James Sands is heading back to Europe, but this time to the German Bundesliga.
St. Pauli has acquired Sands on loan from New York City FC for the remainder of the current league season, both clubs announced Wednesday. The 24-year-old Sands has totaled over 140 appearances for NYCFC since debuting for the first team in 2017.
He’s scored one goal and added two assists in that time.
“James Sands offers an exciting mix of athleticism and footballing ability,” St. Pauli Director of sport Andreas Bornemann said. “Another positive aspect is that he can be deployed both in central holding midfield and central defense. As he has already played at a higher level in Europe, we believe he can quickly acclimatize to the club and the Bundesliga.”
Sands also previously spent time on loan at Scottish Premiership club Rangers, making 28 combined appearances for the club. He’s earned 13 caps for the U.S. men’s national team to date, but hasn’t featured since July 2023.
St. Pauli sit 14th in the Bundesliga standings following promotion back to the top flight last spring. They return to league play on January 11 against Eintracht Frankfurt.
“FC St. Pauli is a club known to soccer fans in New York, too, but I obviously had to familiarise myself with the idea behind the way the team plays football,” Sands said. “The officials made a very convincing case about the ambitions the club has and the role I can play. Moving to one of the strongest European leagues is a big challenge for me and one I’m very much looking forward to.”
V: w/Gio 4-4-8 16 pts : 1 pt per match. (W-T-L)
Out/Gio 5-5-10 20 pts : 1.1 pt per match. One reason for the decrease in performance was the declining production of Anthony Elanga. Elanga before Gio arrived 4g 6a, after when you say he was too good to take off 1g 3a, including a 12 match stretch where he had only 1a. I watched a few NF fan channels on YouTube during that time and Forest fans were screaming for Elanga to be benched because he was selfish and his finishing was dreadful. So the narrative that Nuno said “ oh we’re just too good to breakup this attacking group.” Isn’t exactly true. Now Luton, Burnley and Sheffield showed no signs of life the last half of the season so perhaps Nuno didn’t feel the need to play the loanee who wouldn’t be back. NF isn’t in 3rd place because of CHO, Elanga, or Gibbs-White. Their numbers are down from last year. (Elanga had 2a in their first 15 before getting hot the last two weeks.) The two big reasons are better play from Sels in net and the two transfers Milenkovich and Anderson solidifying the defense which is 3rd in the league in GA. Their offense is 13th. It’s working for Nuno and Forrest they already have more points than all last year. Hopefully it will work for Gio. Unfortunately Strikers “fantasy” (his word not mine) St. Pauli couldn’t afford him and ACM likely would find him just taking time from Pulisic and/or Musah. And Stewart already has his new American in Esmir (even though he now plays for Bosnia).
JR.
“oh we’re just too good to breakup this attacking group.” Isn’t exactly true.”
I disagree. Though not exactly.
It takes more than talent to play at this level.
Gio was/is talented enough to play for that Forest team. But Nuno had no time to figure out where best to use him. They seemed to be scoring enough before Gio got there. From what I remember their specific problem wasn’t so much scoring as it was them taking a lead and then giving it up.
And Gio wasn’t likely to shore up the defense.
And everything else for that loan was all wrong.
• No option to buy, so no future with Forest
• Not the defensive solution Nuno probably could have used
• Being rusty, Gio was not playing good enough at that point to be played ahead of any of Nuno’s preferred attacking players.
• Not a lot of games to work out ways to make the best or even any, real use of Gio.
The whole loan felt like it was a rushed deal that was “forced” on Forest.
Nuno respected Gio’s abilities and his potential. Gio did not get enough minutes to suit us but. if he was totally useless I don’t think Nuno would have given him any minutes at all.
I’ve never managed an EPL team in a fierce relegation battle. But clearly, Nuno was under a ton of pressure probably greater than most of us have ever faced.
So the focus had to be on tightening up that defense.
As for this business about Elanga, Gio was advertised as being able to sub for him but that’s not true. Different skill sets. And, I can’t remember names, but Forest had other guys better suited to directly replace Elanga. The guy that Gio would sub for is Gibbs- White and he was on fire.
The point is Gio did not fix their defense and they had other solutions for their Elanga issues. Nuno didn’t really need Gio so he didn’t use Gio.
As for ACM, it all depends on the new boss and if they sell anyone during the Jan. window and who that player is.
In the end, if Sahin is going to really give him a shot, Gio staying at BVB for the rest of the season seems to me like the best bet. But if Gio winds up at Milan if the new boss really wants him and uses him then I think Gio would be fine there as well.
Vac, I feel a lot of pressure when I post here. Gio is a top talent for the US. His US track record shows it. Poch is going to use him if he is healthy even if he sits on the bench for the Dortmund. By the way, my comments about Arob’s weaknesses relate to his attacking, not defending. His recovery speed makes him a very tough defender. Go watch the behind the crest episode on US Soccer website showing Poch’s halftime speech in St. Louis. It was pretty interesting. Also interesting hearing Pulisic being the vocal one about not getting pushed around. Maybe that was self-preservation based.
Tele57,
Between Gio and Sahin, someone has to decide, Should I stay or should I go? If Sahin sincerely is going to give Gio a shot over the rest of the season, then, in the short term, staying at BVB is the best option.
BVB seems to currently be offloading their older ( Malen is 25, Haller 28) fringe guys. At 22 BVB seems inclined to keep Gio around.
“Poch is going to use him if he is healthy even if he sits on the bench for the Dortmund. ”
I wouldn’t.
And I don’t know if Pochettino will either.
Pochettino needs to keep pressure on Gio to keep him motivated. You’d think Gio would not want to miss 2026 but I can see it happening. Asking him to get regular PT somewhere is not asking too much .
If can’t do that, I’d leave him out.
I think Jedi is playing well but I don’t think he’s world class, whatever the fuck that means. But I do think he has to start somewhere for the USMNT.
Pochettino is an old school hard man. In Argentina that means he was completely ruthless in a way that no one on the USMNT is. Go back and watch the 1990 WC final where JK beat Argentina in the final. Look up Estudiantes de LaPlata vs Manchester United in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup.
Watch those games and you’ll see why I call the USMNT a bunch of softies.
Tele57,
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/premier-league-supercomputer-predicts-shock-final-standings-with-multiple-sides-experiencing-record-breaking-seasons
There’s an article here about Jedi. See what you think.
Vac, I found the story about the computer predicting the rest of the season but couldn’t find the story about Arob. I look at this on my phone so website link might be different.
Looks like Malen is on his way to Aston Villa. May open up more minutes for Gio at RW.
Or Cole Campbell.
Sands is a guy I’ve always been a lot higher on than Berhalter ever seemed to be. He’s not a superstar and never will be, but he’s a very useful 5/6 tweener who gives you cover at two positions and can do justice to either. If I was the USMNT coach I’d certainly be giving him some looks…he’s a more technical, better-passing version of Leonard Maloney, also a 5/6 tweener, and to me Sands offers a lot more utility than a fourth pure CB would, especially in a tournament setting where you have to get utility out of every guy you bring. Sands gives you a guy you can insert to gum up the middle if you’re getting overrun, and you can also use him to close out a game without completely sacrificing your ability to advance the ball, and he’s good enough I wouldn’t be terrifed to start him at CB or as a DM if a run of injuries happened. The dude is just…solid. And he’s especially good as the CB in a three-man backline…which Pochettino is clearly partial to. (At least in possession.)
I’d love it if he could stick at St Pauli, and he might, and for exactly the reasons listed above. It’d definitely put another interesting tool into the box for Poch to play with. Regardless, I’ve always seen a role in our 23 (and especially in a 26-man roster) for a guy like Sands or Maloney, and while Sands may not have quite Maloney’s insane range he still showed an iron-man toughness playing almost literally every second of the Gold Cup last time around when that roster started running into injury problems. So I personally see a potential path for him, especially if he sticks in the Bundesliga.
It’s interesting because Gregg seemed to love him after 2021 GC. If remember they even used a 3 man backline then Sands would slide into midfield in possession. Then when Zim went down he held down the backline with MRob. Sands was part of Gregg’s experiment where Adams played RWB in a 3-4-3 at Honduras in the first WCQ window. He and Acosta were the two CM and couldn’t connect anything. Bello and Brooks were subbed out at half, Sands in 73 min. Brooks and Sands never appeared under Berhalter again. Sands was called a couple times but never played under Gregg. Bello made only 3 more appearances. Maybe it’s coincidence as all 3 also had club issues in the years that followed but it sure appeared that Gregg lost trust in them after that night in San Pedro Sula.
quozzel,
“he’s a very useful 5/6 tweener who gives you cover at two positions and can do justice to either.”
I hope he does well and you can never have too many good players but the problem for Sands is for your 5/6 tweener role, the following can also do it:
Ream ,Richards, Scally, McKennie, Maloney,
Unless he is really outstanding and barring injury and dramatic loss of form, that’s quite a mountain to climb
Would be hilarious and cool, if St. Pauli sign Brandon Vazquez from Monterey. Would be good Chem if Sands and Vazquez played season together in Bundesliga, maybe they can get Gio Reyna on loan and that would be a cool core playing together. Sorry for the what if fictional rant, lol 😆
Striker did you see my reply earlier this week? Musah is injured. He traveled to Saudi with the team but has still not returned to full training.
Sorry Jonny moved again to Ocala FL was MIA for two days. I didn’t know Musah was injured I saw he and Pulisic got new coach.
Doesn’t sound serious another week or two. Never good time to be injured but right as a new coach arrives definitely isn’t good. There’s is rumors of Gio joining ACM again since he and Conceicao have the same agent. That didn’t work out to well for Gio at Forest though last year.
JR,
“Gio joining ACM “…..
“That didn’t work out to well for Gio at Forest though last year.”
Not all loans or transfers are equal.
Gio’s problem at Forest:
1. The guys who were ahead of him, Gibbs-White, Elanga, CHO, etc. were all playing lights out.
2. They were in a relegation battle with only about 15 or so games left.
3. Gio was going back to BVB at the end of the loan regardless.
Nuno said he liked Gio. But, why would he fix what was not broken with so few games to go and relegation breathing down everyone’s neck?
That core started clicking just as Gio got there.
If there was an option to buy him, Nuno might have had more reason to take more of a look at Gio.
But, with no but option, there was no incentive to look.
That same core I mentioned is currently in third place in the EPL so Nuno must have been doing something right.
I saw a number of Gio’s appearances with them and it looked to me like, given time, he would have fit right in. But there was no time. Gio, at his very best , is great but besides being rusty, he’s not Messi/CR7/ MBappe great. That was and is a pretty damn good attacking bunch of players at Forest as they are proving right now. Gio wasn’t going to suddenly drop from the sky and all by himself lead them to the Champions League and beyond.
The situation at Milan is very different, They are in more than a little disarray. I don’t know what the new boss’ style is but technically Gio’s skill set should fit in well in Serie A. And he should play well with the teams most potent offensive threat. Milan sorely need another difference maker.
I don’t know if Sahin has given up on Gio but if he has Milan could be a good opportunity for Gio.
No Jonny, not sure if your not reading my comments throughly. I was saying would be cool if St. PAULI got Gio on loan and they purchase B vazquez from Monterrey, along with James Sands being there on loan.e That core would be cool to see playing g weekly. I alsomade a mistake I was wrong Cavan Sullivan didn’t trial at Man City they just thinks he’s really good and signed him.
Striker: yes, I know I saw your comment was for Pauli. I was just adding that there could be a chance to play in an American trio since you mentioned your idea probably wasn’t likely.
V: considering Reijnders is healthy and Conceicao mentioned a larger role for Loftus Cheek and Leao, I’m not sure there is a lot of room for Gio at ACM either. I think people just put too much stock in that having the same agent will lead to any sort of playing time advantage. It might lead to a transfer/loan because there is a relationship, but once the deal is done it’s not going to help get you on the field.
JR,
“considering Reijnders is healthy and Conceicao mentioned a larger role for Loftus Cheek and Leao, I’m not sure there is a lot of room for Gio at ACM either. ”
My comments on Gio re Milan are based on the assumption that, if he gets a chance to go to Milan, he will play his best and fight like a dog every minute of the day.
If the guys you listed were doing as well as , for example, the Nottingham Forest guys who kept Gio on the bench last season and are now in third place in the EPL, then we’re not having this conversation because Fonseca is still in charge and his guys are doing great.
But Fonseca has been axed, Milan are in disarray and Leao and RLC have been hot and cold. And Reijnders can always use some help.
Leao was supposed to be Batman to CP’s Robin and it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Loftus Cheek’s career is about flattering to deceive.
If this happens I think it would be a great chance for Gio to make a contribution as long as he plays his best and fights like a dog every step of the way. It seems like fans here expect our transferring players to go somewhere and be gifted a position because they are these special Americans who are World Cup bound and that glory will just spill over onto whatever club signs these golden boys.
“I think people just put too much stock in that having the same agent will lead to any sort of playing time advantage. It might lead to a transfer/loan because there is a relationship, but once the deal is done it’s not going to help get you on the field.”
The shared agent might help in getting things going but I was more thinking about Milan, Crystal Place, Venezia, Lyon, Toulose, Bournemouth, Fulham and Leeds. They all have one of our current USMNT wonderboys as a player for their first team.
You know what else they have in common? American owners.
PSV does not have American owners but they do have Danielle Reyna’s BFF Earnie as Technical Director. It may not help with you getting playing time but it may help in getting to the club in the first place. The rest is up to you.
Fuck MLS. Just buy all the teams in Europe.
Interesting. Hope he excels.