Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
The Philadelphia Union's preseason is starting to become more notable not for who is in camp but for the attackers who are spending time in England.
According to his agent, Richard Motzkin, third-year forward Danny Mwanga is training with Aston Villa for the next 10 days. Mwanga is the second Union attacking player to entertain options in the Premier League after Sebastien Le Toux was on trial at Bolton a couple of weeks ago. There has been no official resolution yet regarding Le Toux's situation, but recent comments made by Bolton manager Owen Coyle make it seem unlikely that Le Toux will be joining the club.
"Sebastien came in for a couple of days, and to be fair to him he hadn't trained for four or five weeks," Coyle told UK reporters. "He did fine and that's where it is. We'd have probably needed a longer look."
As for Mwanga, four days remain in England's transfer window, though this stint could be more with an eye toward the future considering his current citizenship status and the red tape involved in the work permit process. Aston Villa, however, could be in search of additional forwards in general considering that Darren Bent has become a reported transfer target for Liverpool and Robbie Keane's loan will expire at the end of next month.
Should the Union lose either Mwanga or Le Toux — or both — they have reinforcements after signing Costa Rican striker Josue Martinez and drafting UCLA standout Chandler Hoffman in the offseason.
What do you make of this development?
Share your thoughts below.
Philly needs both…Josue is that 2nd guy that was lacking the past 2 years.
Bent won’t be leaving Villa for Liverpool any time soon. I’m surprised that people are still peddling that rumor.
Yes its all kilinsman doing
The loss of Seba woudl have an immediate impact for Danny it would be more long term in what could have been. He showed a few glimpses last year but seemed to be pushed off the ball too easily.
Baby steps
Exactly, the idea of keeping this team together for the long run is great, but I know it won’t happen. Big pieces will leave for Europe. It’s one of the hardest parts of rooting for an MLS team
Just a heads up, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo (named Zaire when Mwanga was born) was never an England protectorate. It was owned by Leopold (Belgium).
Exactly, this kind of tighter relationship between MLS, EPL and Championship – as well as Bundesliga – that has been shown in Klinsmann era, building on prior trends of course – is real progress for MLS.
Young potential stars are more willing to come into MLS if they know there are relationships and opportunities to step up to top leagues, if they prove themselves worthy.
Even of Mwanga most likely is hanging and playing in Philly for next year or two. That’s not a bad thing.
Well, being a feeder league is better than whatever the MLS was viewed as before. I guess.
From what I understand, it is a lot easier to gain a UK work permit if you’re a citizen from one of the commonwealth nations. While most were former colonies, it doesn’t apply to all colonies, such as the States.
Does England have different rules for Africans? Or is that just in France, for their ex-colonies, for example?
Since he wouldn’t get a work permit this is nothing more than a training trip.
As a Union fan, I like how we have been building around young talent but have I wondered how long before some of them leave for other leagues. I’m happy for Seba and wouldn’t look to much into Mwanga for now but it will be interesting to see what happens with players like Mwanga, Adu, Farfans, Williams, etc in the future.
The Union can afford to lose either one, but not both. Mwanga didn’t play a lot last season. Personally I don’t think he’s quite ready for this big a step up. He needs a good couple of seasons in MLS first.
This may be a trial but more likely for the summer window as opposed to the current one. Danny has no national team caps for Congo (who are out of the top 100 Fifa rankings). Danny is not an American citizen but is on his way and it was rumored he would be attaining his citizenship either in 2011 or 2012 and by moving out of the country he would probably hinder that process, he is represented by the giant wmgllc Agency who probably would prefer he get citizenship, have a breakout year for the Union then be bought next winter and become a USA national team star and EPL star (a lot of that is hope but also the most valuable outcome). The window also closes on Tuesday and I highly doubt Villa believe Danny could help them this season.
What’s the latest with his citizenship?