By RYAN TOLMICH
Jozy Altidore seems set on leaving Sunderland in the upcoming transfer window and it appears that a list of potential suitors is preparing for the forward’s departure.
The Sunderland Echo is reporting that representatives from Ligue 1 side Lille were among a set of scouts keeping tabs on Altidore during his time with the U.S. Men’s National Team earlier this month, which included a penalty kick goal against Colombia at London’s Craven Cottage.
“Three Italian clubs came to see him in London, as well as two French teams and German clubs,” said Altidore’s agent Lyle Yorks. “He has interest throughout Europe.”
Several MLS sides have also reportedly kept an eye on Altidore, although Yorks insists that there have been no formal advances.
“There’s been a lot of interest for Jozy in Major League Soccer,” Yorks said, “but there have not been any really serious conversations.”
Altidore and Sunderland are back in action Saturday against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light.
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Where would you like to see Altidore end up come January? What kind of club would be best for the forward’s career?
Share your thoughts below.
If that is truly JKs direction he needs to start changing out players that can’t play that game. The one rising star that can is Lee N.
Jozy has already made the money. He is also the captain of the national team, which is fine by me. I like the words he uses. He definitely needs to transfer to a club built in the direction that Klinsman wants to go – more possession building up to a quality chance.
Jozy needs to go to a team built around his talents. The hard part it’s going to be finding somebody that wants to build a team around a striker that can’t score sitters, can’t trap the ball, can’t make a pass, can’t play hold up and it’s not very good at football in general.
there’s no easier way to spot a troII than an oh-so-clever nickname for the player in question.
not surprised if other teams are looking at jozy (although it is just his agent talking)–he’s proven he can score, just not in the epl.
i think he could do well in france (depending on the system, as always); most teams play a pretty open style. less sure about italy since he could suffer from the tight defenses, although it could help develop his positioning.
I’m not surprised. Which team doesn’t need a technically deficient lumbering log that falls down way too easy and shanks most chances.
Antiscore is marginally better than your average traffic cone.
In the meantime, Keylor Navas is better than Howard and Guzan, combined.
Go home, you’re drunk..
something similar could be said about H. Herrera being better than Bradley, Mix and Bedoya combined
Jozy scores when playing for the Nats, but club is different. He should try to go for a French or German club.
You mean not score for clubs when those clubs aren’t in MLS or Dutch league? He needs the right fit.
Well, he hasn’t played in those leagues yet, so you can’t really say that. Though, it definitely is a risk to go to those leagues. I don’t see him coming back to MLS tbh.
Scores for the Nats? Whats his minutes per goal average? PKs dont count
He’s our 5th leading scorer all time. Not surprised he has plenty of interest.
Im sure teams are lining up to sign a forward that doesnt score and doesnt play. Sounds like agent spin to me
Which is probably why they were scouting the USMNT games
Lots of players on the field, who says they’re looking at Jozy? We’ll see where he lands and what happens then. One has to think that he’s running out of chances in Europe. His record at Sunderland isn’t going to impress anybody.
Jozy did very well scoring in Holland and scored regularly internationally.
Most important of all he is allegedly healthy and is only 25. When Brian McBride was 25 he had to wait about 7 years before he moved to Fulham and became a great success.
Follow any pro sport and you will find there are always going to be teams who think they can take a player who has proven he can score but isn’t doing it at the moment for his particular f++ked up team and give him an environment on their team where he will succeed.
Earnie Stewart already did that once before with a player named Jozy Altidore.
So some team like Liille or whoever will think they will succeed where Sunderland has failed. After all as most of you are pointing out both Hull and Sunderland were hell holes when it comes to providing scoring chances for anybody
Im not so sure he’s anybodies answer anymore. If you rate his skills… ball control, passing scoring dribbling, 1v1 skills …. he really is not that great. If he can’t land a gig with a name team (not in France), he’d be better off returning to MLS. Another failed gig and he won’t have any value to anybody… even MLS
Hyperbole much? Europe is filled with players that do nothing in one league only to do well in other leagues. The EPL is no exception. Lots of players were crap in the EPL at 19 except for a few world class players. He was among the leading scorers in Eredivisie for 2 years straight, he has value, but not what Sunderland probably want for him.
His agent has to be very careful. If the next venue also doesnt work out, people might start calling him Jozy Adu
I like Jozy Adutidore
ROFL
No chance.
Jozy did more in one year in Holland than Freddy has done his entire European career.
Ancient history. What he has done lately is what matters
I did not bring up the Adu comparison.
Rasty did that. And you are right Adu is ancient history.
No matter what he does it’s not as if the situation can get worse anyway.
It actually can. He goes to another bad situation and people will say see, he’s still doing nothing with his new team and his value will drop.
People need to admit that he’s not all that. He’s played with many teams (Europe) and with the exception of Holland, has failed at each location. At what point will people start to say maybe it’s not the team but the player? JK is the worse then his fans. He has had a lock on forward for years and has done next to nothing with it. We hear all about hold up play and all that but that does not put the ball in the net. I want JK to start looking at other options. That kid Ruben looks promising… lets give him the same consideration Altidore has got. Pair him with somebody else (not Jozy) and lets see. I think Charlie Davies is more dangerous these days than Altidore. Bring him back or maybe Finlay? I dont care… try others…Altidore has been a lock too long
Finlay? You have to be kidding, right? They are basically the same age but Jozy has done A LOT more in his career than Ethan Finlay. CD has gotten better, but he is not at the level where he used to be or close to it. He is getting better which is great considering he is lucky to be be alive. I like what I see of Rubin, but I need to see more. He looks like a potential #10. Jozy is a #9, and we don’t have enough of those at his level or better. Than being said, I think his ceiling is not high enough for a player I want to lead the line.
Who is Ethan Finlay? He sounds like he might be a British actor.
Charlie Davies will have to get a lot better to get back to the form he had for about 10 games in 2009. It may not be physically possible because what made Davies so valuable in 09 was his speed, his quickness and his sheer, relentless physical aggression. He constantly attacked the defense for 90 minutes. This constant intimidation allowed him to stretch the defense and opened things up for everyone else.
He is technically better these days and is playing well for the Revs and who knows, maybe he’ll get good enough to get a call up. But he looks physically limited in comparison to his old self and he won’t be the same CD9 that terrorized defenses five years ago.
Eyes fixed on the bench…he’s not moving from there.
LOL
“Three Italian clubs came to see him in London, as well as two French teams and German clubs,” lol I never knew a team that didn’t want to score goals lol……What league/teams? ……….Teams in Serie A…..Divisione Unica (Serie C)? Ligue 1….Ligue 2? Bundesliga II?
Problem is that they are basketball teams…
just go find a place to go “run about” as old ‘arry would say… I’ve followed Jozy’s career closely since that U-20 2007 WC and by now it is crystal clear that Jozy is a solid but flawed player who should probably come to terms with not ever being Top 4 League CL club-worthy and may not even be of EPL/La Liga mid-table quality
Jozy has had two good seasons out of seven in Europe, with stops at Villareal, Xerez, Hull, Bursapor?, AZ and Sunderland- let’s hope he can find a stable club at which he round out his career and maybe make some noise in the CL for a club from a mid-tier league at some point, while being a solid USMNT starter until that next geeat, world-class superstar finally arrives…
It must be pretty boring watching somebody sitting on a bench all the time.
Not surprising. Jozy is a good player who will do well once he’s at a club that isn’t a complete joke.
that “complete joke” would run the table in MLS, 34-0 and the MLS Cup
Boom goes the dynamite! If the team is a joke, then what is Jozy? He can’t score, can’t start, can’t do sh#t. If he were such a “talent”, you’d think he would have a least scored 3 goals by accident in two years. Other strikers on Sunderland score. Why not Mr. Antigoal?
Oh, he scored thirty goals in one season in Holland, a league full of players that look like twelve year old school boys. That’s great. You know, I looked like a great basketball player in junior high. I’m 6’3″ and was a forward. But, when I got to high school and was playing against a 6’10” center who went on to play Division 1 ball, I didn’t look so hot. Same principal applies to Jozy. He looked great in the Busch league (aka Holland) but can’t cut it in the Bigs.
We need to realize that our players, right now, just aren’t that good. I want Jozy to be good. I really want him to score 30 goals in the Premier League. Problem is, it is never going to happen.
fwiw, he HAS scored 3 goals for sunderland. Vs MK Dons, Chelsea and Stoke City. carry on
my only point being you would sound more intelligent had you said 4, not 3. carry on
30 goals? Only 6 players have done that in the history of the 38 game schedule of the EPL. Drogba has never done and he was arguably in the conversation for the best striker in Europe/World at his peak. Those who did read like a who’s who’s: Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer, Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, and Van Piersie. All of the aforementioned were/are considered, at their peak, in the conversation for the best striker in the world.
I’d be happy if he was a 15 goal EPL scorer (which still makes him elite in EPL). However, I think even with the correct system and his confidence intact, Jozy not a double digit scorer. I said then and I’ll say it now, I think that Swansea, Southampton and Everton were better fits.
Based on what, exactly? Their squad of burned-out Man Utd B-listers, England/Ireland/Scotland flameouts, and occassionally decent loanees? Or how about that Lee Cattermole? If I were starting an MLS club tomorrow, I dont’t think I’d take a single one of Sunderland’s ugly squad as a DP, save perhaps Jozy (whom I wouldn’t bring if he wasn’t American and perhaps marketable). Everybody else is used up, overvalued, fundamentally incompetent, or all three.
Sunderland only survive (and may not this year) in the EPL because they play ugly, “built to draw” soccer that occassionally involves 8-0 losses to a Southampton squad assembled in 20 minutes. They’d be a playoff side in MLS but they wouldn’t dominate — they won’t dominate anybody this year. Even if they draw a semi-pro side in the FA Cup, they’ll win no better than 2-0 or 3-1.
How do you figure?
The MLS’ league leading scorer — a man tearing up the competition in the USA — is one Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Wright-Phillips was last seen overseas scoring 5 goals in 15 goals for Brentford.
In the English Championship.
* with apologies — that is of course Bradley W-P…
Ha no worries… I figured.
I think you’re cherry picking a little bit. One could just as easily say that NYRB’s second-leading scorer behind BWP was last seen overseas winning the Champions League with Barcelona. And yes, I do think Henry would walk right into the Sunderland first XI and become their most valuable attacking player. I’m not even sure who he’d replace in that regard.
And that’s just it– the real problem with Sunderland is that they just wouldn’t score that much more in MLS than they do in Europe. Their attack is just ugly. They’d get shut out more than a couple of times in any league.
I often chide people who overvalue the relative strength of MLS compared to other leagues. However, I have watched enough Sunderland to know that they are simply not that good. They do not build or develop chances properly and have poor defensive and offensive cohesion. The have better players and greater depth. Yet, their 1st 11 is not better than those of New England, Seattle or LA Galaxy as a unit. They would beat most MLS teams easily, but rarely blown them out. Frankly, Sunderland would not make it out of the Championship.
In terms of scoring, BWP only has those goals because Henry and the team are SERVING them up on a platter. BWP is a League 1/Championship level player. Sunderland plays like a championship level team.
+1 Well summarized. I’d probably fancy an MLS team’s chances vs Sunderland more than most any EPL or top division side in the big four leagues. They are indeed a Championship side, and I doubt they’d win automatic promotion.
Ok…
Sunderland are tremendously mediocre. And they’ve certainly done Jozy — whom I quite like — no favors with their style of play.
But Sunderland do currently sit above the relegation places. And with a goal difference currently better than the teams that are faring the worst.
This suggests to me a team that may well remain in the Premiership this year.
Sunderland’s style of play is unappealing and a bad fit for Jozy. But they are getting by better with Steven Fletcher and Connor Wickham.
This last point is considered more or less obvious fact over here (i.e. in the UK).
Anthony,
What you say about Sunderland is true.
However, consider this.
Can LA or Seatlle or RBNY or even the Revs put the kind of attacking pressure on Sunderland that a Chelsea or Man City can?
Is facing Hazard, Costa, Oscar, Fabregas and company less problematic than facing Keane, LD, Zardes and Juninho?
Who would you rather defend against?
Do you suppose playing against MLS teams just might leave Sunderland free to open up just a bit more than they do in MLS?
I think Sunderland are awful but that is mostly in context. They are seriously outgunned by a lot of other EPL teams but I’m not so sure that would be the case if they had to face Seattle, LA, RBNY or the Revs. .
Sunderland would also destroy those Mexican clubs that MLS teams rarely beat
I think there’s a chance he could start for the Fire
The only quoted source in the piece is Jozy’s Mr. 10% (technically from a MLS article it looks like). The quoted Mr. 10%, in light of what has happened at Sunderland, might do well to channel his client towards what will actually helps his career. His client was doing well in Holland and then chose a poor destination after precisely this sort of ego affirming bidding war. It is possible that a destination offering less “serious” money might be better suited to his skills set. His whole career is an exercise in this topic.
Well no doubt he secured a hefty pay increase by leaving Holland for Sunderland and since this is his job I don’t think we can blame him can we? Plus, in evaluating his Sunderland career, it should be noted that the manager who signed him was sacked a month later.
The man needs a competent manager and team that know what they want and how to use it. Jozy went for the money.(It’s a short career. It happens.)
AZ seemed to have that plan. Sunderland just seemed to hope for the best.
We are still blaming a change in manager for his two year scoring drought? Really? C’mon. At some point, you can no longer blame the team, the manager, the system, the style of play, etc. At some point, it becomes clear he just isn’t good enough to score goals in a top flight league. Go to France. Or, pull a Bradley and come back home. After all, if it is just about money, no other league/team will pay more for Jozy Anitgoal.
If you are going to insult the guy, at least spell or get the insult right. It’s Anti-goal not Anitgoal. Clearly, his style does not match. He would not be the first player whose style does not fit the EPL. I agree that he is not top half EPL quality, but I still think he can find his feet at a good team, where the style fits his game, in a league better than the Eredivisie (which is still a good league – better than MLS).