Brad Friedel sold by Blackburn

US keeper Brad Friedel has been sold, on condition, to an undisclosed EPL club for £2 million. The deal will only go through if the Rovers land another goalkeeper.

Aston Villa is thought to be the undisclosed team, which also happens to be the club linked with fellow American Brad Guzan. Could Villa be an all American stop shop soon or will Stuart Taylor clam a top spot?

Should be fun to watch.

Donovan still interested in EPL

Yanks Abroad reports that Landon Donovan's agent failed to deny a Sky Sports report concerning a possible move by the American to the EPL.

They then report this:

Donovan was recently quoted by the English media giant as saying, "The older I get and the more I play, the more I'm yearning for that highest level I can play at."

"I think the Premiership would be the best place the play."

Sounds pretty exciting and it has caused a bit of a buzz on the internet, however, the quote is actually almost a year old.

There is another part from the interview last year that was missed this time around: "At the moment I'm happy here (LA), at least for the next few years with Dave (Beckham) here. I want to be a part of this too. Not many people get to be a part of this, so I want to live it."

I bring up the fact that this is an old quote not because it means it is no longer valid or that a move will not happen, just to give it a context.

So what will happen with Donovan?

Well he is in a bit of a bind. LA doesn't want to let him go because they want a championship this year and without him, it probably is not going to happen. That would seem to suggest a delay in any move till December, however that means coming in halfway through the EPL season, which will make starts even harder to obtain, which could effect his build up to 2010 (not to mention his availability for qualifiers).

That said, it is time for him to return to Europe and see what he can accomplish. His work over the past six-months has been some of his best and if he is ever to reach the heights we all want him to, he needs to move.

Brian McBride coming home to MLS

Brian McBride has decided to leave England and return stateside. Fulham hoped McBride would stick around for another season, but he decided now was the best time. He made over 150 appearances for the Cottagers and netted 40 goals.

"After much consideration with my family, we have decided to leave Fulham after four and a half fantastic years," the 35-year-old forward said in a statement Wednesday on the club's Web site. "I have always stated my intention to return to America at some stage and this seems like the right moment in my career to move on."
...
"I take great pride in the fact that my last appearance for Fulham saw the club maintain its Premier League status," McBride said. "I leave with some wonderful memories from my time at Fulham, and the club will always be in my heart."

As I said a couple weeks ago, I would have preferred he stay in England because he was a constant bright spot for American's aboard, however that is a very selfish reason. McBride is an outstanding player and a wonderful person who has more then earned all the praise that comes his way. His desire to return home to give his final quality years to his nation's league speaks volumes.

As far as his future home in the MLS, who knows where he might end up. Toronto has his rights, but Chicago is often mentioned as his landing spot (he grew up in the area). I'm sure ever Fire fan would love McBride teaming up with Blanco, but as a commenter said, 'in the grand scheme of what is right and wrong, his place is in Columbus.' It would be very strange to see him in MLS and not in a Crew uniform. Still, if he wants to play for his hometown club, I think even the hardest Crew supporter would understand.

So welcome home McBride, I, like thousands of other US soccer fans, look forward to watching you play.

Fulham drops Carlos Bocanegra

Fulham has reduced their American contingency by one as they dropped Carlos Bocanegra today. It is no big surprise that Bocanegra got the boot as manager Roy Hodgson had pretty much benched him for the last three months.

Bocanegra, who will likely be a starter for the US against England on Wednesday, is now looking for a new home. PSV Eindhoven has been mentioned as a possible landing spot. PSV was a good spot for DaMarcus Beasley as few years back and might be the change Bocanegra needs. If it works out, he might even get some Champions League action.

This move is a big one for Bocanegra as he needs to find playing time or else his spot on the national team will be less then assured.

Fulham also let go of Jari Litmanen, Philippe Christanval, Simon Elliott, Ian Pearce, Michael Timlin, Ismael Ehui, and Bjorn Runstrom. Looks like Eddie Johnson will get a little more time to make his mark.

Now the question is will Kasey Keller stick around?

Should McBride stay in England or come home? - Poll

As one of, if not the most successful US field players ever in England, Brian McBride has been a solid source of pride for American fans, however those days might be about to come to an end. The soon to be 36 year old is weighing his options and might decide to leave the top-level English league in order to return to MLS.

McBride's contract with Fulham ends next month, meaning MLS would not have to pay a transfer fee, however the Cottagers have offered him a deal for the 2008-09 season. So what should McBride do?

This past season was a very difficult one due to injury, however it did end on a very positive note as he was a key part of Fulham's escape from relegation. His end of season form suggests that he still has the ability to play in the EPL, but if he did stick around, what would Fulham accomplish? Is it worth the pounding his body will take if they end up just fighting, yet again, to stay up? And even if things did go fantastic and they were able to win a spot in European competition, he probably would not be around for 09-10 to enjoy it, so why stay?

If he came back to the US, he would probably have two or three good years left in him that he could use to push the sport in loves in his home country and have a good chance, no matter where he lands, of winning a MLS Cup.

From my own standpoint, it would be great to see McBride stay in England because he is a constant high note for American players in Europe, but that is pretty selfish on my part.

So what do you think?

Clint Dempsey sticking with Fulham

US international Clint Dempsey has decided to stay with the Cottagers after signing a contract extension that will keep him in West London through 2010. It had been rumored that if Fulham failed to stay in the Premier League, Dempsey would move along to another top-flight club, but this move seems to kill such talk.

Fulham beat Birmingham City over the weekend to move out of the bottom three for the first time in months, however they are still dangerously close to the drop zone. Since Dempsey signed even though the team might get relegated seems to suggest that he enjoys the club and that they plan on making him a key part of their future plans.

If Fulham do stay up, I'm think the only American that will leave is Bocanegra. If they don't, I see Eddie Johnson and Dempsey sticking around and possibly McBride.

Clint Dempsey wants 10 goals

Clint Dempsey had a three targets this season, "finish in the top 10, get 10 goals and five assists" but time has changed his focus.

"Right now we want to get out of the relegation battle, stay up and make things right for next season. The most important thing is that we stay up and if my personal targets are part of the reason for that then great, but staying up is all I want."

Dempsey still hopes to reach his 10 goal, 5-assist season, however he has a way to go. At 6 goals and 0 assists, I think it is safe to say that if he makes these targets, Fulham will not be relegated.

Toronto FC hired John Carver as coach - Mo Johnston reassigned

Toronto FC have replaced Mo Johnson with former Leeds United manager John Carver. Most recently, Carver was involved with English First Division side Luton Town, but was released last month.

Mo Johnston will still be involved with the team as manager and director of soccer.

Although Carver does have some English experience, his resume is nothing amazing. Since Mo is still involved with the team, I would imagine he feels he can do more running the club then manning the sidelines.

So did anyone else think of the Mayflower leader when they read the name John Carver?

Turmoil in Iraq keeps star player out of EPL - FIFA rankings have consquencies

The FIFA ranking system has kept Iraqi Nashat Akram from playing in the English Premier League for Manchester City. Akram, who last July lead his national team to a shock win in the Asian Cup, was denied a work permit by the UK's Home Office because Iraq is not in the top 70 of FIFA's rankings. The current ranking used by the Home Office: 72.

How insulting is this ruling? First, a big part of the reason their ranking is only 72 is their in ability to play matches regularly due to the on going war in Iraq. The team cannot train or play in country due to fears of violence and even the process of getting the team our of Iraq for such events is grueling, yet when they do play, they normally do well.

Second, the Home Office often waves little rules as long as players are close to the requirements, as seen very recently with Eddie Johnson and national team appearances (he had only played in 72% of the US national team's competitive matches when he, by Home Office rules, needed to play in 75%). Yet, these two spots in a largely meaningless ranking system could not be overlooked for some strange reason.

However, the biggest insult of all is that Iraq is currently number 67 in the FIFA rankings (Jan '08). In fact, they have been in the top 70 since August of last year (Aug - 64, Sept - 65, Oct - 69, Nov - 70, Dec - 69). In fact, since October 2003, they have been in the top 70 for 37 of the 50 months, but that number doesn't even tell the full story as 12 of those months, (July '06-July '07), saw the team go 4-3-5, but still drop in the rankings following FIFA's changing of the ranking system.

I'm not trying to bring politics into soccer, but with everything going on in Iraq it seems cruel to deny a talented player a permit due to two numbers in a ranking system.

Manchester City says they will not give up on Akram and hope to sign him during the off season.

EPL's Derby sold American

The bottom feeders of this season's Premier League are under American ownership as Derby County chairman Adam Pearson has managed to find new investors for the club.

Although the new faces are, at this point, unnamed, the article does mention that "the group were previously involved in talks with a takeover of Manchester City, only to lose out to Thaksin Shinawatra."

So will this in some way help keep Derby up this season? Unless the new owners include a magically fairy, probably not. However, it should help provide manager Paul Jewell the needed funds for the summer transfer window, but will it finally help American Benny Feilhaber see some decent playing time?

This move means four of the twenty teams currently in the EPL are owned by Americans (Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa are the others). If only we could convince these people to throw some of that money into MLS.

Steve McClaren open to MLS coaching job

Steve McClaren, last seen getting sack-beaten by the whole of England, says he learned a lot during his 18-months in charge of the national team and that he is very interested in returning to coaching. He would prefer to return to the Premier League, but is willing to go anywhere as long as the team can challenge for the top spot in their league.

"I'm not going to rush into anything. I want to make sure it's right and the right thing is someone who is ambitious and who can challenge for top spots, whether that's in England or anywhere."

That is when Major League Soccer came into things, saying that he was impressed with what he discovered in America and that he would consider the league as a possibility.

"I'm not dismissing anything and I wouldn't,' he said when asked about the league. 'Football is football and I think the experience is beneficial, whatever country it is in."

I'm sure some of this love had to do with him speaking at a MLS event in Baltimore, but it is still interesting to hear. No doubt he would rather stay in his native country to coach, but he is pretty toxic at the moment. Perhaps he could land a Champions league side, but I just can't see anyone in the EPL think, 'we must have McClaren.'

Over here, he would have a much easier go of it as most people were nowhere near as wrapped up in the results of his last gig. Also, due to the structuring of the rules, any team has a realistic chance at winning the league.

He also spoke about Beckham's play in America and stressed the 'you haven't seen anything yet' line.

"I've said it to him and I've spoken to other people - it's like a new signing all over again. Although you've had the furore of David Beckham coming over off the field, now you get David Beckham on the field and that can only be good for MLS."

I wonder how hard the league is going to push this take on Beckham. I agree fully with the argument but wonder how they will sell it without it sounding like 'we took you for a ride last year, but this time it is legit.' I hope they can do it, but a second wave of hype will be much harder to generate.

Feilhaber staying in England for now

He might not be playing much for Derby, but they are sticking with him after rejecting Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv's offer for the midfielder. In the end, Derby just didn't think the club's offer was equal to Feilhaber's value. The reported offer was £275,000, or more then £700,000 less then the club paid for him five months ago.

It is a shame that the reason behind this was the low figure instead of a desire to play Feilhaber, but that is the way of international football.

So Feilhaber finds himself benched on a club that is just about certain of relegation. Unless another club and move in with a better offer, it's going to be a difficult spring for Benny.

Welcome to Chelsea America

Fans of the Blues in the USA now have a site to call their own as Chelsea has unveiled their official American online home. The club hopes US based supporters will use this location as their one stop shop for all things Chelsea.

The site contains message boards, training drills, news and, of course, a store. Overall, it is not the impressive looking as it reminds me of websites designed in the late 90's, but it is good to see foreign teams look to expand their name in the states.

EPL should play matches in US

That is the idea being put out by West Ham non-executive chairman Eggert Magnusson.

With the NFL set to play a meaningful game in London this weekend, at least a few people in the EPL are wondering if they could do the same in America. The reason for this is simple, money. If they can expand their brand in the US, money will follow.

I have little doubt that most fans in England would not take a liking to this idea and see it for the gimmick it is. Plus with most teams already holding a very full schedule, the players might not take to the idea of flying to the states (even if it were just the East coast) instead of traveling across town to play a game.

But money has a way of making problems like these seem not so major. I don't see this happening anytime in the next couple years but as American influence grows in the English game, so might the push for this idea.

So if it did happen, what kind of effect, if any, would it have on MLS? Since any game would probably happen outside of the MLS season (I would think they would wait till after the Super Bowl to maximize exposure and due to stadium issues), I think the impact would be little. If the game was tied in with ticket sales to a MLS club (like the Revolution), it might give a slight bump, but overall, I think it would be a wash. They would get soccer fans out to watch such an event, but I don't think this would act as a catalyst to turn those fans into MLS fans.

Now where this could go many years from now is a much more interesting possibility. What if EPL and MLS clubs competed in some sort of 'SuperLiga' type event? Obviously, this idea is at least a decade away from even being taken seriously, but if the two leagues could play competitive matches against each other and if the MLS sides did not look like crap, then there could be a direct benefit to MLS as well as the EPL. Now this is a lot of 'ifs', but it is fun to speculate.

In the end, I think at some point in the next 10-years, an EPL match will take place on US soil. It will be sold out and probably even carried on ESPN or ABC (or maybe Fox). People will hype it up and the ratings will be okay, but in the end it will serve more to line the pockets of the owners then advance the game in the US.

Another way MLS and the EPL are different

As if there were not already enough ways that the two leagues are different, I've found another one. The EPL's Fulham wants to expand their stadium's capacity by 4,000 seats, but how do they plan on doing this?

"Fulham are proposing to increase capacity in the Riverside Stand by removing the executive boxes."

I had to read that line a few times to believe it. When was the last time any team in the US removed high-priced executive boxes in order to allow more seating for regular fans? I really don't know if I've ever heard of such a thing.

Okay, maybe this doesn't really apply to the MLS just yet as most teams are just trying to get stadiums of their own, but the idea floored me. All in all, it seems like an excellent way to go. Good for Fulham.

Some guys have all the luck, then there is Bobby Convey

US national and Reading winger Bobby Convey finally looked ready to challenge for a club roster spot after spending most of last season healing from injury, but then his lucked turned bad, again.

During training today, Convey 'tweaked something right at the top of his leg' and looks very unlikely for this Saturday's match against Portsmouth. This comes two days after he scored a Carling Cup goal against Liverpool.

I really like Convey but for some reason I fear that he might be the current version of John O'Brien (a very talented player who never reaches his best due to injuries). Perhaps I'm reading too much into what could be a minor injury but with Reading needing some serious help, it looked like Convey had a great chance of earning minutes. I just hope this knock doesn't keep him from getting that time.

Klinsmann ready to coach again - Eddie Johnson buys jewel-encrusted mouthpiece

Jurgen Klinsmann has announced that he is ready to return to the world of full-time soccer management, but where will he end up. Will it be is old club Tottenham Hotspur or is Chelsea calling or could Alexi Lalas pull off a huge coup and land him in LA? Let's see, if I was a soccer manager, which club would I go for?

In other news, Eddie Johnson had a bit of a shopping spree over the weekend as he purchased $85,000 in jewelry while in LA. On his list, a new watch, necklace and a jewel-encrusted mouthpiece, "like a retainer." Could this be why he sparkled so much during their match with Chivas?

Danny Szetela to Newcastle Racing de Santander

US U-20 and Columbus Crew midfielder Danny Szetela has signed a four-year deal with the EPL's Newcastle. The move will not take place till January meaning Szetela is still available for Crew during their final run to the playoffs. The date also means MLS will not get a transfer fee since his contract concludes at the end of the year.

Szetela was close to signing with Italy's Roma or Lazio but decided to move to England instead.

His time at Columbus has not shown much however he did have a wonderful U-20 World Cup. Newcastle has been a difficult place for players to break into in the past. If Szetela wants to get first team action, he is going to need to really stretch his abilities.

Big Update: Step away from the blog for a day and things go crazy. Looks like Szetela will not be heading to England. Instead he will go to Spain to play with first division team Racing de Santander. The move will take place right away with MLS getting a $150,000 transfer fee.

I like this move a lot better then the Newcastle option, as Spain and Racing seem like a better place for Szetela to develop his game.

Kasey Keller to Fulham

America's former top keeper has landed were so many Americans have landed before. Kasey Keller joins three of his fellow countrymen at Fulham in the EPL.

Keller has been without a team since May when he left his German club Borussia Moenchengladbach. There had been talk of a possible MLS move but nothing ever materialized.

Fulham is in need of a quality keeper with starter Antti Niemi out with an injury.

Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez: "Obviously, with Antti being injured, it was important we added some strength and depth in that area - and Kasey is a proven professional with impeccable international credentials.

"It's vital we have cover in all areas throughout the squad, and I think he will be a valuable asset to us over the course of the season."

This signing marks a return to England for Keller who last played for Tottenham Hotspur in 2005.

Feilhaber to Derby County - It's official

Benny Feilhaber's move to EPL newbie is complete after he received his work permit from the UK Home Office.

He will arrive in England tomorrow and under go his medical before finalizing and signing his new contract.

The most interesting part about this whole process has to do with his work permit, which looked unlikely at first. However, US coach Bob Bradley stepped in and told the Home Office that Feilhaber will be a big part of future US teams. Turns out that did the trick.

"Bradley played a big part in Benny's move," (Derby's Matt) Reeder continued. "He sent in a statement that Benny was a big part of the future of the US team, and that he has a secure place in the starting eleven."

Congratulations to Benny and nice assist by Bradley.