The Buzz about Juan Pablo Angel signing with Red Bull New York

By: Bob | April 17th, 2007

Normally when a bigger name international player joins MLS the talk is about what it will mean for attendance and things off the pitch. Not today. Red Bull New York announced that they are using one of their designated player slots to sign Aston Villa’s Juan Pablo Angel. Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed but I’ve read that RBNY will pay the final year of his Villa salary, which amounts to $80,000 a week. That would make him the second highest paid MLS player behind David Beckham.

The reason that those in MLS blogosphere are buzzing is that Angel is viewed as a player who still has game. His signing is seen as more of a soccer move than it is a marketing move even though he has fallen out of favor at Aston Villa, scoring seven times this season and seven times last season. All told he has 44 goals in 175 appearances for the English Premier League club. He might not be what he was a few years back, but he is still a good striker in one of the world’s top leagues.

Our very own Red Bulls New York blog has been covering the move from the beginning and I encourage you to check out some of the thoughts that are posted there. Here are some more samples of what people are saying about the deal:

Red Bull Rising

Angel is 31 but not yet showing the telltale signs of an aging, washed up athlete. His skills, vision, creativity and intelligence around the goal are still functioning on a high-level.

Soccer Jones

Maybe a new start in the MLS with New York Red Bulls will kick start his career again, a career that is far from over, Angel could really feed off Claudio Reyna’s playmaking ability, the experience of Angel can really bring Josmer Altidore along even more, i’d be surprised if Clint Mathis starts ahead of that pairing!

MLS Underground

The long wait for the New York Red Bulls is over. The Red Bulls have finally added Juan Pablo Angel to their roster to make them legitimate title contenders for the first time in club history.

Forty Minutes of Hell

Although anybody who has watched Angel at Villa the last 2 years may disagree and say the Columbian is cashing in. He has struggled to secure a starting role at Villa and may use the MLS as a way to continue to cash in on a big contract. Players like Angel are going to pose an interesting question to MLS fans: Do you believe there is a point to dropping money on players like Angel? This is the type of player that is going to be coming over with the Beckham rule. As MLS fans we are going to have to hope that getting a chance to play in a new league and get bigger roles is going to re-envigorate these players. The first week was fairly positive with Claudio Reyna really showing some of his old skills but then he got injured again. What is to happen when guys like Blanco get to the MLS?

Soccer by Ives

Is Angel a can’t-miss? Given his strengths–he’s instantly one of the best in the league in the air and he’s faster than most MLS strikers–and the Red Bulls midfield, I see him having a 12 goal season at the very least. He should be at least as successful as the last high-profile Colombian striker to pass through here, Adolfo Valencia. Here’s hoping his MLS career is a wee bit better than ‘El Tren’s’.

The Guardian’s Fiver:

Despite anunderstandably slow start after joining the Midlands club from River Plate for GBP9.5m in January 2001, Angel went on to score 114 goals in all competitions, with the most memorable being the one he headed into his own net seconds after missing a penalty against Tottenham earlier this season. Now the Big Apple beckons, where he’ll see out his twilight days running around a stadium that’s far too big for the soccerball team that plays in it, in front of a couple of thousand bored onlookers and row after row of empty seats. He’s unlikely to have much trouble adjusting this time…

Your thoughts on Juan Pablo Angel coming to MLS?