For the first time in approximately three decades, Aston Villa will not be playing in the English Premier League next season. The question on many U.S. Men’s National Team followers’ minds is what does this mean for goalkeeper Brad Guzan?
The club was relegated to the English League Championship after falling to Manchester United, 1-0, on Saturday, and the fallout has already begun. Two club directors have resigned in the wake of Aston Villa’s relegation, and Steve Hollis, club chairman, is currently in “extensive negotiations” to sell the club.
Guzan’s contract runs until the the summer of 2017, but given the state of the club, many USMNT supporters would rather see the netminder make a move back to the English Premier League or another top league in Europe.
USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard is already leaving the EPL, as he will join the Colorado Rapids in MLS this summer after a decade at Everton. If Guzan decides to go a similar route, and no other American goalkeepers are signed, the 2016-17 EPL season will be the first since the mid-1990s no American goalkeeper takes part of.
Guzan did start his career in MLS, playing for Chivas USA from 2005-08. At the age of 31, he still has plenty of years to play at a top level, but a return to MLS could be appealing if teams were willing to pay the price. Traditionally, goalkeepers in MLS don’t generate the large salaries to compete with European leagues, but Tim Howard’s recent deal with Colorado could help set a new trend.
Guzan has not played anywhere else but in England since his move to Aston Villa in 2008. He did go out on loan to Hull City during the 2010-11 season, but he established himself as a capable goalkeeper in the EPL following that stint. A move away from the United Kingdom may not tempt Guzan, but a move, in general, should.
With all that in mind, we want to know: Where do you think Guzan should play next season?
Cast your vote for our SBI Question of the Day here:
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Which option did you vote for? What MLS team would make the most sense for Guzan? Think there’s a chance Guzan stays with Aston Villa, or is his departure inevitable?
Share your thoughts below.
The question shouldn’t be “Where should he play”, is more like “Where can he play”
While Guzan may not have had the best year….he is a good keeper. Villa as a hole was a nightmare of a team that did nothing well. The best keeper in the world couldn’t have kept them from being relegated from the BPL. Honestly think that Villa was bad enough this year that they would have been in the Relegation Zone in the Championship League.
I don’t care where he goes (BPL, Championship, B1 or B2), so long as he gets away from Villa. There may not be a lot of interest in him, but I’m sure he can find a home somewhere better.
Was ‘as a hole’ on purpose?! Pretty apropos either way!
He should come to Colorado and be Timmy’s backup.
Let them alternate games.
I think he should play goalkeeper, at this point in his career, I think that will be his most successful position
Ah, you and John Clark beat me to it. Although, I wanted to say “At left back!” followed by a fart sound.
centre forward, cause he sure as hell aint a goalkeeper!!
DC United could use another goalkeeper..
How about some journalism?! Tell us if there are any clubs in the Prem or other top leagues looking for goalkeepers? Or is Championship Villa his best option? I can’t even think of an MLS team looking to upgrade at gk this summer..
The last transfer rumor I could find involving Brad transferring not someone being brought in to replace him was from 2013. Apparently, Big Sam tried to bring him into West Ham, so maybe he’d be interested in bringing him to Sunderland.
Journalism isn’t really this sites thing, sorry. Check out goal if you are looking for that. Really SBI is just a good place for all of us to vent and act like we know more than we do.
Unfortunately, Goal’s website is visual diarrhea.
used to be a place with high fiber insight and not group think diarrhea
I’d caution the optimism of Guzan going to another EPL side unless it’s as a back-up. Realistically, what clubs do you see perusing Guzan for a starting gig in the EPL?
I’m for staying with Villa or coming back to MLS.
Chivas USA
Would still be better than this Villa squad.
He should go to a club that will field a reasonable line of defenders in front of him…
I was looking for the “anywhere but AV” button
I get the feeling that next season’s Aston Villa will, for all practical purposes, fit that requirement. Not that I think he should stay there; I rather like the idea somebody floated that he could play for Rangers if nowhere else. If, that is, they are looking for a new starting GK, which they may not be.
Guzan should go to wherever he can get a starting job while maximizing his salary. My guess is that is either in the EPL, the Championship, or MLS.
Tampa Bay Rowdies
It’s nice that we get to choose.
Cambodia
Kind of a silly question, of course he goes back to EPL or another top 4 league if the opportunity arises.
Being goalkeeper in the Championship would be fine. Playing every week is so important for a GK.
I foresee him landing a backup gig with an EPL team though. He had a rough season but come on, Villa were so atrocious all season giving him a pass seems reasonable.
I could see Leicester losing Schmeichel to a big club this year so they might be in need of an experienced GK.
Guzan didn’t have a great year, doubt he’d be able to start at another EPL club right away and being a backup goalie isn’t great for maintaining form. Maybe he could latch on with a promoted team or spend some time with a championship team.
If Bob Bradley’s club gets promoted that would be a nice place to go, top 4 league and probably not very high expectations if they do move up.
And why this site hasn’t devoted Any time at all to this topic I will never understand. Le Havre is in the fight for a move to Ligue 1.
For one SBI doesn’t really write many articles beyond power rankings and Americans Abroad, they generally are just highlighting other articles that are available around the web. And since Bob is in the 2nd division of French football there probably aren’t a lot of articles floating around about him, in English anyway. There is an interview available on ESPN from a week and a half ago if you haven’t seen it yet.
If you really want to follow, http://www.hac-foot.com. My guess is most American fans are ok with just finding out the scores of his games and that’s pretty easy to find and seem to be very few French football fans on SBI so there are a couple more reasons they aren’t spending time trying to get in depth on Bob.
There are so many NASL articles to write!
The few FFF fans here certainly get their fix elsewhere. But for Bob Bradley fans HAC publishes his post-match, and sometimes pre-match interview in both english and french every week.
Thanks for the info JRaz. I actually like SBI. Duh. I’m here. But if there was one area I could choose for improvement at SBI it would be in the area of feature writing. Le Havre/Bradley is a good example. Good to read there are others feeling the same!
I like SBI too I just recognize it for what it is. I think most of the writers here have day jobs or at least are freelancers to pay their bills. I find the news elsewhere or read the originals that are linked here if I have time and really just use SBI to interact with soccer junkies since they can be hard to find in the real world.
France is ranked the 6th best league in Europe, and is closer to 7th place Russia and 8th place Ukraine than 5th place Portugal. It would still be an accomplishment, but just not as big as you suggest.
I am staring at the UEFA rankings right now; France is much closer to Portugal than Russia. Primeira Liga is generally considered a weaker league (top to bottom) than Ligue 1. That being said, EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A are considered a step up from Ligue 1.
I was looking at the rankings when they were used to set the qualifiers for Europa and CL so they are probably from the end of last season. At that time France was 2 pts ahead of Russia and 9 behind Portugal.
A bit dismissive? There are and always have been immense amounts of talent in Ligue 1 (two of the top three players in the EPL this year, Kante and Payet), their clubs produce it year in year out, and it would be a big challenge for Le Havre to stay, if they get there.
I didn’t mean to be dismissive, sixth best in Europe is sixth best in the world let’s be honest. Also, the UEFA coefficient rankings are not perfect either as its based on how your teams do in Europa and Champions League not how you would rank top to bottom 1-18/20. Portugal’s top clubs can’t hang with PSG, but 2-4 have done better of late than French sides. Norway has jumped up something like six spots based on Molde’s play in Europa this season and likewise Scotland dropped because of Celtic’s disappointment.
Which reminds me Rangers wouldn’t be a bad spot for Guzan if they win the Scottish Cup and qualify for Europa. Good chance at a league title, European play, and 50,000 fans every home game not a bad way to spend a winter.
Obviously a move to the EPL would be great, but I don’t see him getting a starting gig, important for him to be playing.
31 and many, many years left to play at the top levels? Stay in the Premiere League or move to another top flight league. If he is given the option to play in the top flight, it should not even be discussion. Stay if you can!!!
Guzan didn’t have the greatest season, and I don’t really expect much interest from top European leagues. It’s possible someone would want to sign him just to attract the attention of the American fan base, but then he might not even be starting. The second division in England is still a (slightly) higher level of play than MLS, so I’d say he should stay put.
Slightly? There is no comparison, the second league in England probably cracks the top 10
Nothing wrong playing as a GK in the Championship. England’s #1 stilled played there while getting capped for them.
Or another team in the Championship, a distinct possibility. Guzan probably did not have a good enough year in the EPL , to attract a lot of interest from other EPL teams looking for a starting stopper. But there may be interest as a backup. EPL experience, and as much as Guzan has, is a sought after resource.