Zack Steffen is officially moving across the pond.
According to Goal.com, The Columbus Crew and U.S. Men’s National Team goalkeeper has completed his move to Manchester City after completing his medical and signing his new contract.
City will pay a $7.5 million transfer fee for his services.
Steffen will likely not receive a U.K. work permit, so he’s probably heading out on loan once the deal becomes permanent in January. La Liga club Girona and French outfit Nice, coached by former New York City FC coach Patrick Vieira, are both potential destinations.
The deal is the most expensive ever for an MLS goalkeeper, more than doubling the $3 million Manchester United paid to the league for Tim Howard back in 2003.
Steffen joins former NYCFC winger Jack Harrison and former Sporting Kansas City defender Erik Palmer-Brown as former MLS players in the Manchester City system. Both are currently out on loan with Harrison at Leeds United and Palmer-Brown at NAC Breda in the Netherlands.
Steffen enjoyed a breakout season in 2018. He won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award and became a frontrunner to take over the permanent starting goalkeeper job for the USMNT. With his former Crew coach Gregg Berhalter now in charge, he has a good chance to secure that job as he competes with Club Brugge’s Ethan Horvath for the position.
An additional layer of uncertainty is FIFA’s impending rule limiting club teams to no more than 8 loan moves at a given time (or something like that). If/when implemented, that completely changes the trajectory for “project” players (such as EPB, Miazga, etc…and Steffen). Collectively, MC and Chelsea have about 50-60+ players out on loan at moment….Instead of a loan, players may be relegated to their respective club’s U-? team. Or sold outright.
Curious if the people pimping the move are aware he has already done a cycle out to Freiburg and back, which is how he came to Columbus. I understand the rahrah Crew fans on here talk up anything Crew but when pushing him to go abroad it should be with a bit of acknowledgment of his own history. Unlike field players keeper is a 1 player slot at a club. The backups are rarely heard from barring injury, not guaranteed to be the one elevated in an emergency (they may go get a transfer or loan to fill), and perhaps even shipped out to some other club, which has the same limitations in terms of how many keepers they can field. They don’t need 4 keepers like forwards or wingbacks at any time. They need 2 at most and the top 1 is rarely subbed.
Part of this does feel like Zack just took the biggest offer, but it sounds like they have a spot waiting for him to play at Nice.
I agree that he absolutely needs to be on the field wherever they loan him out to. Hamid was unfortunate with his somewhat forced move, and has taken a step back because of it. I’m hoping this isn’t the case with Steffen.
If he’s able to get his permit after spending the rest of the year in France, he’d likely play Man City’s Cup matches next year. Between FA and League Cup and at least Group Stage of Champions League that would give him 10-15 matches a year. Also, it is not like Ederson is the world’s #1 keeper either he’d have a shot to earn the number 1 spot.
unless something’s happening with claudio bravo that i don’t know about (other than his injury), i’m not sure why you think steffen would get their cup games. pretty sure the only reason city recalled their other keeper was because bravo got hurt.
and for guardiola, it’s safe to say that ederson is indeed the best in the world. the way he plays is like he was made for guardiola’s preferred style; another reason i’m not sure steffen has much of a future at the club, since–although steffen’s very good–i don’t think they play much alike.
The problem is that if City owns you and doesn’t want you as the #1 there is no guarantee you continue to be loaned our, or that if Nice works you return there the following year. He could be brought in to be #2, not loaned out, and collect splinters. He could be loaned out in perpetuity, but to different clubs each year. If you like Nice go sign at Nice.
Harrison has played 15 games on two Championship loans, EPB has played 11 games on two Dutch loans. Why not sign someplace less fancy, control your playing time, push your career along more?
Pretty obvious Steffan is at a different level in his career than either Harrison or EPB. Diskerud sign and loan was to get him off NYCFCs books so is completely different from the other three signings.
He is a better player but contrary to your suggestions he is signing at the exact same team and likely to be loaned out just the same. He may have higher odds of eventually being promoted to first team but those are still odds and not guarantees. If you’re not first team where you sign, or are being signed to be a depth player, why not sign where you can start? Or are you familiar at all with the histories of Howard, Friedel, or more recently Horvath or Hamid? You may only be useful to us if you are playing every week. I don’t care what your paycheck is or upside should be if you come here rusty because you rot on an expensive bench.
Mix Diskerud? He may be in Korea and forgotten but he is also still a City loan player. I don’t get signing in England if you can’t get the work permit, though I actually think as the new de facto starter he’d stand a chance on appeal. Personally I’d be concerned they are openly calling this a back up job and/or talking loans and not bringing him in as a summer transfer to compete for the job. One of the things on keeping jobs is there is one slot on the field and barring injury the depth chart disappears to the bench, give or take some cup games. I assume this is the money move but history pretty consistently shows we get more respect and ability to thrive by keeping for “Everton” or “Blackburn” or “Villa” type moves than signing up to compete at “ManU” or “Liverpool.” He is young yet but you could argue then why not spend a few years midtable and make the big ticket move later for a guaranteed starting gig.
Tim Howard being the exception.
Howard only had one and a third seasons as the starter before being benched and then eventually loaned and sold to Everton.
Be real about it, Howard was a backup coming in, given a small window, had a rough patch, and went back to rotting until loaned out and eventually moved for good to Everton. Ditto Friedel at Liverpool before the Blackburn move. IMO you’d be better off going straight to the more measured choice where they will start you and you can get the benefit of the top league. If you aren’t on the big club in the big league, it doesn’t matter you are an EPL asset. You’re really a Dutch or Championship or French player, at least for that year. Cut out the middleman and sign direct.