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Ream’s transfer to Bolton complete

  Tim Ream (ISIPhotos.com)

Tim Ream is officially a member of Bolton after his transfer from the New York Red Bulls was finalized on Thursday.

The transfer, believed to be valued near $3 million, is the highest ever paid for an MLS defender, surpassing the $2 million paid by French club Boulogne for former Chicago Fire defender Bakary Soumare.

Ream's transfer paves the way for the Red Bulls to secure a replacement in former Chicago Fire centerback Wilman Conde, who New York acquired the rights to weeks ago. Now with Ream's departure completed, the Red Bulls have the allocation money to make that deal happen.

Here is my Fox Soccer column on Ream's transfer, which was completed after Ream won a UK work permit appeal.

Ream leaves the Red Bulls have two seasons, the last one being a tough one for the former Saint Louis University centerback. He had several shaky moments, both for the Red Bulls and U.S. national team, but still showed enough skill to impress scouts, particularly Bolton, which came away impressed after Ream had a training stint with the club in December.

What do you think of the Ream transfer? See him doing well in England? Think the Red Bulls will miss him?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Best of luck to Ream. We will miss him at Red Bull Arena. Any further info on Stuart Holden and when we might see both on the field at the same time?

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  2. I can see Ream turning into a crackerjack center back with good coaching and the challenge of the stiff competition he will face in the EPL.

    Would love to see him play in the ’14 WC, and shine, shine, shine.

    Best of luck to Tim Ream at Bolton. Bravo!

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  3. Best Of Luck to him!

    Let’s hope that Owen Coyle can break him of the habit of making “piss poor” back passes.

    His calmness on the ball coupled with his ability to play out of the back, makes him ideal for the EPL. He needs to follow Michael Bradley’s lead by hiting the weight room and improving his foot speed in order to take his game to the next level,That said, I do think he is one for the near future.

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  4. Yeah, but how much offense did they generate after he went out. Almost zero.

    Cameron didn’t have his best game, but Parkhurst and AJ had awful games too. De La Garza was the one letting his man get wide and send in dangerous crosses constantly.

    It’s not worth complaining about the red card, because that’s what would have happened in a WCQ match, but Cameron played his cards as well as could be hoped for a CB in that situation. Was he supposed to allow an open shot on goal?

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  5. “after cameron went out the defense rarely let anything in the back.”

    That may not have had anything to do with Cameron.

    When you go down to 10 men you set up in a 4-4-1, pull your striker for a defender, bring in fresh legs if you can,defend like hell and don’t open yourself up for attack like you did in the first half.

    Having the lead mkaes all the difference because Panama had to chase the game and the US had enough skill to play keep away for long stretches. They did not have to risk getting pulled apart by going for goal.

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  6. I fail to understand why everyone is upset at the notion that MLS is a “feeder”league. If you think about it, the only leagues that are NOT “feeder” leagues are the EPL, La Liga and Serie A.

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  7. If you follow your reasoning to it’s logical conclusion, the USMNT would be best off it’s players only played for clubs where they were guaranteed playing time.

    Most of the guys in the USMNT pool already get or would get a lot of playing time if they were in MLS. But if they do that how will they ever get better in the near future? Donovan is the exception that probably proves the rule.

    If you think this next cycle will produce 10 other Donovans form IMG then you are very unrealistic.

    Ream and John would probably have improved had they stayed in MLS but by going to England they will improve much faster and , theoretically, reach a higher level.

    Players get better by facing stiffer competition than what they are used to. Some will fail but others will succeed.

    In the long run what you are advocating is a prescription for mediocrity.

    Jozy was garbage for a while but now it appears, at the ripe old age of 21, he is finally starting to learn his trade.

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  8. Ives’s column is dead right: his getting a work permit is evidence of the huge steps US soccer and MLS are making.

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  9. This only helps the Nats if he plays. There have been a long line of players (Johnson, Altidore, Gooch, Adu, Davies) who signed with big name European clubs, but struggled to make the game day rosters. Lack of playing time kills these guys and hurts our National team. Best of luck to Tim and I hope he does well.

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  10. after cameron went out the defense rarely let anything in the back. all of panamas best chances came with cameron doing the “marking” if thats what you want to call what he did.

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  11. I thought Cameron looked pretty good. That red card was a joke, and he showed excellent speed to get back in the play after Parkhurst completely chowdered the ball.

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  12. Sad for us not being able to watch him now, but it is what it is.

    Sad for Tim, from the standpoint of not being able to be paid to stay home, I know the standard talk is best competition in the world, but his team now has 15 loses half way through the season.

    It is not all negative and someday, hopefully soccer in the US is able to keep players like this home for us to watch more often than not.

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  13. Doesnt mean he’s a better player. Sometimes a little bit of luck in life goes a long way. Regardless, we should all be rooting for Ream to succeed in England.

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  14. Being a feeder league is a good thing for the US. We wont ever be an elite league till more local money rolls into soccer and tv becomes a premium. till then it is going to be this way. (which is ok)

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  15. Best of Luck to Tim Ream. Hope folks remain patient as he enters this new phase of his career. Hopefully we’ll look back three seasons from now we’ll look back on this as the beginning of a period of tremendous growth for a player with tons of potential. The more he grows, the better it is for US Soccer!

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  16. Can’t raise the cap until you’ve got good revenues–selling players could be a very big component of that. Though not until we see several more sales on the scale of TR every year. Right now they kinda have to do a bit of everything–increase the quality of competition to draw and develop better players and to earn more marketing power.

    It’s a business folks.

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  17. Wrong. MLS is vastly improving every year. More young guys moving to Europe encourages other young guys (international and domestic) to use MLS as a stepping stone. This is great for the league, we are not the EPL.

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  18. Dear MLS, stop selling players. Pay them what they’re worth and keep them here. Our league won’t improve if we sell of our youth in exchange for aging foreign players. Nothing will change until the cap is raised.

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  19. Sad to see such young potential unable to be kept in MLS. Props to Tim and his manager for getting him a move to EPL (for a minute). Curious about how he made out of the deal. Great deal for RBNY to score some decent cash out of him as well.

    Reply

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