Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
New president of AS Roma, Boston-based Thomas DiBenedetto, is making changes at his new club.
Reports abound say that DiBenedetto will appoint Walter Sabatini as the new sporting director, and after that, he is apparently turning his attention to bringing an American star over to Italy.
The Boston Globe is reporting that Roma has contacted the agents for Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley about a potential transfer. Both players are currently under contract, with Donovan's deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy running through 2013 and Bradley's deal with Borussia Monchengladbach going through next summer.
Do you see Donovan or Bradley winding up at Roma? Do you think that'd be a good fit for either player? Which U.S. international would you want to see at Roma?
Share your thoughts below.
+10 LOL
The 10 million transfer fee mentioned is pretty high for a unproven guy in his 30’s. Maybe the DiBenetto should get over his nationality and use the money for something else.
Anyone think that Bradley looks like the evil monkey from Family Guy in this picture?
Anyone who thinks Lando isn’t a top player in the world is out of their mind. He’s not in the Messi tier, he’s not in the Silva tier but he is in that third tier of players who can start in any league in the world. Also, MLS bashing is becoming tiresome. I’m confident that at least 5 MLS clubs would not have been relegated in the EPL and I know all of them would survive The Championship. Give it 15 more years. Money, money money. We have the most and eventually we’ll have the best league in the world.
Roma should go after Agudelo, or someone like George John.
I think its time people faced the fact that Bradley simply isn’t all that. He’s a good player but not by any means great or a star. The fact that he gets an automatic start on the Nat team should not be confused with being a start. There’s a good reason for that and everybody knows what it is.
Bradley’s best move at this point would be to come back to MLS where he will actually play. Europe, on the top flight teams, is dead for him. MLS waits
Staright up trade for Pizarro, I would do it!
McBride scored 12 goals and couldn’t cut it in MLS the very next season…Relax euro****
Along with all the other things I’m sure everyone else will bring up Donovan’s loan at Bayern points out that talent and ability alone is not always the issue.
You need to have the manager and the management (not always on the same page) 100 % behind you. Klinsman was already on shaky ground with the Bayern powers.
You need the players to work with you. Bayern players see every new guy as competition for their money.
The team needs to have a clear role for you.Donovan wasn’t going to beat out Ribery
None of this was the case for Landon at Bayern as opposed to the exact opposite for Holden at Bolton. And don’t tell me Holden is a better or more talented player. He had the perfect situation, while Landon had the exact opposite.
Office politics and culture are, more or less, the same everywhere.
Maybe Roma would work out better for LD. Fluent in Spanish,he could pick up Italian very easily and that would help. And the food is better than in England.
“That’s why he barely gets play time in a lower division Turkish club. Ok, got it. ”
Bursapor, Jozy’ club, were Champions of the Super Lig, the Turkish First Division in 2010. You Jozy him confused with someon eelse.
It would be nice if any of that was written in English.
Lol
Heck, bring ’em both and scoop Chandler up too…
Let.s be real here, the sports group that owns Roma is very smart. They want an American face, to promote the team in the States (the last major market that’s not even a quarter invested into the sport). I would be willing to bet that if a big name American went there and played, the masses who don’t care about a team and only care about the player (typical US fan, at least on these pages), will in theory eat up the jerseys and watch Roma play increasing revenue etc.
(wow sorry for the run on sentence)
Donovan is a HACK dude could not play in the Seria A
You are either misinformed or remembering things incorrectly. Donovan wasn’t the reason the Everton deal never happened. It was Galaxy and the MLS.
As much as I love him at Fulham I don’t think you can say he is a fan favorite. From everything I have heard from Fulham fans when I was at the cottage to watch a match he is ranked behind a number of players on the team (Hangaland, Zamora, Baird, Sidwell and Dembele) and is nowhere near the league of a Mcbride. I think it a shame though as Dempsey in my mind has been the best player on the team for the last 3 years.
Bradley, yes.
Donovan, hell no. If he wasn’t willing to go to Everton then why Roma?
Landon Donovan has played in 3 world cups, scoring 5 goals and has been one of the leaders on the US teams that went to the quarterfinals and the second round… he does not need to impress your European-American friend, he’s done enough to impress us, USMNT fans…
interesting, BUT… MB is gonna be competing for a starting role next year as I understand, so it wouldn’t be good for him to go… As for donovan, He’s a finished product. he’s 28 or 29, at this point, allow him to save his legs and not get worn out by the rigors of European club soccer. in 2013, maybe he should go overseas to get sharp and confident for 2014, but right now, he should stay put
Do it. I hope he brings all the yanks he can to Italy. Gives me an excuse to watch more Serie A.
don’t forget Eddie Pope and Cobi Jones. They passed on Wynalda thouh….
I don’t know if Landon would want to go.. He in theory SHOULD, for all the aforementioned reasons, but will he? DOUBTFUL.. Think of the shame to be had in the event of a failed stint.. Coming home would take on an entirely different feel.. He would be 30+ and in essence limping back to the one league where his success has been a sure thing.. Yes he’s proved he can compete against the biggest names in the sport while playing at Everton but he also failed before that so while I would like to see him go and do well, I just don’t see him making the move.
Lets be clear here. I totally agree with your points about owners getting too involved with their clubs. I dont think you are an idiot and if i had offended you, that was not my intention.
Im just saying that you shouldnt have used the Torres situation as an example is all i am saying unless there is evidence saying otherwise. Agree to disagree and this aspect.
Correct, you don’t get the service he gets in the championship.
i knd of agree w that. donovan would be a great fit in la liga, plus his spanish is more than serviceable.
the thing about donovan is that even though he has been GREAT in MLS, he is even better the more he is surrounded by high level players. he would do great in italy, but frankly, he might be too good fro Roma. becks did well at Milan, and at this point, Donovan is a better player thean beckham was during his italian stint. LD could actually start for a superclub and do well.
uh, perhaps I “misremember”, but as I recall, I heard a number of reports all along was that Abramovich forced the transfer, and that when Torres wasn’t performing, he still had to start. I don’t think I made it up after the fact, before the fact, or during the fact. Did anyone expect him to be this bad, no, but does that mean that the coaching staff therefore must have initiated the move?
Could not the same questions you ask me about assumptions be asked of you? Seeing as the move is now seen as at least somewhat of a blunder, I like how you take the fact that no Chelsea employees have publicly gone on record as saying the move was made by the guy paying their checks, is somehow proof that it didn’t happen.
But I’ll concede, you’re stone cold facts are obviously correct, my bizarre, hindsight assumptions are way off base, and I’m just some kind of idiot. Woe is me. I still stand by my point that it’s dumb of owners to try to play fantasy football with real teams, but I’m an idiot, so what do I know?
I think a move to Italy in general would be good for Bradley. They focus a lot on controlling the tempo of the game, and this would definitely allow Bradley to polish his passing ability. He’s got a great range in his passing, better than people want to give him credit for, but his problem is consistency in his passing, not just from minute to minute, but from game to game.
He just went to the wrong Bundesliga team. Normally (not necessarily this year) teams play 10 men behind the ball when going up against Bayern. Donovan needs space to operate. He looked great in preseason, but then the real games began and he was getting shut down too quickly.
One thing we have to realize is that he was basically up against Thomas Mueller for future playing time. They did the right thing by getting rid of LD because Mueller is the superior player. Not to mention everything Donovan can do, Riberty can do better. I’m not saying Donovan hasn’t had a good national team career. His stats speak for himself. But on the club level I feel he is underachieving.
On any other team in the Bundesliga (except maybe Bremen) I’m sure Donovan would have done fine.
nice
Matt Taylor? I hear the guy is scoring loads of goals against first division reserve teams
http://www.talk-sports.net/mls/history.aspx/David_Arvizu
If Rossi goes to Italy it will be Juve. He has said that in the past.
Having Bradley try to replace Danny Murphy would be setting MB up for failure. He doesn’t have the passing skill required to play that role. For 70 minutes Murphy sprays the ball around the field….then he gets tired and becomes a non factor. They do, indeed, need to groom a replacement. Just not Michael Bradley.
This is the classical example of Hindsight Bias. Where was all this talk of Torres being a mistake, when it just happened at the close of the transfer window? No one thought he was going to be this awful. No one.
Sticking to your argument? How do you not know that the coaching staff of Chelsea wanted Torres? You dont. What if the coaching staff approached Roman and said this was a perfect opportunity to pry Torres from Liverpool and then Roman made it his top priority?? You dont know. What if Roman went to the coaching staff and they were thrilled about the idea of adding Torres? You dont know. Unless the coaching staff pubicly says that they didnt want Torres, your argument is based on assumptions. If they did say they didnt want Torres, i will sincerely apologize and retract my statement .Debating with assumptions is pointless. Is that really such a strange concept?
People on this board constantly under rate Fulham. Typically they know nothing about the club. I’ve just learned to ignore it.
(headshot)
Chandler? THAT would be something to keep an eye on. If a kid like that moves to a club like Roma and impresses with decent consistency, he could be the guy that ushers in that next era of young players to a more successful run in Europe than the last generation (and I’m not saying the last generation was unsuccessful).