2011 MLS Season Thread

[Clawson]

Martina had that one game against Portland then was pretty much shit the rest of the year so I'm not shocked he's gone.

[Lineker]

Alessandro Del Piero's agent has suggested the Juventus legend will move to the United States after rejecting an approach from the Premier League.

The 37-year-old's contract at Juve expires at the end of the season and he will not be offered a deal to stay with the Serie A leaders.

The striker has previously expressed an interest in playing in England and has been linked with moves to Blackburn Rovers and Queens Park Rangers.

However, Del Piero's representative Enzo Bronzetti believes the former Italy international is most likely to move to Major League Soccer after emerging as a target for several American clubs.

"I think he can go there," said Bronzetti in the Daily Star. "American football is said to have been on the rise for years, but now it is.

"In the last few days the leaders of Seattle, Chicago came to Italy and now come those of the Galaxy. Del Piero is highly respected in the United States.

"For Spain and England, I really do not see it. I know there was already an approach (from the Premier League), but with the Americans..."

Meanwhile, Sion president Christian Constantin has confirmed he is not giving up hope of persuading Del Piero to shun a move to the MLS in favour of heading to Switzerland.

"I have not yet talked to him, partly because I read he'd like to go to America," Constantin told TMW.

"Of course I still believe in this move. We will play two games and then I'll make contact.

"I can tell you now that I will call Del Piero in a couple of weeks. I'll talk it over with him and see what he thinks about my proposal."

[HailtotheYo]

The Del Piero thing has been floating for like 4 years now (like Ballack and others). Montreal might take a swing at him, but at this point I think all of the clubs that would have gone after him are "over" him. With the Bosmans from every league this year I don't see a club going after him when much better options (Anelka/Drogba for instance) are out there to take a swing at.

San Jose makes it official that Convey won't be returning.

Chivas USA makes a trade with SKC for Ryan Smith (SKC still held his MLS rights). A couple of supplemental draft picks go the way of the Sporks. I like Smith and think he's going to be a pretty good player for Chivas. They really don't give much up considering the best prospects in the first round will be at positions they have an overlow at (attacking).

[Szumi]

I'd like to see Convey go to Philly. He's a PA guy, and played his best soccer under Nowak, I do believe. Really, he's a like-for-like replacement for Mapp, although Convey is overall the better player. However, I can't see Nowak wanting to pick up his contract, and he seems eager to give Farfan, Torres, and Nakazawa more time to shine.

[HailtotheYo]

Impact sign Bryan Arguez.

Oh, and this is kind of a big deal: TWC give Galaxy 55m for regional TV

[Lineker]

DC United have confirmed that starlet Andy Najar will spend two weeks training with Tottenham in order to help develop his game.

The Honduras international has departed for England and will join Spurs' first-team squad on Monday 28th November through to 10th December.

The 18-year-old, who was named the 2010 MLS Rookie of the Year, won his first international cap in September against Colombia.

DCU general manager Dave Kasper is delighted one of the club's rising talents will enhance his game abroad and he is looking forward to having him back at RFK Stadium an improved player.

"We are pleased to finalise Andy's stay with Tottenham," Kasper commented on the club's official website.

"I think this experience will be tremendous for him. He will come away from this as a better player, and we look forward to having him back with us shortly.

"It's great for our players to get into a different environment and have a different experience. We feel it's good for their continued development.

"It's certainly aligned with the philosophy that Jurgen Klinsmann has made public, which is that our offseason is too long and our players need to continue training."

Is he any good? One for us in the future perhaps?

[HailtotheYo]

I like him. Had a strong rookie season and played a much more all around game this year. In 50 starts he's got 10 goals and 7 assists playing on the right side. Easily one of the best prospects in the league.

Not sure about one for the future, as these training stints are happening by a pretty good handful with players this year. We've got several training with EPL clubs over the off-season.

[HailtotheYo]

Seriously CBus ? what the fuck ...

Not bad ...

[GoGo Yubari]

I like the Kill Bill one, but not the "your image has failed to load properly" one.

Also, LA has traded Donovan Ricketts to Montreal for allocation money. I was pretty much expecting this to happen after Saunders stepped up this year.

[HailtotheYo]

shows up for me :/

.. beat me to the Ricketts trade .... however, SKC has traded Arnaud to Montreal to get back Sinovic + allocation money. Smart business by SKC. Instead of just losing Arnaud by exposing him, they expose Sinovic and get allocation money for Arnaud rather than nothing.

[GoGo Yubari]

I was making a joke about how the jersey on the right just suddenly becomes all white.

[HailtotheYo]

[GoGo Yubari]

Indeed.

[Lineker]

New York Red Bulls defender Tim Ream will train with West Brom and Bolton over the next fortnight. His agent Patrick McCabe said, though, a potential January move for 24-year-old Ream would have to be right for the player. McCabe told the Wolverhampton Express and Star: "Both clubs (Albion and Bolton) have admired Tim for some time and it affords both parties a chance to see each other up close.

Yet another 'is he any good?' post.

[Szumi]

Ream could turn out to be good, but he's been disappointing the past year. He had a great rookie season, and got some call-ups to the national team. However, he has had great difficulty dealing with the pace of the game on the international level, and also had a relatively poor second season with the Red Bulls. Maybe training with some Prem clubs will help him develop, but as of now, I could only ever see him going as far as a club in the Scandavania region, as other Americans have done, should he decide to leave the MLS.

[HailtotheYo]

Ream is one I actually feel needs to move on to get better. Potential is a 10, no question. He was killed this year in part due to the joke of a backline he played with.

[HailtotheYo]

Crew don't renew Mendoza (and others)

TFC trades for Jeremy Hall (Dallas gets a 2nd round pick in 13).

SKC trads for Nagamura (Chivas gets a supplemental draft pick).

DCU trades for Robbie Russell (rsl gets 3rd round pick in 13).

[GoGo Yubari]

Ream is suffering from the fact that he's in a shitty club to play for if you're a young player with a lot of potential. See also Agudelo, Juan. He needs to move on to somewhere where he can actually improve, and not somewhere where he's partnered up with Rafa Marquez who I really, really hope will be gone by the end of January.

[GoGo Yubari]

So, I guess some pre re-entry draft stuff. For Seattle, Terry Boss and Taylor Graham have both retired. Sad for Boss since it was due to concussions and he had a couple games this year that totally made me reassess my opinion on him. Pat Noonan and Nate Jaqua's contracts haven't been renewed, which... yeah. That makes sense. If we could get Jaqua at a much lower price he'd be worth keeping, but otherwise he costs too much for a guy who's only good when not in regular MLS play and at most offers assists. Noonan seems like a nice guy but all he's produced for us this year is one nice assist vs. Monterrey. No players added to the roster for next year yet, but it appears Mauro has signed a two-year contract with us and I'm sure we're paying him what he deserves now. Pretty much a no-brainer, he loves being here and we love having him here.

Elsewhere, Bobby Convey is heading to SKC, and Houston has resigned Bobby Boswell even though he was on the re-entry list.

[HailtotheYo]

^ Convey to SKC is going to be amazing I think.

Montano might be going to Montreal. Heavy Del Piero rumors and hopefully they aren't true. The only guys over 30 I'd like are Drogba, Anelka, or Ballack.

Rumor I hope is true: Josue Martinez (Saprissa) signed by Philly ! That'd be GREAT ... Seattle supposedly worked out a deal with Edder Delgado (Real Espana)

Looking over the list I see a good handful of guys that I'd be interested in:

Conway/Husidic/Quaranta/Simms/Freeman/Santos/Coundoul/Alvarez