Tim Ream began his professional career in MLS and could reportedly head back for the final stages of his career.
Charlotte FC is in advanced talks with Ream over a potential move to the Eastern Conference club, multiple outlets reported Tuesday. TopBin90 first reported the talks between Ream and Charlotte FC.
The 36-year-old joined Fulham from Bolton Wanderers in 2015 and has made 312 appearances over his nine year spell with the club. Ream’s current Fulham contract is set to expire in June 2025, but an earlier move to MLS would provide the Cottagers with the opportunity to receive a transfer fee.
A calf injury last December hampered Ream’s time in Marco Silva’s starting lineup during the second half of the English Premier League campaign. The U.S. men’s national team centerback did start Fulham’s final league match of last season, a 4-2 win over Luton Town.
Ream has earned 56 caps with the USMNT to date and is in Gregg Berhalter’s June roster for upcoming friendlies vs. Colombia and Brazil.
Charlotte FC has impressed so far this MLS season, sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference with 25 points earned. Former EPL and EFL Championship manager Dean Smith took over as head coach earlier this year.
Kinda figured this would happen with Ream. If I was an MLS GM he’d be high, high, high on my list for much the same reason as a Gorgio Chiellini…yes, yes, I know no one will confuse Ream with Chiellini, but he does have a lot of the same attributes. And Chiellini provided value completely disproportionate to his compensation in his time at LAFC, and players and coaches raved about his influence and leadership in the LAFC locker room.
MLS seems to be positioning itself fairly intriguingly, growing up a ton of young players intended for development and sale alongside older vets who can control the locker room and set the professional standard. I mean, Miami is an absolute farm at the moment for hotshot youngsters putting the finishing touches on their games and putting themselves in the shop window before they head on over to Europe. And once a player has played with Messi, Alba, Busquets, and Suarez for a substantial period, is anything they see from that point on really going to intimidate them?
Just a thought: could MLS add themselves an over-35 DP slot? That would certainly encourage MLS to add “name” players who can sell tickets and improve the standard while not hampering a team’s ability to develop and sell on, and it would mitigate the risk if these older players for whatever reason did not work out (as does often happen.)
The idea of a “35+” DP slot definitely needs to be explored. It could strengthen the league without detracting from the salary cap
Probably doesn’t help with that “retirement league” moniker though.
That moniker really doesn’t bother me. It’s usually English fans that say that.
Hummels is about to sign with AC Milan. The age thing is a bit overplayed imo
personally i’d prefer a USMNT/USYNT exception. try to get some of them back here. try to nudge the mix back towards developing or bringing in US players, ideally before they are falling apart.
when we were first getting started, fine, bring in older names for notoriety, but we have a pretty good level, the old farts have to work to keep up with it, and to me what we want is keep improving the product or bring in a messi name so huge it can’t be ignored, and crosses over to non-soccer folks.
in terms of the age cutouff, you’re talking O-35, that’s crazy. O-35 i can about guarantee to be a broken wreck when they arrive or soon after. i had a debate with someone on here about this, they were pointing out modric as counter example, thing being, you look up his stats when the season’s done, he played 1500ish minutes in league ball, 5′ in the UCL final.
even just O-30 a lot of the time they either freak out when they arrive (matthaus), fall apart their first year, have one good year then break down (djorkaeff). houston has gotten 1 good season out of herrera, but they want wages like they are in their prime and not this risk. i personally want 5 good years of 5 with upside instead of 1 good year of 3 with downside.
personally, to me, if i am signing foreign players, i want the thierry henrys who want to come here with tread left, play years or even a decade, maybe even coach here, and build our league. i am less interested in being a last payday on their way back to whence they came. that to me feels like a stunt or risk.