Here's my take...
1) Freddie isn't exactly lighting up MLS and until this season wasn't starting for DC United. Similar situation to Walcott in England but DC United are no Arsenal and MLS is no EPL.
2) If Freddie had any experience playing wide on the right, he'd probably be on the team as we don't have what I would consider a traditional right-sided midfielder. I love Clint Dempsey and I can't wait for him to head to Europe next season or the one after but he's more of a central player (his ideal spot is playing off McBride in a similar role to Helguson at Fulham - he's target-like at 6'1 but not solid enough to be an actual target man yet).
3) Freddie didn't handle his lack of playing time well last season - Bruce Arena probably didn't want someone on the bench who was going to be a disruptive force. The combination of Arena and Peter Nowak (DC United's manager) seem intent on making Freddie earn everything he gets...
Anyway, that's my take. I'd expect that he will start playing well in MLS about halfway through the season and the Freddie-to-[Fill in big club in Europe here] rumors will start in earnest with Chelsea being the biggest name on the list. With any luck they'll loan him out somewhere that he'll actually get to play (somewhere in Holland would be nice, I'd love to see him learn to play the wing spot in Ajax's 4-3-3). It also couldn't hurt for him to toughen up a little bit in the Coca-Cola Championship.
All that, plus he's like 5'1", 120lbs.
ReplyDeleteHe's not ready for the big stage.
He's listed at 5'8" 145, and he has added mass from year to year.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that anyone is ready for the big stage until they reach the big stage. See: Convey, Bobby.
that said, looking forward to see more transatlantic transfer. generally players coming from the mls is doing ok in the epl. whats ur take on spector at united? im a united fan, tho we didnt get to see much of him, he looked good whenever he played for united. kinda rubbish playing for charlton tho
ReplyDeleteSpector's season was hard to evaluate - he played well in spurts and badly in spurts. On the other hand, he had some injuries and Charlton in general was up and down. Given that he's not yet 20, I think there's an outside chance that he'll make it to United's regular first team in the next couple years. More likely, he'll end up as a regular at a middle-of-the-road Prem squad (think Blackburn, Newcastle, Bolton) and he'll be very much above average - just not quite ManYoo quality given Neville and Heinze ahead of him (he's already better than Evra on the left).
ReplyDeleteKeep an eye on Clint Dempsey, Cory Gibbs (coming to Charlton for next season), Oguchi Onweyu (badass center back currently at Standard Liege), and in a couple years Marvell Wynne. Josh Wolff might show up as well, but I'm not sure that's a good thing for the rep of Americans Abroad.
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