I'll update this periodically, or EPJrBot will take over. OFFICIAL SIGNINGS: - Brad Friedel from Aston Villa to Tottenham (free) - Oguchi Onyewu from AC Milan to Sporting CP (free) - DaMarcus Beasley from Hannover to Puebla (free) - David Yelldell from Duisburg to Bayer Leverkusen (undisclosed) - Connor O'Brien from Blockhus FC to SønderjyskE (unknown) - Oskar Gasecki from Western Illinois University to Borussia Dortmund II (free) - Jozy Altidore from Villarreal to AZ (unknown) LATEST RUMORS: - Michael Bradley rejects Spartak Moscow
OFFICIAL - Oguchi Onyewu is joining Sporting Clube de Portugal. He is currently the third centerback on the roster, joining Anderson Polga and Alberto Rodriguez. AC Milan has released him on a free transfer, opting to let him go rather than let him play for free as he agreed to do this season. Gooch signed a three year deal with Sporting.
OFFICIAL - DaMarcus Beasley has joined Puebla on a free transfer from Hannover. For those of you who may have forgotten what he looks like since its been so long since we've seen him, Beasley is the guy on the left. No details available on the length of contract, but it can be said that the salary is close to the $500,000 he made last season to not play in Hannover. Beasley turned down MLS offers as no one would approach that number and he was hoping to stay close to it. Beasley is reunited with former PSV teammate Robert who is playing for his 18th club. He joins a growing population of Americans playing in Mexico, including Edgar Castillo, Herculez Gomez, Frankie Lopez (former Timber U-23), Jose Francisco Torres, Michael Orozco, Joe Corona (I shit you not, that's his name), and Jonathan Bornstein (though I've heard we're looking into revoking his citizenship). That list doesn't include the many Americans representing Mexico internationally. UPDATE: Beasley played for Puebla against Monterrey in a preseason friendly and scored the winner in the 85th minute. Here's what limited footage of that effort is available. [video=youtube;M3zbC0JjjyU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3zbC0JjjyU&feature=player_embedded[/video]
OFFICIAL - German-American hybrid David Yelldell is joining Bayer Leverkusen as the club's back-up to Rene Adler. Yelldell leaves Duisburg where he started for the club in the DFB-Pokal Final. Duisburg got smoked 5-0 by Schalke, but getting there was a big accomplishment for a second division side that hasn't sniffed promotion since returning to the 2.Bundesliga after being a yo-yo club between the 05-06 and 07-08 seasons. Yelldell joins a great tradition of Americans who won't play much while being employed by Leverkusen as Claudio Reyna, Frankie Hejduk and Landon Donovan both sat on the bench there. Terms of the transfer deal were not disclosed. Yelldell has signed a three year contract. UPDATE - Rene Adler picked up an injury at the start of camp and it looks like David Yelldell will be the first choice until his return. In a friendly against Rangers, he played 90 minutes and picked up a clean sheet with four saves.
OFFICIAL - Amerikansk midtbanespiller til SønderjyskE. Google's translator tells me that SønderjyskE is Danish for Prediction. O'Brien was a strong performer in the second division for Blokhus FC, which won promotion to the Superliga last season. I've never heard of this guy and he's not a significant player, but I like looking at things written in Danish.
[video=youtube;pVXzDBESFQg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVXzDBESFQg[/video] RUMOR - Jozy Altidore looks to be on the move to Holland, a place where many folks (including me) were hoping he'd go all along. Greg Seltzer reports, Jozy will be picked up by AZ Technical Director Earnie Stewart, who earned 101 caps for the US during his playing career. That move is contingent upon AZ moving one of their strikers, and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson transferred to Ajax today. Manager Gertjan Verbeek looked into purchasing Altidore while he was with Heerenveen and Feyenoord. Verbeek was manager of Heerenveen when Michael Bradley scored an American Abroad record 16 goals in the 07-08 season. UPDATE July 5 - AZ's sales of Sigthorsson and Graziano Pelle are official. Stewart has held talks with Altidore and a three year contract seems to be agreeable to everyone involved. Altidore needs Villarreal to pay a percentage of wages to make up for the loss in money, but Seltzer is speculating that the contract may be agreed to completely by Stewart, Altidore, and Villarreal. What's left up for debate is the cost. Villarreal dropped €7 million on Altidore in 2008 and would hope to make some of that money back. AZ sold Sigthorsson for €4 million, but cannot sink all of that money into Altidore. UPDATE July 16 - Altidore to AZ has been officially announced by Altidore. Still awaiting word from AZ, but I'm sure its forthcoming. Its a four year deal. Altidore announced the camp to assembled reporters (probably three of them) at his summer soccer camp. [video=youtube;cEBU-uOh5pA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEBU-uOh5pA&feature=player_embedded[/video]
RUMORS - Alejandro Bedoya, quickly becomming a big fish in a liten damm with Orebro, has suitors in Holland and France, but Rangers are the most likely to end up with him. Sweden's transfer window doesn't open until August, so this will be slow moving. He's started the Allsvenskan season with 4 goals in 9 matches and had a strong Gold Cup for the US. Bedoya trialed with Birmingham City in February 2011, but was not signed due to work permit concerns. After playing 5 of the 6 Gold Cup matches, Bedoya appears to be eligible for a work permit this time around. If the Rangers rumor comes through, he'd pair with American Maurice Edu in central midfield. Personally, I'd rather see the France or Holland rumors come true so there's more consistent competition. Previous reports state that the technical directors of FC Groningen and AZ (Earnie Stewart) have been on hand to watch Orebro. Stewart confirmed that he was there, but wouldn't say that he was there to watch Bedoya.
OFFICIAL - Brad Friedel is chucking up some dueces to Aston Villa and has moved to Tottenham on a free. Friedel has made 275 straight Premier League appearances, but will have to compete with Heurelho Gomes and Carlo Cudicini for a starting role.
"You want me to go over there? I'm not going over there." RUMOR - Greg Seltzer, for MLSsoccer.net this time, reports that Michael Bradley has rejected a move to Spartak Moscow, claiming their are better leagues than Russia. Seltzer adds that there are a number of interested clubs, but no one is biting at the moment due to the $5 million fee 'Gladbach are asking for. Among the interested clubs, Roma, Napoli, PSG, Lyon, Hamburg, and Werder Bremen. More on the Roma situation here.
Teal Bunbury's mouth is open, the French may be placing words in it. UNRUMOR - Top Mercato, possibly French for Bleacher Report, ran an interview with Teal Bunbury stating that he had serious suitors and admiration from upper level clubs in England, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Turkey. While he has been scouted by clubs across Europe, Bunbury never spoke to anyone from Top Mercato and is just a guy that clubs are scouting at this time. He did train with Stoke City last winter and I would anticipate seeing him train in Europe again this winter. Also, if Bunbury really wants to move to Europe, he'll need to improve his strike rate in MLS (one in five) fast. By comparison, Altidore was one in two, and Buddle was roughly one in three, but closer to one in two over his last three seasons in the league.
RUMOR - When not visiting his Honduran chiropractor, Jonathan Spector is on the hunt for a new club since running out of contract at West Ham. Reports have West Ham interested in retaining Spector as they hope to return to Premier League. Interest has also been there from Birmingham, Wolves, and Sunderland. There were also talks with Hannover where he'd join Steve Cherundolo.
OFFICIAL - Multi-national left back Oskar Gasecki has signed with German champs Dortmund and will train with the seniors, while playing with Dortmund II in the fourth-tier in Germany. Gasecki was born in South Africa to Polish parents and is in the process of getting his American citizenship. US Soccer has kept an eye on him as he went through the high school ranks and played collegiately at Western Illinois.
RUMOR - Kamani Hill, who is still relevant to the BigSoccer crowd, is on trial with Romanian side FC Brasov. Hill was last under contract in the 2009-10 season with Vitoria Guimares of Portugal. Hill burst onto the scene after leaving UCLA following his sophomore season and joining Wolfsburg in the 06-07 season. He made his debut shortly after joining in January of 07 and played nine times, but Felix Magath took over as manager and moved Hill to the second team. He has since bounced around, including a trial with San Jose Earthquakes this past off-season.
RUMOR - According to a report from Sporten in Denmark, Brondby is looking at Charlie Davies as they hope to enhance their current squad. Davies would join Clarence Goodson if he made the move to Brondby. The club needs a capable goal scorer as the four forwards currently on the roster have less than ideal stike rates (two returning forwards score 1 in 10, for their careers, the four score slightly better than 1 in 5). Davies has 8 goals in 15 for DC United, but his contract status will complicate things for Brondby. MLS/DC reportedly have a loan to buy option from Sochaux. Based on his performance, I would assume that DC would be looking to excerise their option to buy Davies.
RUMOR - Marc Pelosi, US captain at the U-17 World Cup, stated that he has an offer to join Liverpool's youth set-up among other unspecified teams. Pelosi is weighing his European offers with a scholarship from UCLA. Pelosi is the nation's top ranked soccer player in the 2012 high school class and will join UCLA next fall if he goes the college route. Pelosi is among the many that have been linked to Roma, which is a possibility given that he has an EU passport (reportedly born in Germany).
RUMORED TO BE OFFICIAL - Potential US International Alex Zahavi may have joined Vitoria Setubal from Maccabi Haifa in Israel. Zahavi, who has represented Portugal, Israel, and the US at the youth levels went on loan to Hapoel Acre to get playing time last season. Currently, I cannot find anything that says that Zahavi has made this move. I'm not sure if this would be an ideal move for Zahavi. I would like to see him settle down and just stay in one place for a while. In addition to three national teams, Zahavi spent time in five different youth set-ups and the two Israeli clubs last season.
