Photo by Rick Osentoski/ISIphotos.com
United States national team striker Jozy Altidore was introduced at new club AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday, putting pen to paper on a four-year deal that seals his permanent move from Spanish club Villarreal.
Altidore, who will wear the No. 12 shirt, will play for coach Gertjan Verbeek, who was the manager at SC Heerenveen during Michael Bradley's successful stint in the Netherlands. Altidore, 21, will also play under the guidance of technical director and former U.S. international Earnie Stewart as he looks to find stability in a club career that has taken him from New York to Villarreal and loans to Xerez, Hull City and Bursaspor.
With AZ having lost striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to Ajax, Altidore should be able to come in and compete for the lion's share of minutes up top as a starter, something that he hasn't been able to secure on a consistent basis at his previous stops.
What do you think of AZ as a landing place for Altidore? Do you think he'll succeed in the Eredivisie? Happy the move is a permanent one instead of a loan?
Share your thoughts below.
Like the man says, you got to be cruel to be kind.
really good move. he needs to work hard and do his part to make it a “fair chance”. he’s young and he could really turn his career around here. i hope he does. and like someone stated above, if he can’t learn to finish in the dutch league, then he won’t ever learn. haha
He is 21. What were most of us doing at 21? Most of us could not hold a decent job at that age, much less compete with seasoned pros at clubs like Villareal.
Give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happens at AZ. This can only be a good thing for US Soccer.
Michael, you have very sage words +1
Reminder: Jozy said about Villareal, “I think I was at a time, too, when I was kind of still young and maybe it was a little much for me at 18. But it is what it is, it’s behind me now and you just take up those experiences and try to make it better.”
“The Dutch League is like a school of soccer,” Altidore said. “They teach the game very well, and they have that history of developing great players, so I’m hoping I can be one of those developments.”
Sounds to me like a guy ready and willing to get better!
+10
Verbeek did a magnificent job with MB. He is the key to this.
Exactly.
Ives is constantly addressing US Nats concerns through Q and A’s and comments on the comments. What other soccer site has that level of interactivity and response from its owner?
I love the “Jozy Altidore is poster child of US soccer’s failures” nonsense. What a freaking troll.
Truth. I hope that’s a Nick Lowe reference at the end.
Zing 🙂
Why? People who aren’t positive about a person or issue should leave? How about you and I leave, genius, since neither of us is contributing to a discussion about Altidore and at least BF was doing that.
I think they both do. Word out of PSV was that he liked to party a little too much
LOL! Had me dying for a sec there, nice one Mrs. Smith
He will turn out to be another Eddie Johnson!
One thing you all have overlooked is the most important person in this equation besides Jozy himself,Verbeek.
It seems like he is on board with this which is very vital. You need only look as far as Moyes with Donovan and Coyle with Holden to see how vital it is that the manager be a big believer in his American player. And of course, Verbeek got the most productive year out of MB yet; so we know he has at least some understanding of and a feel for American players.
Whether it was because getting the player was not their idea or because the player was not very professional, one gets the feeling that Adu and Altidore often did not have the most supportive managers. But time wounds all heels.
“Never been a fan” counts as a critical assessment? Wow, standards on the internet sure have dropped (and that’s saying something).
Let me interpret: “lack of any critical assessment of the problems with US Soccer” = “Ives tends to be a level-headed voice of reason who doesn’t back up the constant complaints of the overly demanding portion of the USMNT fanbase, but I’m going to dress it up a bit and make it sound like a failure of analysis rather than a refusal to give in to rabble rousing”
Well Jozy just made a permanent move from his first club. Freddy could never find a buyer that agreed to Benfica’s demands and so was loaned and continues to be loaned.
Good points.
True. He can’t afford to slack off in practice anymore adding to his bad reputation. Minutes. Are. Everything.
Yes, congrats to the former USA player…we’ll miss ya Out The Door
About 1 millon
Boycott AZ!
In this case should it be ‘poster children’? I have never heard it pluralized as ‘childs’ even if in that context.
People understand we’re probably not where we should be… they’re just aren’t huge Debbies about it
Check out their website, pretty much all their preseason scores look like that.
Apparently they play in the Alkmaar U-11 Girls Division for summer matches.
There’s “lack of critical assessmnet” and then there are pointless assertions. Find where AZ said, “We’re getting a highly technical player”. They are getting a player they think they can develop. I’m fairly certain that Earnie Stewart pays at least a little attention to the US national team and has a somewhat more informed and naunced opinion of Jozy that you delviered in your twenty words or so.
What are you babbling about? Jozy secured a move to a team that he can get consistent playing time. Getting more playing time and developing in a league that fits his current skill set can only be good for his career and for the USMNT.
Honey stop talking to yourself
thanks jeremy, I do rarely come to this blog given the lack of any critical assessment of the problems with US Soccer. Sorry, but Jozy is one of their poster child’s. If you can’t see that than you have a lot of studying to do.
Villareal gets any money off a sale of Altidore to any potential bigger club, only with the expense of paying his salary for the next two seasons.
“It sounds like Viallarreal are banking on AZ grooming Jozy. If Jozy can develop as a player then Villarreal stand to make a lot of money and not have to waste resources training him. Sounds pretty shrewd to me, especially since Jozy wasn’t in their future plans. They have completely off loaded him, and yet can still make money off him.”
If you had spoken up earlier, you coul dhave saved AZ some money
Michael Beasley is the one in trouble with the ‘sticky icky’, not DaMarcus Beasley.
there are some, but A) with the exception of Xerez, he’s played at all of his stops, and the season long one at Hull, he was an integral player. B) all of Adu’s transfers were basically salary dumps because they didnt want to pay him and he wouldnt play. From what I can tell, Alkmaar has bought Jozy from Villareal, making this a permanent move, something no one was willing to do with Freddy. There’s some similarities, but mainly becuase both were signed by large clubs at young ages and dealt out. Their performances haven’t been similar at all, in my opinion.
It’sa great move for Jozy. He mentioned the other day that Villareal was over his head when he went there. This is a great league for offensive players and hopefully AZ has the staff to work with him on the parts of his game that need working. 4 years is a good contract and hopefully he’ll earn his way and prove his value, repaying Ernie Stewart’s faith in him.
What you have to remember is both players are still very young. While it’s concerning that neither has been able to find a permanent club, we can only wish that they learn from the expirence.
Yeah there are some similarities, but look at how well Adu played in the Gold Cup. Both of them are still very young with plenty of years left. It would be one thing if they were in their late 20s, but they aren’t.
I promise I’m not trying to be a downer or troll, I’m legitimately looking for some insight with this question but… Isn’t this starting to look eerily similar to what happened to Freddy Adu when he jumped to Europe? Jozy wasn’t that much older than Freddy was when he moved to Europe right? And each ended up having several unsuccessful loan deals from their parent clubs in Spain/Portugal
AZ scored 5 goals in a friendly yesterday – can’t recall the opponent. Looks like Jozy will have some competition. He’ll have to produce.
Wait, Beasley smokes weed??? that’s awesome. I now like him a lot more. haha.
Thanks for letting us know. You can leave now, thanks.
If they hoped for a highly technical player in Jozy than they will sorely disappointed. Never been a fan.
Can’t believe he’s only 21. Seems like he’s been around for a long time. Hope this move works out for him.
Time for Jozy to put up or shut up. Best of luck to him!
Congrats to Jozy. Hopefully this is just what he needs.
Don’t pull a Beasley and stay away from the sticky-icky.
In all seriousness this could be a great move for him. He should get some quality PT and some great instruction while in the Netherlands.
good move for Jozy. He’s still young, but he needs to play. AZ is a top club in a league that has seasoned some of the best strikers in the world.
Any idea how much the fee was?
Really like this move. He needs minutes, and AZ needs strikers. Great technical attacking league- if he doesn’t learn to finish better here, he will never learn. But I think he will do great.
Good luck Jozy!
Great for Jozy!
He should be able to contribute to his new team and continue to grow in abilities.
fantastic league and team (from what I’ve hear) for him. Look for good things from him
Good for him. Better show up and train hard from the start. Otherwise it’ll be another painful stint