Bundesliga side Mainz has continued its pursuit of American midfielder Lennard Maloney and could reportedly have him as a signed player in the coming days.
Mainz is working tirelessly to acquire Maloney from Heidenheim, Bild reported Monday. Maloney has not featured for Heidenheim in over one month, which has led to the club listening to offers for him during the January Transfer Window.
Heidenheim previously offered Maloney a contract extension last fall, but the 25-year-old did not accept it, seeking opportunities elsewhere.
Mainz sporting director Niko Bungert wants Maloney to be part of the club prior to the window shutting and admitted progress has been made in their negotiations..
“We are in the process of making the transfer in the winter and reaching an agreement with Heidenheim,” Bungert said in an interview with Bild. ”We are optimistic that it will happen in the next two weeks.”
The Berlin-born midfielder was key in Heidenheim earning promotion to the Bundesliga in 2023, as well as earn a spot in Europe last summer. Maloney has scored two goals and added two assists in 85 appearances for the club, which has led to him earning two caps with the U.S. men’s national team.
Mainz sits sixth in the current Bundesliga table and will face Stuttgart and Werder Bremen in its final two matches of January.
He’s a CB just like James Sands. Just because a player plays multiple roles for their club doesn’t mean it’s the same on international level. It has always been this way. US can win against certain North American countries with Sands or Maloney at the 6; it’s not their best fit for the US. You add his, Lund, Scally & Sands name to your depth chart, it might look similar to this …
1st team- Richards, Robinson, Trusty, McKenzie; 2nd team- Lund, Scally, Maloney, Sands; 3rd team – Ream, CCV, Sam Rogers, Zimmerman
That’s 12 CBs and I left plenty of vets & young players off. (…and yes, I think Scally & Lund are future CBs. I think Scally can do a better job as a D mid than Sands & Maloney at the international level.)
Sam Rogers he’d been dropped to the second division in Norway and has now come back to Chicago because he couldn’t play in Norway.
I was wondering why he didn’t play this weekend.
I think he came up as a central defender at BVB. I wonder if Mainz will ever use him there? That’s certainly a place where it is possible to break though at USMNT. Midfield is way tougher.
Mainz apparently has 2 DMs on their roster Sano has played 99% of their possible Bundesliga minutes and Kohr who has played 94% (99% if not for a yellow card accumulation suspension). Kohr is listed as a DM but has played CB only filling in for Amiri who has played only 74% of their possible Bundesliga minutes but has only sat 26 minutes that weren’t related to his two red cards and resulting suspensions. They’ve used a rotation for their other two CB spots. It sure seems like they would use him as depth at DM as those guys are already up there in minutes, but they might add him to the rotation at CB if they aren’t satisfied with those guys. Amiri is more the attacking midfielder option near the top of the league for MF in shots and shot creation so I don’t see Lenny replacing him. They just bought Sano in the summer so it’s likely either backup duty for Lenny or CB.
Mainz is likely to play in Europe next year….could be a depth signing…and a good one
He is a bulldog. Playing at Mainz would raise his profile. I know it seems as if we are stacked and covered in defensive midfield, but having options is never a bad thing, especially with injury concerns that always seem to pop up in our team. This would be a good move for him and the USMNT if it ends up working out.
Courey,
“it seems as if we are stacked and covered in defensive midfield,”
As you noted, that’s a bit of an illusion. Tyler is far and away the #1 but him showing up is as reliable as a politician keeping their promise.
We have a number of promising candidates, Musah, Johnny, Maloney, Aidan, etc. but none of them have stepped up and proved that they can reliably replace Tyler.
Pochettino rates Adams, who is doing well at Bournemouth, but I’m sure Pochettino is planning for life w/o Tyler. Tyler is managed in a very particular way at Bournemouth to accommodate his fragility. Whether that works for the USMNT in a World Cup tournament setting is unknown.
If Maloney does well at Mainz, I would think he would be at least up for consideration, especially if he is also a competent Center Back , where there are also employment opportunities.