach, with a transfer expected to be completed before the close of the current transfer window.
Bradley has been linked with a handful of clubs in recent weeks, and Moenchengladbach's signing of Michael Fink on Thursday set the wheels in motion for a winter transfer for the 23-year-old Americans.
Galatasaray has emerged on Friday morning as the favorite, with multiple reports from Germany suggesting Moenchengladbach has already accepted an offer from the Turkish club. Other clubs linked to Bradley include Sunderland, Palermo and Spartak Moscow.
Here is my Fox Soccer take on Bradley's unsettled club situation, a situation that could be cleared up as soon as this afternoon.
An announcement could come as soon as later today, and a move for Bradley will likely mean a return to regular playing time after his recent two-match stint on the bench for Moenchengladbach.
What's my take on the latest developments? I didn't see Bradley going to Turkey, but Galatasaray has been after Bradley since the summer, so it's safe to say he'll take on a major role upon his arrival. Galatasaray has struggled this season in Turkey, but is a traditional powerhouse that won't be afraid to spend money to return to European competition, which Bradley has missed out on since joining Moenchengladbach from Dutch side Heerenveen.
What do you think of Bradley potentially moving to Galatasaray? Still hoping he winds up in one of Europe's Big Four leagues? Like the idea of Bradley playing for a team that could play in Champions League and Europa League in coming years?
Share your thoughts below.
Seems to be a popular transfer target for such a disappointing player.
Bradley sucks no team in the EPL even wants Bradley…
dan_bu
Michael Bradley to Aston Villa almost a done deal, according to “Kicker”. Would be a great move for him.
46 minutes ago
Granted I have never been to a Gala match, but I have been to a Besiktas match and the Turkish are not only passionate but also are intelligent about their football. They are a team that often competes in competitions at the highest level. Bradley will find himself in some of the most hostile and intense situations that any professional will find themselves in. This transfer is going to better him and as a result the USMNT.
Michael Bradley has been very, very disappointing this season, losing a lot of balls, never creating any security, which would be his job as a defensive midfielder. He is actually part of the reason why the club will be relegated…
QUE?
Go to Google. Type in “UEFA coefficients”.
Do a little reading. Report back.
“The transfer fee BM is asking for is extremely reasonable considering how highly everyone around here rates him. That said, as tough as it may be to accept, maybe he just isn’t as good as people profess him to be. How else can we explain the lack of rumored quality offers from higher teir clubs, especially, considering his modest transfer fee?”
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His fee is not modest if you don’t have the money or if you don’t need him.
Just because no one has come for Bradley to date, it doesn’t mean the Europeans don’t rate him. It could be the clubs who want him can’t afford him or the clubs that rate him already have good players in his position.
Bradley is good and had a good World Cup but he is not the US’ best midfielder. The best US midfielders are Dempsey and Donovan; I don’t see anyone coming up with
the bucks for them even though those two could be very, very useful to a lot of teams. That should tell you the transfer market is a little thin these days. There is a bad economy out there you know.
What did Bolton pay for Holden? Unless I’m wrong, Holden was a free transfer because his Dynamo deal had run out. So we can’t compare him and Bradley on that basis. But I’ll bet MB makes more.
Jones is a better player than either Bradley or Holden. He might be, right now, the most skilled and proven USMNT player in the pool regardless of position, maybe even more than Donovan and Dempsey. However, he’s also the wrong side of thirty and has a very questionable recent medical history.
If I’m the USMNT manager, I keep all my options open. The Gold Cup is almost 5 months away and who knows how well all of these players will be playing then or how healthy they will be. If history is any guide, the USMNT will have its share of injuries. It should look to keep as deep a pool of good players as possible. The US doesn’t have the luxury of ruling out anyone at this point.
Out of the choices he has been rumored to have, I would prefer him in Italy, but when it comes down to it, he needs to go where he is going to be playing the most. I still don’t understand why he left Hereveen, hahaha
“Although I have never been a big fan of Junior (most of his success has been the result of nepotism), he is a “wannabe warrior”.’
“3.A name suffix used after a son’s name when his father has the same name. Abbreviation: Jr.”
If his name was Robert Bradley you could call him junior. But it’s not. It’s Michael. So you shouldn’t refer to him as “junior”.
If you had a son named, for example, Richard Brown, then he would not be referred to as Junior either.
“The situations he will find himself in will temper his steel and exposure to an Eastern culture will broaden his intellect. He will be far from Daddy and may become a real “mensch”.”
MB moved to Europe as a teenager and was quite successful at his first team, Heerenveen. Unless I’m mistaken, I remember seeing a video of him giving an interview in Dutch, a tough language. I have read that he is also reasonably fluent in German. This would indicate that he he adjusting quite well off the field. If you think it’s easy to move by yourself, as a teenager, to a foreign country and be a success right away, then try it some time. I have and it’s not easy. If MB’s success in Holland and Germany were due to his dad’s nepotism, I’d love for you to explain how that works.
I doubt he needs much help broadening his “intellect”.
I’m sure big matches in Turkey are awesome but playing in Azteca and having bags of urine thrown at him, or playing in the World Cup with the entire Continent of Africa behind your opponent, Ghana, are pretty big matches too.
Bradley is better than Lucas. Bradley and Dempsey would both improve Liverpool, in my opinion.
So because Jozy Altidore had the highest transfer fee paid, he is the best American soccer player of all time?
Who is everyone?
Bradley is a good, relatively young, yet very experienced in the European and international game, box-to-box midfielder type. Is he the next Gerrard? I don’t know of anyone who thinks that. But he certainly has potential and he’s still quite young, the youngest of all the US midfield regulars. This combination makes him quite attractive
What attitude issues?
I don’t know what you mean by that but if you are talking about his hard man style, then you haven’t seen much of the European game.
“All I know is they set a sale price and no one from the EPL thinks he’s worth it. Tells me a lot…”
Depends on what you think it tells you. Maybe you haven’t noticed but the world economy is in the tank and “crazy money” transfers have been down considerably this season. All teams have been very careful about their spending.
Dempsey and Donovan are the US’ two best players and they are still sitting exactly where they were before the World Cup. If they haven’t gone anywhere, if no one is breaking down the doors for them, why should anyone be surprised that MB is still at BMG?
yoo they came out flat the fkrst 15 of every game in the wc.dont think that is a fair analysis of his coaching style
maybe so…but how do you explain the lack of suitors for what seems such a value price?
unfortunately he’ll end up at Accrington Stanley.
Was hoping it was the other Bradley….oh well
Hoffenheim could use him…
That was supposed to be in reply to WonsanUnited ^^
Right, because Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Hamburg aren’t crazy crowds to play in…
Playing in the Azteca will be a relaxing weekend….
haha beautiful
Sure, the Bundesliga is better than the Turkish Superleague. But there’s nothing like going into Fenerbahce, Besiktas, or Bursaspor, you don’t get experiences like that in the Bundesliga. The hostility on those stadiums is just insane. It’ll get him to start playing better under pressure and hostile crowds.
Josh – He was referring to the most serious bid which was from Sunderland at the time. They only wanted to play a little more than what the German team bought Bradley for in 08…
The thought was that Sunderland would step up their bid because of all the money they made from the Darren Bent deal which was 24mm pounds. So it could still happen easily with Sundreland throwing in around 2mm more pounds.
We’ll see
You’re right Ives. I was just thinking that his club is going to want to send him to whoever pays the highest price. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that the buyer isn’t going to want a player who doesn’t want to play for them.
Gala has Servet Çetin, who has the nickname “man who could choke a bear”… I think he played in the USA-Turkey friendly in Philly…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatasaray_S.K._(football_team)
I’m surprised that Gala has so many Turks on their team, thought there would be more internationals, brazilians especially. Only names I recognize are Kazim Kazim, Milan Baros, and Emiliano Insua…
Still hard to believe that anothe BL team hasn’t ponied up the cash for him
Dude, that’s not a catch 22. A catch 22 is a logical paradox arising from a situation in which an individual needs something that can only be acquired by not being in that very situation; therefore, the acquisition of this thing becomes logically impossible.
Bob Bradley is an AMAZING motivator and gets our USMNT focused. But I don’t see him as a coach who makes the right adjustments during the game, a coach who knows how to manage the game, a coach who sees players that will be good instead of”they used to be in great form a few years ago so I’m still going to put them on the team even though they suck now”.
thats obviously not a direct quote from him but I wish we had a coach that had a fresh perspective on things after seeing disappointment last summer.
his paycheck gets an extra zero
Only in MLS do they not have a choice, with our silly system of trades.
Ah I see. I wasn’t sure about how it worked. Thanks Ives.
A few games in the CL or Europa league are not a substitute for a high level domestic league. Turskish league is not terrible, but is a big step down from Bundesliga.