Bobby Wood’s return to 2. Bundesliga side Hamburg did not get off to a great start.
Wood returned from his loan at Hannover only to be an unused substitute in the club’s 1-1 opening day draw vs. Darmstadt last weekend. Now it seems Wood could be really be in for some trouble after a report labeled Wood as the club’s third option at striker.
According to MOPO Hamburg Sport, Wood has been labeled as the club’s third option at striker after both Lukas Hinterseer and Manuel Wintzheimer appeared against Darmstadt. The club is also linked with possibly a move for a fourth forward before the closure of the Summer Transfer Window.
Für mehr Torgefahr: Wood nur dritte Wahl – holt der HSV noch einen Stürmer? https://t.co/vKc9RwplnH pic.twitter.com/wHCVtLkTz1
— MOPO Hamburg Sport (@mopo_sport) July 30, 2019
The 26-year-old joined Hamburg from Union Berlin in 2016, but only has seven goals in 50 appearances for the club. A loan to Hannover only saw Wood total three goals in 20 appearances, while fighting injuries throughout the season.
Wood showed promise in preseason with a few goals for Hamburg, but may need to look for a better solution if appearances don’t come anytime soon. The club doesn’t have any offers for Wood’s services yet, but several could come knocking before the transfer window closes.
“If there are no buyers for certain players, then we will fulfill our contracts,” Hamburg manager Dieter Hecking said. “Everyone has to decide for themselves and see if there are any offers.”
Wood has won 45 caps with the U.S. Men’s National Team, but has also seen those drop due to his lack of first-team minutes.
Hamburg travel to Nuremberg on Aug. 5th for their first road league match of the new season before traveling to Chemnitzer FC in the first round of the German DFB Cup on Aug. 11th.
Well dang this is like your girlfriend telling you she has 2 other boyfriends on the side who are more attractive than you. Hope BW bounces back from this.
https://www.capology.com/club/hannover/salaries
Herein lies the real problem. His wages are too high for anyone to take a flyer on him. He is making close to 1 million US after taxes. Which is a lot of money for someone who had one good season in 2 bundesliga. He would be one of the highest earners on a french team fighting relegation for example.
the flaw in the analysis here is i doubt hannover wants to carry a salary this big, nor wood wants to be stuck, nor is there probably some sort of MLS CBA that problematizes release. wood could probably agree to a a mutual tear up of his contract and move, and hannover would cooperate. unless he is just greedy and wants that money. also, in the european context, they probably don’t leave wood just sitting there, they work out a loan.
He is actually making closer to 3 million per year Hamburg was probably paying part of it last year as part of loan to Hannover. He could probably get close to that if someone in MLS has a DP slot, but he may not be ready to return to the states. Doubtful anyone in Europe able to pay that would be interested.
Wood needs a move to get a fresh start and find his form. He’s can be a useful striker. If he’s not proactive a couple years without playing regularly could really sink what’s left of his career.
That’s only because he sucks.
Tough few seasons! For the Asian persuasion! Lost his position to injuries and the 2017 U17- WC Golden Boot winner- Jann-Fiete Arp, who’s now @ Bayern Munich, a few seasons back. Seems his club career has taken a wrong turn, since then. A fresh start, getting minutes in Austria, or the Eredivisie, could help get Wood back to USMNT. Wishful thinking but he’s one player I know, who plays better for the US, than for his club!
Flee. Do not listen to the snobs one second. A player doesn’t go from good to bad just by transferring from B.2 to B.1 to the wrong club. Just like Jozy before him, he will magically find “form” when in a good club situation again.
There was no magic to Altidore finding his “form”. He just kept dropping levels until he found the one that matched his skills. From La Liga all the way down to mls.
He was quite good in Eredivisie, would argue he’s never been as good since. Couple terrible years in PL really broke him and MLS isn’t enough of a challenge to get him back to his best.
“He just kept dropping levels until he found the one that matched his skills”…..Wow Rob, one of the most “real” comments I’ve hear in a while
Jozy’s 31 goals for AZ in a season are probably the most any American has had in any serious first division, ever. He is obviously much more suited to playing some ways than others. But if you run the numbers he slots in around where McBride does in terms of NT strike rate, the main difference being, McBride did it in the world cup, too.
Altidore actually has a better strike rate than McBride.
Pulisic scores every 2.38 matches
Dempsey 2.47
Altidore 2.74
Donovan 2.75
McBride 3.17
As you point out Altidore did not score in the WC unlike McBride, Dempsey, or LD. He really has only played in WC though when he was 21, he only played a few minutes in Brazil.