After spending nearly a decade forging a career in England, Brad Guzan might be returning to the league that gave him his start.
Guzan has been linked with a potential return to MLS this winter, according to a report from FourFourTwo. The story states that the 32-year-old goalkeeper might just be gauging club’s interest in him ahead of the 2017 MLS campaign, and that a move back to the league that he spent three-and-a-half years in would see him come back on a non-Designated Player deal.
A U.S. Men’s National Team regular, Guzan is currently on the books of English Premier League side Middlesbrough. He has seldom played for the promoted club this season, making just three appearances across all competitions while serving as the primary back-up for Spanish veteran Victor Valdes.
Guzan, who began his career by suiting up for now-defunct Chivas USA, has not played for the Smoggies since August. He signed with Middlesbrough this past summer after Aston Villa was relegated to England’s second division.
Now, would a move back to MLS be a good one for Guzan? Given his lack of playing time at the club level and his current situation with the U.S., it most certainly would be.
Guzan is currently in the prime of his career, and returning to an improving MLS would surely serve him better than continuing to waste away on the bench. He almost certainly would like to spend these next few years playing consistently rather than biding his time as a No. 2 – which he has already done for both club and country for numerous years – and signing with an American or Canadian club that have salary caps to think of would all but assure him of a starting spot.
What’s more is that if Guzan hopes to have a shot of being the U.S. incumbent at the 2018 World Cup in Russia – assuming the Americans qualify, of course – then he needs to be getting regular minutes. Not only has his recent lack of playing time robbed him of the chance of being the U.S.’s go-to goalkeeper, but it has also allowed new head coach Bruce Arena to raise the question as to whether Guzan is even the primary back-up right now.
Leaving England without really establishing himself as a difference-maker might not be what Guzan had in mind when he made the jump across the pond to sign with Aston Villa in 2008, but it is in his best interest to join the growing list of U.S. internationals who have made their way back to MLS.
He has done the European excursion thing, testing himself abroad for eight-and-a-half years and playing in games against some of the world’s best players. It might not have gone as well as he would have liked, but Guzan would be well-served to return to MLS. That is, if he wishes to be on the field as a regular contributor and not as a mere spectator off of it.