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Bolton still interested in acquiring Ream

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photo by ISIphotos.com

New York Red Bulls sporting director Eric Soler may have said Tim Ream is not for sale, but that hasn't stopped Bolton Wanderers from continuing to admit interest in the American center back.

Ream has spent this week training with Bolton, and he has made quite the impression on club manager Owen Coyle. The 45-year-old spoke about Ream on Thursday, hinting that the club is still keen on acquiring him during the winter transfer window.

"Would we like to have him at the football club? Absolutely," said Coyle. "Red Bulls have said that he is not for sale and that is totally understandable – I would say that about my top players. I can totally understand why the Red Bulls would say he is their player, because he is a prized asset

"But he has come in here, conducted himself very well and shown his quality – he has a lot of similar qualities to Stuart Holden, in terms of mentality and how he sees the game and wants to progress, and those are attributes I love.

"He is a New York Red Bulls player and I wouldn't say anything else beside that because you have to respect that he has come in for a week's training with the permission of the club. We'll leave it at that for the moment, and we'll see what January brings."

With Coyle expressing his interest in Ream, it will be interesting to see what transpires for the U.S. men's national team defender once the winter transfer window opens in January.

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What do you think of Coyle's comments? Should Ream move during the winter transfer window, or should he stay put in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. “…he has a lot of similar qualities to Stuart Holden, in terms of mentality and how he sees the game and wants to progress…”

    Yeah..the only distinguishable characterstic is that Holden passes it to his teamates.

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  2. Once again no one from europe is remotely interested in any of the other young CBs in MLS.

    Only one player has ANY interest.

    Arsene wenger likes him. WHY?

    because he saw him play IN FRONT OF HIM last summer and was impressed.

    Americans are absolutely clueless about soccer.

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  3. they have looked and they dont agree. they see NO quality in the other MLS CBs.

    No one is even sniffing a single one.

    Ream is being suited by dozens of european teams.

    Americans are clueless.

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  4. Virtually none of a transfer fee would go to him if he COULD transfer but he can’t. He’ll never get a work permit. He’s played in less than 25 percent of the USMNT games in the past two years.

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  5. I see him doing well as a Ball-wInnIng Mid in front a strong physical back- line. If he hits the weights, gets a third lung and legs for days. He could be quite an engine for the USMNT.

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  6. it’s possible he could get a permit even if he was under the req. amount, dempsey was under when he was trying to move to fulham but he appealed and got his permit

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  7. If I were the NYRB I would sell him so I could at least get something for him rather then just have him leave after next season. I do worry about how he well would do and how much playing time he would get in the EPL though. He has never faced strikers with the quality that are in that league

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  8. You all can laugh all you want at Ream’s qualities. I’m not even convinced, but it’s obvious that intelligent soccer people around the world think he’s a quality player.

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  9. i think there is some benefit to him having a college degree, and that he can offer something to British society due to that as well. I think there are some cases where this has helped players.

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  10. There is rumor…as evidence of how much of a train wreck RB management can be, that they offered him an extension on the team bus at one point, circumventing proper channels. He turned it down. Sounds far fetched, but you never know.

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  11. How many nats games has Ream had? Was El Salvador the horrible one? If Ream is truly as good as his performance led many to believe last year, then he’ll know how to unslump himself (to quote Dr. Seuss).

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  12. If they sell cahill, they can buy ream and another defender and still have some cash left over to take the team to olive garden. However, MLS wants close to 9 mil for brek shea- I think some teams would be scared of that price tag.

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  13. Work permit is a big isssue for Ream to go to England. As far as whether its a good signing depends on what they get him for. He only has one year left on his contract so if he doesn’t get transferred in January he will leave on a free transfer after this season. Ream had a good rookie year, not so good 2nd year until the end when he partnered with Keel instead of Marquez. He seems to struggle against top competition howevever he was also out of form for alot of these games. Now he is back in form so maybe he could do ok in EPL. However, its a tough league to be a defender.

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  14. Not to mention that Ream (and Agudelo) should seize on any opportunities in the EPL to get away from the Soler/Backe train wreck asap. He needs to be with a stable club with competent management, with a positive training environment and leadership on the field and bench, so he can grow and fully realize his talents. Those qualities were never — and never will be — present at NYRB under Soler/Backe. Wish him all the luck, nice player and good kid from what I understand…

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  15. From the FA

    Criteria for Players

    To be eligible for a Governing Body Endorsement under PBS:

    1. The applicant club must be in membership of the Premier League or Football League. During the period of endorsement, the player may only play for clubs in membership of those leagues (i.e. the player may not be loaned to a club below the Football League);

    2. The player must have participated in at least 75% of his home country’s senior competitive international matches where he was available for selection during the two years preceding the date of the application; and

    3. The player’s National Association must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA World Rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application.

    Again, it is #2 that Ream has a problem with, unless he has a European Union passport laying around that we don’t know about.

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  16. Ream is quality. Anyone who judges him based on a bad run of form and not on his overall skills, performances and potential is making a big mistake. Go back and look at the comments made about Holden when he was going to leave. No one thought he’d have the kind of success he had. And no one had him pegged to play center midfield for Bolton. Without Holden Bolton has collapsed. Coyle has said so himself. Ream can make it. Would I rather see him stay in NY…only if there was a different GM and Coach. NYRB continue to be a managed by a bunch of clowns. So get out while the gettin’ is good Timmy…you can do it.

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  17. If NY value him so much then have him sign a contract extension. Last year he was making 60k (approx), give him a bump up and extend the him 1-2 years to get a little bigger transfer fee.

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  18. I wonder if they are going to move him to the mf to take advantage of his passing since he can’t defend even MLS level players. ‘Soft’ defenders don’t usually word out to good in the EPL.

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  19. If i was ream, id make the jump. Hes newly married- making 55 grand a year when he can be making a significant amount more over seas. Gotta cash in on a short career. The price tag on his head is almost 5 mil-I think bolton would be willing to pay that.

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  20. These English coaches have absolutely no clue. They probably watched the guy practice for a couple of weeks rather than got on this site to get a true assessment of how nobody is any good.

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  21. I don’t see how he gets a work permit to be honest. Unless he is working on some kind of european passport due to a relative of some country or another. He simply does not have enough caps over the last two years. First your country has to be good enough, which we are. Then, you have to have played in something like 70% of your countries games over the past year or two. Robbie Findley lucked out because of all the WC games and qualifiers he got. That is why it was smart of him to bolt. He knew he wasn’t getting many more chances.

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  22. i believe it is 75%… Haven’t European scouts watched him in National team games?? He is really not impressive at all. I think Gooch has more pace than he does.

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  23. Can he get a work permit?

    Glad he made a good impression. Unfortunately, it looks like Bolton is so ravaged by injuries that they’re gonna get relegated. Would suck to see Ream move, probably play little this year as he gets acclimated, then when he finally breaks in, it’s in the Championship. :

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  24. Ream needs to move while he still can due to work permit constraints. Someone inform me what is the percentage of annual caps you need to be given an English work permit?

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  25. This can’t be. Posters have already told us he sucks. How can the sacred EPL be interested in him? Don’t they read the comments here? Don’t the read Bigsoccer? What’s wrong with these people?

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  26. Personally I’d love to see more top US players plying their trade in MLS. This is what is needed to raise the level of the league.
    Unfortunately the reality is that this is not going to happen in the near-term. A player’s career is short and each player needs to focus on the fastest route to reaching their goals as well as earning money. For Ream, that would mean going to Bolton now. It’s a big loss for MLS, but it’s something I would never fault him for doing.

    Reply

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