By FRANCO PANIZO
The offseason retooling for Sporting Kansas City now includes an interesting international move.
The club announced on Thursday that it has signed Hungary national team forward Kriztian Nemeth. The 25-year-old forward joins the club after most recently being at Netherlands’ second-division side Roda JC Kerkrade, and will occupy an international roster spot.
Nemeth, who stands at 5-foot-11, has made 15 appearances and scored one goal for Hungary since making his international debut in 2010.
“Krisztian is a player who has extensive experience playing in a 4-3-3 (system),” said Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes in a statement. “He also fits well in the overall model of play for Sporting Kansas City and we look forward to his adaptation.”
Last season, Nemeth scored eight goals in 24 Eredivisie matches for a Roda JC Kerkrade side that was relegated. Twenty-two of those appearances came as a starter.
Nemeth turned pro in 2005 and has since played for a laundry list of clubs, including Blackpool, Olympiacos and AEK Athens. He also spent time at traditional Premier League heavyweight Liverpool, but never made an appearance in a regular-season game.
“I am very excited to be joining Sporting Kansas City,” Nemeth said in the same statement. “It’s an exciting time to join the club and MLS. Peter (Vermes) is a great coach and I look forward to working with him and the team.”
Nemeth is now the fourth addition to a Sporting KC side that has already had a noticeable makeover this offseason. The club parted ways in recent weeks with regulars Aurelien Collin and C.J. Sapong and brought on Bernardo Anor, James Marcelin, and Jalil Anibaba.
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What do you think of Sporting KC signing Nemeth? Do you see him doing well in his first season in MLS? How many goals could you envision him scoring?
Share your thoughts below.
As one of the editors of hungarianfootball.com, we wrote a pretty extensive article on Németh which you can find here: http://www.hungarianfootball.com/2013/11/krisztian-nemeth-re-finding-nemo/.
Németh (pronounced Name-et) was to be the first real world class player Hungary has produced in years. He did very well at Liverpool academy, until injuries slowed him down. For a couple of years, hamstring injuries kept recurring. Then, he started popping around clubs and never regained the form that made him so promising. He was one of the top performers in the U20 WC in Egypt, when Hungary finished 3rd.
Yes, Vermes is a Hungarian boy. Back story, his father played on the great Honved Team of the 1950s that included Puskas and other Golden Team greats. Peter spent his summers in Budapest playing soccer on the streets of Budapest growing up.
While my colleagues in Europe are moaning about this move, I think this move will be good for Nemeth and Sporting KC. If Nemeth can find his form again, KC has the potential to see the same production of Dwyer and Nemeth as Seattle had this year with Dempsey and Martins. They will have a potent attack.
When on form, Nemeth is a great finisher. Vermes will get the best out of him.
Thanks for the insight.
His highlights at Roda JC were fantastic!
OMG lol. Hahah I googled it. Thats so hilarious. Some one needs to Discover Messi.
Yay Hungarians in da HIS HOUSE
i bet theyre paying him like 150 K a season. I remember him at Liverpool. dude wasn’t good enough but probably will succeed in MLS. and hey maybe we get some fans from Hungary via him
I’d rather have mls scouts go to the u-20 world cup and buy young talent.
im sure that would be cheap and none of the other 1000s of clubs around the world have an eye on U20 world cup players (im joking)
I wouldn’t exactly call a 25-year-old winger “old”…. He can play a few years at SKC and move on while still in his prime years.
how about Mix to TJ?!?!
Huh?
There is a report saying that Diskerud is signing with Club Tijuana in Mexico
Interesting. Seems like a lateral move in quality and possibly a step backwards for his national team spot given Klinsi’s preference to have players playing in Europe.
If MLS is a better quality league than Norway, than Liga MX is a great choice for Mix; especially considering that Liga MX is better quality than MLS.
its a solid step up (from Norway) and positive move for his US career!
JK has shown a clear preference towards European based players because the play in competitive leagues that work with the international calendar. Tijuana & LigaMX fit that bill perfectly (other than being in Europe), and he has routinely called players in from TJ. He will even be available for some non-international calendar games like the Mexico friendlies in April…
other pluses: he gets to live in Southern California, team up with a growing number of other USMNT players, get more and more comfortable playing in Mexico and Concacaf, much easier to keep an tabs on & watch on tv.
Did anyone else just glace at the headline and read “Honduran” instead of Hungarian???? I’m so use to seeing “Honduran international signs with……………” that my brain automatically took me there. I was confused since Nemeth is not a Latin name. Then I opened the article and clearly read “Hungarian”. Boy……I felt like an idiot.
Nonetheless, I wonder is Vermes’ Hungarian background influenced this move at all. It wouldn’t surprise me. He seems to be fairly well connected. I’m not too familiar with Nemeth but poking around a bit it reads like he’s a fairly decent player that could add something to the rebuilding SKC. On paper it looks like a pretty good signing. Time will tell if that’s actually he case, though.
I really think these teams are spending with the idea that the salary cap in 2015 will have a significant bump in spending capacity for each club. All of these players from Europe coming over is exciting to be honest.
Actually, I was just thinking the opposite. With more money flowing into MLS, why are teams bringing over some guy from the Dutch second division?
cause thats what it takes to make a person leave his homeland/ something close to his homeland. Its like an MLS player leaving MLS for a 5 percent raise.
He’s a winger and he scored 8 Goals in the Eredivisie. That’s a solid goal output for a winger. The club were relegated last year. This is pretty par for the course for MLS to bring over. He seems like a decent signing for skc IMO.
Eredivise is Dutch first division. Roda JC was relegated this season.