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Bobby Wood completes transfer to 2. Bundesliga side Erzgebirge Aue

BobbyWoodUSMNT2-RepublicofIreland2014 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Bobby Wood’s long-awaited move away from 1860 Munich has finally become a reality.

The 22-year-old American forward arrived this morning in Aue to join 2. Bundesliga size FC Erzgebirge Aue on a full transfer from 1860 Munich. According to a club press release, Wood has signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the team.

Wood has returned to Germany from U.S. Men’s National Team camp, and a replacement for him has not been announced at this point, a source confirmed to SBI.

“Our goal was to strengthen our team before the resumption of matches,” Erzgebirge Aue president Helge Leonhardt said in a statement, which included the signing of Spanish centerback Román Golobart on loan from FC Koln. “We focused to increase quality and to be ready for the fight against relegation. Now it is up to our entire team to take this fight and work together to achieve our goal, piece by piece.”

Aue are currently in last place in the 2. Bundesliga, with 14 points from 19 games. They’re three points behind 1860 Munich and the safety of 15th place. The 2. Bundesliga season resumes on Friday, with Aue facing Terrence Boyd’s RB Leipzig.

Wood has only played six times this season for 1860 Munich, and in the most recent USMNT match, Wood struggled 45 minutes against Chile, picking up a yellow card. He has failed to score for either club or country since March 2013.

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What do you think of this news? Think a fresh change of scenery can help improve Wood’s fortunes? Do you see him eventually looking stateside?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Nothing wrong with a 2 Bundesliga club…but one in last place that will probably be relegated. Yikes! I hope the best for Bobby Wood…but fear that he fades along with this club.

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  2. It would be real nice to see players do what they do best 90-100% of the time. It’s too hard to be 100% every time. Work extra on weaknesses in practice or your own free time. There is always something to improve on. Give teams every possible reason to believe you are a good return on investment. Give the coach no reason to doubt you. This is what I think Woods needs most.

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  3. Well, at least Jurgen’s crush on him got him a move. And if they get relegated, maybe he’ll actually see some playing time next season!

    I’m not a Wood fan right now for the US. I’d love to see the kid improve, but right now I don’t see it. His supporters talk about his ability to get into good positions, but if you go back and watch the chances he’s blown, half of them came off his running onto long balls, which doesn’t really speak to the quality of his runs. His movement in the box hasn’t seemed like anything special to me. And he hasn’t scored a goal for club or country in almost two years now. Best of luck to him for sure and I hope the next time we see him he’s fulfilling his potential, but for now I hope to see more deserving players getting time for the nats.

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    • And this is my biggest problem with JK. The fact that he gets this giant man crush on certain players and it is very hard for him to let go. Some of the biggest names on our team are struggling. Dempsey, Bradley, Altidore (most of the time), Jones as a center defense…. and yet, they will all start on Sat. and in any other game coming up.

      I would love to see him play a game with the big names that are not producing, don’t start or maybe don’t even play

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  4. From Bobby’s coach at 1860:
    “It is possible that with Bobby Wood(22) a 4th player will leave in this winter transfer window. The US striker is supposed to get loaned out to competitor Erzgebirge Aue. Poschner’s comment: “If we had the fear we would strengthen a competitor we would not let him go there on loan.”

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      • If you think Klinsi is the only one who sees something in Shea you need a new eye doctor. There’s a bunch of problems with Shea – most notably in the consistency/maturity/dedication-to-professionalism departments, but the dude is a 6’4″ super-athlete with a cannon of a left foot who can absolutely break a game. He scored eight minutes in against Chile and left the poor Chilean defender choking on his exhaust fumes wondering what on Earth that strange-looking giant blonde thing that had just gone by him like he was standing still was…the keeper just sorta…looked, when the ball went right on by. Air went right out of the stadium at that point, took the Chileans until after halftime to really get it back. He broke a couple games in the Gold Cup too.

        Yeah, he’s inconsistent and often infuriating, but if he gets it together – which he could, he’s still fairly young – Shea is a mismatch, and at the very least he’s an interesting option off the bench.

    • Not defending Wood, but the new coach they have does not like him or rate him at all. The coach that did was let go. Btw, doesn’t that comment reek of a lack professionalism and petulance. One would expect better of a coach in speaking of his players. I don’t expect him there long. The are 1 place above relegation on goal differential. This is a team that sat top 6/7 for the previous 3 seasons. He’s new this season and he’s probably gone.

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      • Read the article. Check that, not the coach, but the general manager. Bad situation, no one deserves that much hate.

  5. Anyone who has watched him for an extended period comes to the same conclusion. He is just not that good. Definitely not national team caliber!

    There are 10 American strikers in MLS with better qualities than Wood. Just because he’s “playing” in a second tier German league doesn’t make him elite.

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  6. Looks like Erzgebirge Aue are in the market for a forward who never scores goals. Good luck to Wood though – if he ever starts scoring, he’ll have a spot on USMNT rosters going forward.

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  7. Definately not a finished product. He should score some goals before he gets called in. Call in Andrew Wooten if you want someone who scores goals.

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    • Andrew Wooten. Wow! The amount of garbage people spew on this board without doing a little research is astounding. Wooten is 3 or 4 years older than Woods. Do not act like he’s the panacea. Wooten isn’t exactly lighting it up in top flight. He scored 43 goals for Kaiserlautern’s RESERVE team when Kaiserslatern was in the Bundesliga.2. Reserve Team! He could not make their squad in Bundesliga.2, so the loaned him out to teams at the bottom of Bundesliga.2 where he’s scored 15 goals over 3 years.

      There is better talent than Andrew Wooten in the MLS.

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    • Why? He’s 22 which fits Klinsi’s u23 criteria. He also needed a call up this round to showcase himself to would-be buyers. It worked.

      Say what you will about Klinsi, but beyond Donovan, he bends over backwards for his players when they need playing time.

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      • Bends over backwards? How about this one. He hasn’t done a thing to help Juan Agudelo and he may hold more promise than any other forward in the pool.

        JK helps those he likes, often beyond what they deserve. He looks the other way on the others that arent his pet projects. Wood is absolutely useless and has shown that on every occasion he’s played. The only thing he has going is that he plays in Germany. Big deal. He still is useless

      • USA Fan, how is that different from previous coaches. I’m a Bob Bradley fan/apologist, but he had a blindspot for certain players like Bornstein and Beasley when they weren’t playing club football regularly, and he kept showing faith in them. At times it would pay off, but the more memorable moments were when things went badly. I’m sure there were also guys he wouldn’t call in

        Klinnsy will have the same type of players who he favors, and guys like Lichaj or Klejsten who he doesn’t rate…just how it is…

      • Mark the favoritism that Bradley showed Bornstein is a myth. First off, Bornstein scored the goal to tie Costa Rica in the USA’s final qualifier and then he did go on to have a good World Cup. However, Bocanegra was Bradley’s first choice left back when he had his preferred center backs available which he did not in the WC. Also, Bradley tried plenty of other players at left back like Castillo, Pearce, Loyd, Beasley and Lichaj. Lichaj won the starting left back position (and he’s not even a left back) after the WC and started for the US at left back in the 2011 Gold Cup with Bornstein not making an appearance until Cherundolo got injured. That is hardly showing blind allegiance to Bornstein. As far as showing Beasley preference, Bradley dropped him from the starting line-up due to one mistake in the Confed cup against Brazil. He hardly made an appearance for the US after that with only 10 minutes in the WC and no appearances for the US after that. For ONE mistake, albeit a bad one. Beasley’s international career was basically over until Klinsmann took over. If there is anyone who has a blind spot for Beasley it is Klinsmann, although I’m not complaining because he is one of my favorite players.

      • Mark and Zip,

        While no one thinks Bornstein was a great left back, he was not as horrible as the criticism would suggest.

        It is not as if BB had a lot of great alternatives at that point. A lot of people forget that national team managers sometimes have their hands tied. It is not as if BB could have gone out and bought Leighton Baines or Patrice Evra.

        The fact remains that the USMNT has a winning record in games, both competitive ones and friendlies, when JB was on the field.

      • “He hasn’t done a thing to help Juan Agudelo”

        JK lobbied on Agudelo’s behalf for his UK work permit appeals. That’s not nothing.

      • “Wood is absolutely useless…”

        What a short memory. Wood hasn’t impressed in his last 2 appearances, but in his first few he showed an energy in the attack that our team sorely lacked. With more polish, he could easily have 2 or 3 goals to his name already. He created a bunch of chances for himself and others, even if they weren’t converted. Not many others on the squad are doing that right now.

        He was bad against Chile, sure, but what USMNT regular hasn’t had a stinker? Calling him “useless” just shows that you’re ‘clueless.’

      • He play with a lot of energy, I’ll give you that beyond that he has been a disappointment. That is why I think he would do much better as a defender.

      • Main job of a striker is to score goals, and Woods has failed his club, and shows Woods’ current form with USNT.

      • Wood played LW for his club. He still didn’t score a lot of goals, but to say he “failed his club” as a “striker” is plain wrong.

      • LW that scores: Robben. Good LW’s have an average 8-10 goals, a season. Wooten has been playing as RW, Wooten scored like goals, for this season.

    • Wood was given a ton of faith by 1860. He had to work himself up, basically, from rec soccer in Germany. He was told he probably wouldn’t play again due to injuries, but here he is.

      He’s young enough to improve, and he has a few solid qualities about him. Once he finds his shooting boots, he’ll become productive. I think his future is more on the wing though in a 4-3-3.

      Good luck! Glad to see he’s at least staying in Europe, trying to break through in a harder league.

      Reply
      • You don’t think Bundesliga.2 is a hard league whether it’s equal to/better/less than MLS is up to debate because I don’t watch a lot f that level soccer. I would say it is at least of par. I think that a lot of people either grossly overrate or underrate MLS.

      • *I think Bundesliga.2 is a hard league. Whether it’s equal to/better/less than MLS is up to debate because I don’t watch a lot of Bundesliga.2 soccer. I would say it is at least of par based on the relative performance of promoted/relegated teams to and from Bundesliga.1. I think that a lot of people either grossly overrate or underrate MLS.

        instead of
        “You don’t think Bundesliga.2 is a hard league whether it’s equal to/better/less than MLS is up to debate because I don’t watch a lot f that level soccer. I would say it is at least of par. I think that a lot of people either grossly overrate or underrate MLS. “

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