I love it when people proclaim they know Jozy Altidore isn't the stuff for the bigger teams and leagues, isn't a proper #9 and can't do this or that. Oi vey. Let's check and see what AZ technical director Earnie Stewart says about the matter...
"He is developing great. He is a target for the team, plays good football and translates that also in goals. That is not going unnoticed abroad. This season, there have been scouts of big clubs like Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the AZ gallery [to watch him]."
Drive home safely, haters.
- Greg Seltzer
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39 comments:
Please, not Chelsea or Spurs. Can't I ever have a Yank play for teams I actually root for?
"Big clubs" and "Tottenham."
DOES NOT COMPUTE.
Haw. Pedantry and partisanship, all wrapped up in one petulant statement. I love it. Look, Tottenham is a significantly bigger club than AZ, right? And it's in a major European capital, right? Computes just fine.
Stewart listed a bunch of big clubs and then Tottenham. He wasn't comparing the clubs to AZ. He was grouping all those clubs together. Tottenham is not anywhere near the stature of Munich, Barca, or Chelsea.
That's fine, though. Sure, I guess Spurs are a step up from AZ but it would behoove Jozy to leave AZ anytime soon.
Frankly, even with another two years of solid development at AZ, Jozy would struggle to find any playing time at Bayern, Barca, or Chelsea. Tottenham could really use a player like him. But you're right: he ought to stick around AZ for a little while. Not that AZ wouldn't cash in on him if the opportunity presented itself.
I know it says they were their [watching him], but I'd bet they were there specifically to see Maher.
L-0-L.
@ Jolazo:
:/
Are you calling Earnie Stewart a liar?
And FWIW, the only team on that list that has shown more than a passing interest in Maher is Bayern. His big suitor is Man City.
I love how we as Americans are so low on our players that when a TD says these clubs were there to watch Jozy, we say they arent big clubs or they were there to see someone else.
Welcome to my world, Micah.
I have faith in the silent majority.
Agree, Jozy gets a bum rap. The guy is YOUNG and has improved so many facets of his game already. His holdup game is better and (dispute if you want) his first touch HAS gotten better. Everyone gets all fluttery about M. Bradley and his rate of improvement. How good was Bradley at 22? Don't count Jozy out of the same kind of improvement by 25.
Haters sound like a bunch of Red Sox fans...
Oh, please go to Italia, Jozy. See how well it's worked to round out Bradley. Ideally to my favorite team Juve, or Roma itself.
For goodness sakes, Jay is the only person speaking sense. Even at Spurs, he'd be third choice, maybe even fourth after Deuce.
I think his time in the wilderness has taught Jozy the value of being first choice, especially at this point in his career. Hopefully any major move won't be a mistake again.
Also, not to doubt you, Greg, but in the interest of not getting hopes up, can you confirm that the parenthetical "[to watch him]" was implied to be specifically about Jozy rather than various players throughout the team?
Nice one, Greg.
Do you have the kind of relationship with Earnie that you can just pick up the phone and give him a call? Shoot him an email and he'll get back to you?
Love it.
@ KN: Jozy and Deuce would not be in competition for a place.
@ dallen: Yes, he was referring exclusively to Altidore being scouted.
@ Matt: Yes, I can call up Earnie any time, but he did not say these quotes to me. They were in response to a fan question on the AZ site. I was in a hurry when I posted this, so pardon my confusion-causing.
Jozy at Chelsea is a pipe dream of mine. Good fit, too. Studge is on the way out it seems, and striker depth is already thin. He'd be behind Torres of course, but with the congested fixture list he'd get a run-out. Playing with Oscar, Mata and Hazard behind you (or any combination therein) would be invaluable experience.
@Will: I have a really hard time believing Di Matteo has cemented his position well enough to gamble on an American striker. He'd get absolutely crucified if Jozy had a bad coupla games. Did Lukaku even get off the bench last year more than once or twice?
Validated by strangers on the internet. Such is my life.
Actually, it cues up a question in my little monkey brain: Greg, how well known are scouts? Do clubs just recognize each other's scouts when they sit there in the stands, or is there an obligation to let a club know when one of your scouts is showing up?
I.e. how did Ernie Stewart and AZ know that these scouts even showed up?
Typically, the scouts (or club reps of some kind) get comped tickets. So AZ would know when they called up to ask for seats (if not also questions about the player).
Huh. Above board. Go figure. Do scouts ever show up unannounced? Buy a normal ticket, sit and watch the game like everyone else, takes their notes and go home?
Obviously, I do not have exact tallies on this kind of stuff... but I'd imagine it does occur on occasion.
25 comments, and not a whole heck of a lot of insight, except maybe micahs post. so whats another uninsightful post!!!
Perhaps... but are you even open to insight?
im open to debate, and discussion, and the exchanging of ideas. im not interested in some self congradulatory bs.
"im open to debate, and discussion, and the exchanging of ideas."
Yeah... just not the actual reception of said exchanged ideas.
But hey, by all means, tell us how you know better than professional scouting departments.
"im not interested in some self congradulatory bs."
You. Have. Got. To be. Kidding. This from the all-time champion of stating opinions as fact and then proclaiming himself the winner.
its true, i have pushed the dempsey own goal debate, which somehow never came to a resolution. well, it did, but somehow it did not filter through
I went over it and over it. You pretend I didn't. I get bored repeating myself and annoyed by the discussion disruptions. It's all an old story.
so what you are basically saying, is that your opinion is the end of the discussion.
Greg,
A question. What do you think would be a good next step for Jozy? Playing time is important with the WC 18 months away.
A top Eredevise team? It's not uncommon to see strikers doing very well in the Ered to move up to a top 3 team there before moving on.
Serie A? Mid table or top 4-5 team?
Bundesliga? I don't like the idea of him going to a Bayern yet. But there's a number of mid table teams he might get playing time with and where he'd fit in?
EPL? I think Jozy is built for the EPL. However, Spurs or Chelsea seem to big a jump for me. Fulham? He and Berba up top? Everton? I imagine Moyes would be good for him as well. I could maybe see Pool being a good fit.
I'm curious to see what you think might be a good next step for Jozy.
@ Jon: I don't think he should go anywhere just yet.
@ dikranovich: Oh right, I forgot the part where you claim I've said something hypocritical and authoritarian. Thanks for reminding me. :)
He never said any of those teams were there to actually watch altidore, just that they may well have seen him as they were in attendance
He was referring specifically to them coming to see Jozy.
As much as I'd like to say all the Jozy Hate is part of the Internet Commenter Age, I do remember in the early to mid 1990's the silly hatred of another young, physical 'Target man' type forward, Our Saint Brian McBride...
Every US player has gone through this to some extent. Hell, Donovan *still* has haters.
"Hell, Donovan *still* has haters."
What's even more interesting are the people who went from "Landycakes" to "over the hill" without every pausing to give him credit along the way...except for about five minutes after the Algeria game, of course.
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