I have been in Rome the last few days and can report there is nothing in the press here about it. Sorry lads... It might be that its not high profile enough or that its just rumors but the word on the street is the locals know nothing about it. On another note I bumped into an Ipswich fan last night and as you do had a few pints and a chat with him. He reckons Colback is sheer class and he cannot understand why he is not starting at CM for us. He said when he watched him at Ipswich he was a class above and was far too good for the championship. The interesting thing he said was that he needed a run of games playing CM to get going then he flourished. I am not a massive Colback fan myself but maybe he is worth a run of games?
Not sure we can afford him a run of games in CM at the minute mate, to be honest he had a few games there and looked lost not sure how many games the Ipswich lad is thinking of mind. Maybe Colback is one of those players who is too good for the fizzy pop but, just not good enough for the PL in CM anyway.
Bradley would be a fantastic addition. Just the type of mid Paolo is looking for IMO. Great eye for the pass and will link the back line to attack with easy confidence. High IQ for the game. Never stops working. Get him in.
Sunderland have had an offer of approximately €7 million ($9.3 million) for midfielder Michael Bradley knocked back by AS Roma, MLSsoccer.com confirmed on Saturday. Italian reports orginally suggested that the Giallorossi told the Black Cats they would not accept less than €10 million for the US national team's bald eagle, but a source close to the situation told MLSsoccer.com that the price tag quoted was actually €12 million (just over $16 million). http://sports.yahoo.com/news/american-exports-roma-reject-9m-105357152--mls.html
On today's showing we are desperately lacking a quality centre midfield. If this bloke is who the manger wants we should do everything to get him to the club
Michael Bradley is the best player in CONCACAF bar none. Honestly I'd have him at Manchester United, as he's better than every one of our midfielders except Carrick. He'd be a great great signing for you if you manage to pull this off.
The thought of Michael Bradley at Sunderland has me crinkling up my nose and squinting, as if I’ve just caught a feint whiff of something unpleasant, but not quite identifiable. Bradley is doing splendidly at Roma, a team that finished sixth in a top-level league (Serie A) last year. I know the TV situation for the rest of us, where Bradley is concerned, would improve rather dramatically. And he would play in behind another important U.S. man, Jozy Altidore. Otherwise, I cannot really see where what makes this a good career move. For one, Sunderland appears to be a potentially unstable situation, a bottom- to mid-level team now under the guidance of a highly emotional and potentially volatile figure (Italian Paolo Di Canio) that we just do not know that much about. (Well, other than that he is a highly emotional and potentially volatile figure.) Will his charges under his tutelage ultimately prosper and become better players, still? Will things around the Stadium of Light evolve or devolve? Will Bradley and his family find England’s industrial northeast to their liking, always a relevant factor in these moves, as player off-field happiness helps dictate his chances of on-field success? Ahead of a World Cup year, nothing is more important than playing time. We know Bradley is a respected figure in Rome, central to manager Rudi Garcia’s plan. He’s in a good place – in more ways than one. The man’s soccer brain has just grown and grown. If he’s not one of the most intelligent soccer men to ever pull on a U.S. shirt, he’s surely right up there. The payoff for Bradley’s movement in midfield areas, his tactical awareness, his instincts and keen sense of what is happening around him is all that highly intelligent and useful work with the ball around Jurgen Klinsmann’s team. He’s a real master at keeping the ball when the situation calls for it, and then doing something constructive with when the situation allows. But the further payoff is in adding a counterweight to Jermaine Jones’ impulsive ways through the central third. Bradley is almost always there, even when it’s Jones who should be. So much of that tactical awareness is a product of his recent years in Italy. Bradley’s weaponized soccer brain was born, literally and figuratively, because he’s the son of a soccer coach, and a darn good one, in Bob Bradley. It was nurtured by spending boyhood years around the game, cultivated further in the technical and geometrically inclined Dutch game, further steeled in Germany. But the rounding off, the Master’s degree, if you will, came in Italy. Italy is a good place for Bradley, who quickly learned the language so he could fully immerse himself in the broader culture of the game. Roma is a good address.
On yesterdays showing we have a midfielder in Catts that would have done a great job. I know is isn't fit yet, but a fit and cattermole in our side right now would be a great move. Alas, I cannot see it ever happening.
larsson is not a cm but to his credit he worked very hard yesterday,fair play to him ,but this role is a big part of what the future holds for us , in some games we must accept that a holding type will be needed, and in others a play maker must be added to give the service to the front players. hard choices to be made , to hold or to push, pdc will earn his corn to galvanise the two
Sunderland have had a £5million bid for USA midfielder Michael Bradley rejected by Roma. Bradley is attracting interest in a number of clubs but the Italian club value the 26-year-old at £10m. He is an experienced presence at international level, with 80 caps. Sunderland have had a £5million bid for USA midfielder Michael Bradley rejected by Roma. Bradley is attracting interest in a number of clubs but the Italian club value the 26-year-old at £10m. He is an experienced presence at international level, with 80 caps.
we should be able to afford him without selling sess imo. net spend of 8.5m, but is bradly worth 10 million quid?
