Jul 22
Bradley “Won’t play for [Heerenveen] this season”
Transfer Season is to put it lightly, hectic. That’s why it has been interesting to see the talk about Michael Bradley go down. With teams like Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Middlesborough, Blackburn, and Monaco all vying for Bradley’s signature, you’d think there would be plenty of talk, but there hasn’t been recently. However, an executive at Heerenveen has revealed a lot. Yme Kuiper said this to the team’s website.
“Bradley’s name comes up on the list of many different clubs. His departure is a bit dependent on third parties – if other clubs’ players leave, the ball starts rolling. If Bradley does well (in China), there will be interest. At this moment, we assume that he won’t play for us this season.”
Heerenveen was playing hard to get, demanding more money from teams and waiting until they got the offer they were waiting for.
These comments also tell us that Bradley himself has no interest in joining Monaco. Monaco only plans on selling Jeremy Menez, but Freddy Adu will slot in there. Kuiper could have been talking about Blackburn, or Hamburg in regards to players leaving. Blackburn is waiting to see what happens with David Bentley, and Hamburg is waiting to see what happens with Rafeal Van Der Vaart.
Now we know, Bradley will be sold. However, it is too bad that he will have to wait so long. It is quite possible that Bradley won’t sign for his new team until after the Olympics. This would leave Bradley to join his new club late, and he might not get playing time until September.
What do you think of these most recent comments? Where should Bradley end up? What do you think his transfer fee will be? Comments below.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I still have Bradley valued in that $5-$7M range. I think Michael may be leaning towards a move to the EPL but I personally think he’s best suited for the Bundesliga. I think a move to Hamburg or Werder would be great for him. That being said, the experience he could gain in the Premiership playing at such a fast pace should greatly improve his distribution ultimately benefiting the USMNT. Hopefully he shows well in Beijing and is able to latch on to a club who plans on giving him the opportunity to play right away. If the US advances to the knockout round of the Olympics he’ll only have about a week to find a new club so hopefully his agent is working the phones.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
agreed he might get 8 million pounds in a bidding war but he is worth in that 5-7 range. I’m hoping for the Bundesliga as well. It will make him sharper and a little bit more hard nosed. the most imporant thing though is that he plays. We can say where we want him to go but the first priority is having him play.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Yea, he must play wherever he goes. And also he should be playing that defensive midfield role that he apparently favors and where he plays with the Nats.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
That is a little bit of a tricky situation. On the US National team he is less effective because he’s not able to get up the field into the attack. He was so successful when he was allowed to get up the field. It will be interesting to see where he plays for his new club. I hope it’s a linking midfielder, box to box.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I just don’t understand why he can’t be that box to box midfielder for the USMNT. Does it really take away that much from his defensive duties?
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
The reason is Bob’s ultra conservative play. We always play with 2 d-mids so we should be able to allow one of them to get up the field but he is so conservative. If we play Edu at D-mid and allow bradley to be box to box, we could be incredibly dangerous because he’s proven to score. This also allows Adu to have less defensive duties because Bradley will be supporting him directly. Bradley gets bogged down in this defensive mind set and can’t understand how to use his wealth of attacking assets, (at least in the midfield).
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I do question Jr.’s distribution though. I’ve seen him give the ball away far to cheaply. However, if Adu plays that withdrawn attacker typ role then Michael won’t have to create too much and he’ll be able to clean up inside the box which he does so well.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
yeah, sr. bradley likes to use him as a deep lying distributor which he is not good enough at. He’s better at controlling the ball and possesion. If he can get up the field , that’s when he really is dangerous. I think we need a coach with a different approach. Possibly a guus hiddink, Klinsman would have been nice.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
With what Hiddink has done in the past I would love to see what he would be able to do with what I consider the best US player pool ever. He is excellent at using young talent and veterans a like. That being said, I think barring death Bob will be leading this team trhu 2010.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
certainly, Bob is not going anywhere unless of course we don’t qualify. I’m hoping for Hiddink in 2010 or at least a European world renowned coach.