Bobby Wood’s quest for regular playing time has reached a roadblock in Germany, but a new report suggests he could be heading to Major League Soccer to recharge his career.
The 27-year-old forward is in the process of securing a move to MLS side FC Cincinnati, German outlet Bild reported on Tuesday. The report claims that Wood’s representatives are heading to Cincinnati this week to finalize the move that could see Wood join Cincinnati on a free transfer.
Wood has been out of the USMNT picture since interim head coach Dave Sarachan’s tenure in 2018, and has recently gone cold in Germany, scoring just 10 times across 78 appearances in his stints with Hamburg and Hanover since 2017, which is a far cry from his 17-goal season at Union Berlin in 2016.
Cincinnati recently missed on Uruguayan target Gastón Pereiro, who is on his way out of Dutch side PSV, and head coach Ron Jans has indicated that another attacking piece would be the primary focus of the club’s transfer business before departing for preseason training.
“I’m very satisfied with the players we have now, but we’re still working on the offense to have some more players coming into the roster.”
After letting Fanendo Adi depart to Columbus Crew on waivers, Wood would be perceived to be the club’s primary striker after Jans has indicated recent DP addition Yuya Kubo would be primarily relied on for wing support.
The also club added former Atlanta United striker Brandon Vazquez from Nashville in exchange for TAM during the expansion draft, and still has Darren Mattocks from the club’s inaugural MLS campaign, but Mattocks’ three goal season could be one of the caveats prompting the securing of a primary option.
If true I hope this works out for him. My 1 major concern is that Bobby is not a CF who can create his own opportunities. He’s heavily dependent upon the midfield players to either put a ball in behind that he can run onto with his pace, or someone to feed him inside the 18 (usually a back post run). And I’m not sure who in Cincinnati’s midfield can do that reliably enough for him to put up good numbers.
USMNT Strikers
–
Bobby Wood
Gyasi Zardes
Jozy Altidore
–
1. Finally, Lets truly see if a Bundesliga sub is better than the best American MLS strikers
2. Lets see, out of all these strikers, who will be at the bottom of the pile in 2020
–
Can’t wait!!! Let’s goooo
This will be a great move for him. As a central forward with the National team he had that physical presence and knack for goal. Scoring with Minnesota could spark his stagnation.
Perfect….just the competition we need to see who is the BEST USMNT STRIKER in the pool. I absolutely love it. Hahahahaha, Hernandez NOW BOBBY WOOD???? MLS just got a whole lot more Interesting. Wow….
I wish Bobby well, but I think he will be another player that gets exposed by MLS (like Mixx, Boyd or Saief).
And at some point the Eurosnobs will understand that you need to be a top level player to succeed in MLS
Hogwash, he’s a better striker than Zardes, and Zardes gets about 10 goals a year. I think people forget he’s the sort of player who could score on Mexico (x2), Holland, Germany, Colombia, Ireland, Paraguay, Honduras, Panama. I think if you can hack that you can score on Colorado or San Jose. And he will be motivated because this form gibberish has seen him fall behind inferior options for the NT.
This is hilarious.
According to your logic if a player does well in one game he’s forever owed a starting sport regardless of any other circumstances.
Sorry to tell you but players that fall out of form get dropped from their national teams all the time.
Soccer is about timing and if you are not doing well at any given time you won’t get called to the national team.
Bobby hasn’t done well with his club in ages, if any at all.
Wood dont play for Columbus….. next
What a bummer to see his European career fall so short of what he could have been. I hope he’s able to find his form and not get stuck playing to people below his level. It’s not too late to see him rediscover his ability and get back to Europe and a good league
He’ll be 28 at the end of the season, I don’t see him heading back to Europe for anything beyond a short term loan and he’d have to dominate to get that given his history.
I was worried that Wood would be a DP.
Gaston, would been greatest signing MLS’s history: outstanding performer in Europe without being over 30 year.
They could have used some of the roster devices to take his salary impact down, and then spend the DP on another player. I’d expect a player of his type to be in the neighborhood of $1m or at least high 6 figures. But if you have roster tools left then you can chop that down to a lower number on the cap. DP is a cap exception and a team who wants to actually spend could save that for someone else.
Good for him, we could use a younger good CF and he’s gotten a raw NT deal on club form. You don’t suddenly get untalented. Hopefully this will work out and be his platform onto the team and ahead of the works in progress and the overrated veterans.
So he’s supposed to continue getting call ups even if he’s not playing at all for his club? That’s not how it works, and for good reason because the NT is not a place for players to get in form or for developing them, it’s supposed to be for players who are playing the best at the time. If we start to call in players that aren’t playing or who need to get in form then we are essentially taking all of the honor and prestige away form what a call up means! Bobby needs to get it together before he gets back in the NT
Where does it say “that’s not how it works?” This is not a MLB all star team where you have to make the ballot with a certain amount of innings or at bats in order to get votes. This is supposed to be the best team we can field. Some of our best players are in awkward club situations. That doesn’t change that Wood has scored on Hex teams Zardes never has. One is simply better than the other. Y’all confuse “talent” with “form.” GB’s annoying teams are seemingly selected by form and analytics. But Horvath and Wood are still good no matter what their club situation is. It’s your loss if you want to act like this should be picked on a spreadsheet instead of by who actually looks good. And historically this is how it was done because once in a while Keller or Beasley or the like made mistakes, and it’s dumb to punish good players for temporary career issues.
FWIW Wood led the NT in goals in 2018. Just like Weah had a NT goal, and Sargent 2, when they could barely see a first team field. Ditto Green at the 2014 world cup. There is so much fake cant taken as gospel that has no basis in actual fact. We start Zardes all the time based on club form. Does it ever translate? It’s a backwards argument like a second rate team would make. Meanwhile England might start an EPL sub because they get talent vs form.
Funny you use Bobby’s 3 goals in 2018 leading the NT as a reason to call him in over Zardes who led the US in 2019 with 6. Interestingly people like to talk about Woods goal against the Netherlands, do you know who scored the first goal in that match. Some kid named Gyasi Zardes. Wood has struggled to find time with multiple managers across two clubs the last three seasons and hasn’t been rated by any. He’ll get a chance with Cincinnati so we’ll see.
@ImpV You know what sounds like a backwards argument?
“A guy who hasn’t been getting minutes let alone producing should be starting for the USMNT”
.
I haven’t lost faith that Wood can make a comeback, but his mojo is way down atm.
Old school USMNT selection where players were almost impossible to extract from the lineup. Talent or no talent- it’s really really hard to maintain game fitness and form rotting on the bench. There are world class talents that can overcome that and other options through the sheer gap in skills, but Woods isn’t that kind of player. The answer: Fight your way into playing time. Harsh I guess.. but……. so goes competition. The absolute truth of this level is- what have you done for me lately. Players know that.
That could be a good move for both team and player. I don’t think he even comes close to being one of the best in MLS, but the team needs something. And for him, he will be carrying a team, should be getting playing time even when he struggles, in a great league.