A few MLS Transfer Rumors

By: Laurie | December 28th, 2007

First off, let’s talk Jozy Altidore. Maybe somebody can tell me what I missed. Around the time of the US U-23 camp and trip to China, there were all kinds of Altidore-to-Real Madrid rumors floating around. Jozy himself fanned the flames, saying this in his NY Times blog:

“I have to tell you that my representatives, not the Red Bulls, have told me not to say anything.
Actually, I would love to talk about it, but I’ve been told so many times this week not to discuss it. I really don’t know why, but I have to take the advice of my agent. The thing is, it’s really nice to be wanted because it’s been so hard up to this point. I’ve been getting a tiny, tiny bit of recognition and I can understand why the team doesn’t want me to go.”

And then all of a sudden… Nothing. Real Madrid President Calderon says that they’re not making any winter acqusitions, and new RBNY coach Juan Carlos Osorio is making plans for 2008 that involve shaking up the back line but leaving the attack force pretty much as is. Including Jozy. So I’m guessing he’ll be around next year, but I’d sure like to know what it was he wasn’t allowed to talk about.

And this is old news, but those Troy Perkins rumors were accurate. He has left DC for balmy Norway and the club of Valerenga. Steven Goff reports that the transfer fee was around $750,000 and that his salary will more than double, putting him at around $200,000 per year. I don’t know about you, but I don’t mind seeing keepers go abroad since that’s the one thing the US produces in abundance. Go, Troy!

Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto seems to have decided it’s not much fun being a standout player on a mediocre team. He’s being linked to a move back to Argentina. Some rumors have said Boca Juniors, but more recently he seems to be saying he wants to travel even further back in time and return to Gimnasia. But an Argentinian reporter told the Columbus Dispatch that he “believes that if Schelotto is under contract with the Crew and the Crew wants him back, he will return to Columbus.”

And RSL traded midfielder Atiba Harris to Chivas USA for a draft pick. Harris is 22 and plays internationally for St. Kitts and Nevis. (Bonus points for you if you know where that is — I had to look it up.) I didn’t pay all that much attention to RSL this year, aside from the Robbie Findley/Nate Sturgis acqusition, so if anybody has thoughts on what this means for Chivas, leave them in the comments.

For awhile there were a lot of Jared Borgetti-to-MLS rumors showing up, but they’ve now been proved false. The Mexican striker may or may not have been pursued by the KC Wizards and/or the Colorado Rapids, but reports are that he has now signed for Monterrey.

And I was specifically asked to look for info on Brad Guzan and/or Michael Parkhurst heading abroad. I feel fairly comfortable saying there’s nothing out there at the moment. Brad Guzan vaguely says that there has been contact between a couple of teams and his agent. And I thought I’d found something on Parkhurst, but it ended up linking back to an Offside article Bob wrote in early November. If anybody has anything more recent, let me know.

I did have a few links to rumors about US players possibly returning to the country, but I can’t get any of my Yanks Abroad links to work today, so we’ll save those for next time.

In the meantime, happy rumor-mongering!