Americans Abroad 2021-22: The Hype Train Is Leaving The Station

Titans Bastard

Titans Bastard

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Philly Union forward/winger Jack de Vries '02 has gone on loan to Venezia. Venezia were rumored to be interested in him for a while, but he's had concussion issues that have prevented him from moving last winter or playing in MLS this season. Now he's back and the move has been completed. De Vries has a Dutch passport, which means he won't count as a non-EU signing. Nonetheless, this is a pretty random move IMO, unless there's more to de Vries than I think there is.

View: https://twitter.com/PhilaUnion/status/1432712278277648385
 
dirtynine

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Is Mallorca a step up from Schalke? Maybe he’ll have more opportunities for playing time there? For a young/developing player, it doesn’t seem like a slam dunk to me.
 
Jimy Hendrix

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dirtynine said:
Is Mallorca a step up from Schalke? Maybe he’ll have more opportunities for playing time there? For a young/developing player, it doesn’t seem like a slam dunk to me.
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It’s a step up in the sense that they’re in La Liga and not relegated to their second division. They also recently signed Lee Kang-In on a free so they’re trying this year in a way Schalke was not, and they already have almost half the points Schalke had last season in their first 3 games.

Not sure what their striker depth chart is, so can’t speak to playing time, but the club seems like much less of an utter mess.
 
rguilmar

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Wow what a summer for the USMNT! Just a quick rundown of the main summer transfers for USMNT players (I'm sure I missed some and excluded some of the more minor moves):

Hoppe sold to Mallorca- love this move as Mallorca are off to a good start but are lacking goals. Several owners are from the US, including Stu Holden. Pretty sure Steve Nash has a stake too (yes I know he's Canadian). Plus I imagine winter there is lightyears better than Gelsenkirchen. Mallorca do have a nice recent history and a great story rising from the brink of bankruptcy a decade ago. Plus, Eto'o.
Richards loaned back to Hoffenheim- love it plus a contract extension. Clearly he is still in the long term future at Bayern but needs playing time.
CCV to Celtic- Would've preferred a Championship side but he will be on the radar of teams in England I'm sure
EPB to Troyes- Ligue 1 is a nice spot for him. Kinda interested to see how he does

Konrad to Marseille- Gotta love it so far. He's been must see TV for USMNT fans.
Miazga to Alaves- He got thrown right into the fire, so they must think decently high of him. Let's see how it goes, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
Busio and Tessman to Venezia- 3 yanks in Venice, which is basically Fulham South at this point. I thought Busio looked pretty good in his debut, especially defensively 1v1, but seems really slow to get back and had an awful turnover that led to a goal.
Otawsowie to Brugge- Rumor was that he was wearing out his welcome at Wolves, so this hopefully lets him restart his career a bit
Caden Clark to RBL- least surprising transfer, and I kinda expect a loan when he arrives in Germany in January.
Sargent to Norwich- any move was a good move to get out of Bremen (sad to see Bremen and Schalke falling so far, but it is what it is). He'll get minutes, and I do think he has a shot at taking over as the main striker. Won't be easy though!
Vines to Antwerp- early reviews have been negative but I like that he's challenging himself
Horvath to Forest- meh, he couldn't find a spot where he would be a day 1 starter?

Transfers that didn't happen
Cannon is still stuck at Boavista, but I am pretty sure the Portuguese transfer window closes later so it's possible for a move within Portugal this window
Cole Bassett turned down a transfer to Benfica. Perhaps this goes down in the winter window?
 
Titans Bastard

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Pulisic is reportedly out for ten days.

Allegri said that McKennie will start against Napoli tomorrow, so he's not exactly in the Juve doghouse as feared.

Reyna is out for a bit, and his participation in the next FIFA window is in doubt. However, Dortmund hasn't publicly given a straight answer as to exactly how long he's out.
 
rguilmar

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Titans Bastard said:
View: https://twitter.com/andrewcarleton7/status/1436852744351064078
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Man, totally forgot about this kid. I’m sure others remember him better, but in case you’ve forgotten, his recent hits include:
Posted selfies while out drinking with buddies at the ripe old age of 18 (iirc) leading to his dismissal from the team on the eve of MLS Cup
Forgot his passport on the way to Toronto leading to his reassignment to the USL
Attended the infamous January 6 Trump rally in Washington after being released by Atlanta. No indication that he entered the Capitol

Questions about his maturity have followed him throughout his career. He’s young and can still turn it around. I’m not holding my breath though.
 
Titans Bastard

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In addition to the large amount of baggage that Carleton has, his lack of athleticism would have posed a problem. I think there’s a good chance he would have been forced off the wing into a central attacking role, which is a tougher row to hoe in many ways.
 
rguilmar

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Dest fit and back in the starting 11 just in time to face… Alphonso Davies again (maybe). I haven’t seen the Bayern squad list yet
 
rguilmar

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No Pulisic, no Adams, no Reyna but still a good weekend for Yanks abroad.

From the games I caught:
Tim Weah put in a MotM performance. Assisted the first goal after a pure hustle play. Earned the PK for the second. Did most of it with his head bandaged after getting a nasty cut early in the game.
Serginho Dest was super impressive at left back for Barca. Got a great assist.
Chris Richards was great against Wolfsburg. Brooks was pretty meh though.
Joe Scally was great against Dortmund.
Didn’t play this weekend, but Hoppe has looked pretty good for Mallorca (against Villarreal and Real Madrid).
Busio continues to start and look at home in Venezia.
Matt Miazga played really well against Atletico Madrid in Aleves’s shock win.
Musah! is back and playing for Valencia (but could be hurt again)

Rumor has it Bryan Reynolds will be loaned soon, which is only surprising in that it took so long to happen. I hear CCV is looking good at Celtic. Pefok scored again.
 
Titans Bastard

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Jonathan Gomez '03 makes his move from Louisville to Real Sociedad, effective this winter. Gomez is seen as one of our top LB prospects and left FC Dallas' system in 2019 because he didn't want to sign a contract that he felt would limit his options for moving abroad. Since then, the situation in MLS and FC Dallas in particular has changed: Tessmann, Cannon, and Reynolds have been sold, while Sealy, Servania, Che, and Roberts have all gotten loan opportunities abroad. So it's less risky to take the MLS route, but regardless, things worked out for Gomez.

View: https://twitter.com/RealSociedadEN/status/1443563330447228939
 
OCST

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watched the Everton-Norwich game so saw Sargent. Anonymous display but tbf he got almost no service and what attacking there was went through Pukki. Norwich are woeful, especially in attack, Sargent would be better off in another country or in the Championship, he will never see the ball.
 
Jimy Hendrix

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Sargent’s been lively today but just missed an open net chance so bad that I said “oh, buddy” out loud just like I do when my dog is sad.
 
rguilmar

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Dest with a nice game for Barca continuing his good form. Set up Coutinho on the third goal. He was technically listed as the starting RB but was much more advanced with the CMs (usually Roberto) filling the space behind him.

Musah got a sub appearance in the same game. He had some good moments but appeared to lose his man on the aforementioned Coutinho goal.
 
ninjacornelius

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On Friday, Chris Richards was on the bench for Hoffenheim but was subbed on in the 36th minute due to injury and finished the match. This was less than 48 hours after he played 90 minutes for the USMNT. Stay healthy, kid. I hope your legs don’t fall off.
 
rguilmar

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Miazga started and went the full 90 in Alaves’s loss to Betis. It was a fun game and Betis scored at the very end. He played well and seems to have a good partnership with Laguardia. At one point he was put into a bad spot by a teammate with Fekir running at him and Miazga not only won the ball but drew a foul too. The announcer mentioned a recent interview where Miazga says he plays with a certain rage, which is interesting.

Busio started and went the full 90 for Venezia in their 1-0 home victory against Fiorentina in the Derby of Super Romantic Italian Cities. He played well and was the creator of the goal. He got the hockey assist after playing a teammate through on goal, and instead of shooting the ball, it was unselfishly passed square for the goal.

I like the situation both players are in. Venezia are willing to deal with the growing pains of Busio (he had his pocket picked late by Torreira that could’ve led to a chance). Alaves are always expected to fight for every inch and the fans hold their players to a high standard in terms of effort and discipline, and Miazga is meeting that challenge. Assuming both teams stay up (nowhere near a given) and Alaves decide to somehow keep Miazga, it could bode well for their USMNT chances down the road.
 
speedracer

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anybody check out Joe Scally yesterday? Looks like he was on for all 5 goals Monchengladbach put past Bayern.
 
cromulence

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I was watching, though it was sort of on in the background. He was very solid yet again, made a crucial sliding challenge in the box to potentially save a goal. The announcers were full of praise for him and mentioned a couple times that Gladbach's sporting director had said he's been their best player this season. And then I found it very encouraging that he was subbed off alongside Lars Stindl, the captain, presumably just to get him some rest because he's an important player for them. Love to see it. Call him up, Gregg.
 
wonderland

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It is right to assume Turner stays put through the WC next winter? With his two top competitors serving as backups, I don’t think he has much to worry about in order to stay the starter unless he made a move that went all wrong.

A bit surprised City wanted to keep Steffan. I like him well enough but I think it’s on the low end of a backup Keeper at a top club.
 
DJnVa

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Jimy Hendrix

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Titans Bastard said:
Um.....

View: https://twitter.com/TaylorTwellman/status/1467830136913506307
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Huh. Probably will fly under the radar, but it’s funny to think of the silly Twitter comment Man U fans who were sniffy about this when it was rumored to be Marsch having it actually be Marsch’s much less effective successor.

He’ll probably be fine though. Rangick I assume has a clear idea of what he needs himfor and coaching staff seems low enough interest that the press won’t shiv him for saying “field” or whatever.
 
Zomp

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So far most fans have approached the rumored hire with an open mind. I mean we all agree Twitter is the cesspool of fan opinion right?
 
Jimy Hendrix

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Zomp said:
So far most fans have approached the rumored hire with an open mind. I mean we all agree Twitter is the cesspool of fan opinion right?
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Oh, for sure, I don't take this as an indictment on fans as a whole. Reasonable people probably trust Rangick to hire his people and also most reasonable people don't care about the coaching staff that much. I was amused nevertheless.
 
bosox4283

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AS, the Spanish sports paper that is often just one big rumor machine, is reporting today that Xavi has no interest in keeping Dest. It all seems somewhat reactionary to me, but Xavi clearly has a vision of what sort of players he wants.
 
rguilmar

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bosox4283 said:
AS, the Spanish sports paper that is often just one big rumor machine, is reporting today that Xavi has no interest in keeping Dest. It all seems somewhat reactionary to me, but Xavi clearly has a vision of what sort of players he wants.
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I'll believe it when I see it to be honest. I'm sure Xavi will be given a lot of input on transfers, but I would imagine that they need to be prioritized, and a cheap youngster seems less important to me than some other moves they need to make. Barca had two of the top young right backs in the world in Dest and Emerson, and recently sold Emerson to Spurs. I know Xavi wasn't in charge then, but the club clearly made a call on who was part of the future and who was not. Dani Alves is coming in but he can't be looked at as any sort of every week player at this point. I think most people envision this more as a mentorship for Dest.

That being said, Barca's financial difficulties are pretty well known. Dest can be sold at a pretty decent profit. Because of his wages, he's probably one of the few non La Masia players that can be moved at all for a profit. Xavi has made it clear he wants to focus on players from the Barca system, so I would guess any La Masia product with any promise will not be sold. It's pennies though compared to the debt owed, so I'm not sure it makes sense. Barcelona's larger financial issue isn't the debt necessarily, it's the wages, and Dest is one of the lower paid players. Moving some of the overpaid wingers and MF to make room for La Masia youngsters seems like a better bet to me.

Of course, Barca's transfers for the better part of the last decade make basically no sense anyways. So who knows.
 
Titans Bastard

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Jonathan Tomkinson '02, a center back, has made the bench for Norwich City for the first time in today's match against Manchester United. He's been captaining their U23 team lately, and quite recently signed a contract extension with the club.
 
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