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Report: Wooten to leave Sandhausen, move to MLS

Andrew Wooten’s time at German second-tier side Sandhausen looks to be ending this month.

According to Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, Wooten has not signed an extension with the club and his contract is set to run out on June 30th. Sandhausen sporting director Mikayil Kabaca admitted that the club has discussed its interest to retain Wooten, but the striker is reportedly set to join Major League Soccer for the next chapter of his footballing career.

“We tried everything to get him to renew his contract,” Kabaca said. “But he has always said that his goal has always been to play football in the States.”

Wooten rebounded from an injury-plagued 2017-18 to score 17 goals and register one assist in 32 combined appearances this season. His strong run of form at the end of the 2. Bundesliga season helped Sandhausen fight off relegation and remain in the second-tier.

“Andrew deserves a strong season, even though his departure is bitter for us,” Sandhausen manager Uwe Koschinat said.

Sandhausen has already signed three new forwards this offseason, but Kabaca admits that Wooten’s departure is a “harsh loss” for the club.

Wooten tallied 48 goals in 153 appearances for the club, the most in Sandhausen’s seven-year league history. He was also recently linked with fellow German clubs Hamburg and VfL Bochum.

The 29-year-old has won one cap with the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Comments

  1. If he lands with Union, he will have to compete. Przybylko scrapped his way up from playing in USL last year. And only just recently has Santos, the promising Brazilian signed in the offseason, made it to the starting XI.

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  2. Good for him. Jerome Keiswetter (sp?) moved to USL a few weeks ago with the El Paso Locomotives. He’s killing it. He has 9 goals in 9 games.

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  3. With Berhalter in charge, being a top scorer in Bundesliga II isn’t enough to get you Nats,looks, but if you are a top scorer in MLS… that means something and he can get looks. He is not that old. If you score consistently and outperform in MLS other forwards getting called in, it’s hard to justify ignoring him. Look at Wondo who eventually got his oppurtunity at an older age. If he gets in the right situation on a team, I think he will score goals and this will be a win-win.

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  4. About 4 years too late. It may be a good career move and is worth the risk. Yes, some people turn out Jones and others Boyd or Matthaus (or Saief) coming here. Which is a wash to me. My only thing is for someone looking to push along a NT career that you messed up the clutch work right at the start, trying to come back here age 29 and audition for being a 32 year old forward on a World Cup team that has young talent at that spot, may not work out no matter how well he plays. A good year at Sandhausen wasn’t enough. That being said, for good or ill, Berhalter has brought in some older players. They just usually have history.

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    • Ya never know. Aduriz got a late-in-career call-up for Spain. This will, for better or for worse, increase his visability for the USMNT.
      *****************
      Or maybe he’s just looking to get paid.

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      • The risk taking is laudable, and it’s not that huge a risk because it’s basically a lateral shuffle to MLS from B.2. If he wants NT he has to do something different and this is his last shot. But Saief at age 25 just tried something similar and got no traction, so there are no guarantees. Back off to Europe now. And I think he’s just a little old to be taken seriously here. But we may start getting very practical and Win Now if this struggling continues, and it would be an X factor if GB gets canned. If that happens soon a new coach might deliberately want to experiment and kick the tires on anything different than this personnel set, if but to send the message that this isn’t that team anymore.

    • The lack of talent we have at the #9 will always leave the door cracked for a hot hand to win a spot with the nats. Jozy is considered #1 by Berhalter and is very unlucky with injuries. Zardes is #2 right now and I think many of us agree will fall short of standards there. Morris/Sarg are 3a and 3b with Morris slightly ahead due to versatility.
      There is not a standout player there and zero depth. If he continues playing well in MLS he could easily end up in the squad like Herc Gomez and Eddie Buddle did in 2010.

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      • See I think there is a lot of forward talent and that if he was a back or keeper it would be wide open. Maybe even mid with the way they play.

  5. MLS will make or break you (Terrence Boyd), or make you lose your competitive edge / sharpness (Altidore, Bradley, Bedoya, Lennon, Zelalem etc) to battle against top competition…..hella quick. I don’t know about this move……but it’s not like he is a starter for the USMNT trying to reserve a spot as a forward.

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    • When he moved to MLS this year after being lost in the European wilderness for two years. I’m sure fighting for minutes in MLS and USL has dampened his competitive edge that was honed by not playing for Arsenal.

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      • His career was circling the drain in Europe. SKC is not the situation for him, though, they have some outstanding young talent other than him. But with his failure to really get going professionally he had to do something and this is going to be a matter of either playing well in the minors or impressing someone in MLS after a trade. But if you haven’t heard of him that’s more about the last 5 years in Europe than MLS. This is the net that caught him from being over.

      • 2014–2019
        Arsenal
        Was playing for Arsenal U21 squad
        Was included in Arsenal’s 24-man squad for their Asia tour
        Remained in the team for the Emirates Cup match against Galatasaray (4 August)
        Zelalem was selected on the bench in Arsenal’s 3–1 victory over Fulham (24 August). Zelalem sustained an injury that would keep him out of action for up to two months. Although he returned to return to training, Arsène Wenger confirmed that he would not be fit enough for the League Cup match against Chelsea (29 October). He returned to action for Arsenal’s youth side a week later in a UEFA Youth League fixture against Borussia Dortmund on 6 November, playing the entire match in a 2–2 draw.

        Fight for minutes in the EPL is different from fighting for minutes in the USL if you ask me.

        2015–2016
        → Rangers (loan) 21 (0)

        2019–
        Sporting Kansas City 3 (0)

        2019–
        → Swope Park Rangers (loan) 3 (0)

        so yes, fighting for minutes in MLS and USL has dampened his competitive edge that was honed by “not playing” for Arsenal’s first team

      • Has no senior team caps at age 22 while the kids in the two U20 cycles are getting them. Never played in the EPL. Played about half the time in the Scottish second division. Basically is still looking at 22 for the first team that will start him, after turning pro at 17. He badly needs a kick start or his career is over. Acting like that career arc is a tribute to Europe and England is a big club fantasy. At this point in his career the only thing that CV history is doing is keeping him from signing straight to USL. In other words, living off rep,

      • I’m not sure you get that at his age of 22 his sequence of teams would for a local player mean he was headed to League 1 or 2 or Conference, or getting a real job. His journey to the US is basically a reboot and being farmed out to USL is not much practically different than playing lower division League ball in England in terms of either quality or compensation (but for the MLS contract).

      • The Imperative Voice, I’m still trying to figure out where you are going with this. MLS will make you lose your competitive edge / sharpness, if you want to compete at the highest level (because players don’t compete for their starting roles like EPL, Bundesliga etc) and he is currently NOT EVEN PLAYING in MLS…..he is barely playing for Swope Park Rangers now and you cannot compare that to making the bench for Arsenal (then got hurt). So, I don’t get it, what is your point?

      • Here’s what my point is: a mere age group player in a big club system is not above MLS. You only elevate if the first team runs you out routinely and if you pay attention a chosen few of the US players are actually earning that. And for that matter I think Adams and Espinoza and Kamara and such have shown a good MLS player can handle B.1 or EPL just fine. You’re also making the part for whole fallacy that because Liverpool or Bayern would thrash us — and we have maybe one player on either team — that the individuals are of different qualities. The reality is there is substantial overlap and what sets apart the elite leagues are the occasional exceptional player and the sheer bulk of talent. But that doesn’t mean a particular defender in B.1 is better than a MLS player.

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