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Transfer window rundow

A look at the summer window: who's gone, who's going, who's staying?

With the combination of players on the young circuit, promising young players impressing, and others near the end of contracts, this summer promises to be a busy transfer window for Americans. ASN's Brian Sciaretta looks at the situation for just a few of the players to follow in the weeks ahead. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
July 02, 2019
11:45 AM
WITH THE CALENDAR hitting July this week, the summer transfer season is in full swing. For Americans, the next few weeks promise to be a very busy time. Some players have already made moves, some are just rumored, other will have to move.

Here is a look at what has happened and what might happen to several players this summer. As always, it’s important to look at whether the moves or proposed moves were a step in the right direction or a step backwards.

Zack Steffen

Columbus Crew to Fortuna Dusseldorf (on loan from Man City)


In January, U.S. national team goalkeeper Zack Steffen signed a contract with Manchester City but remained in Columbus through the Gold Cup. Steffen, 24, was always going to have to go on loan outside given the high quality of goalkeeping at Manchester City and with him lacking the U.S caps to qualify for a U.K Work Permit.



But now we know that he will be joining Fortuna Dusseldorf for the upcoming season. But goalkeepers are always tricky to move because they need to play and backups rarely do.

Steffen will be thrown into a competition with Michael Rensing. Rensing has made 100 appearances with Fortuna Dusseldorf and was previously at Koln and Bayern Munich. But Steffen is 11 years younger than Rensing and perhaps will be able to overtake the experienced veteran. The big question is whether Steffen will beat out Rensing in the preseason or whether he will get his chance some point during the season. If Steffen doesn’t overtake Rensing at all this season, it will be a poor loan that could set him back.

Erik Palmer-Brown

Potential new loan from Manchester City

While NAC Breda was relegated out of the Eredivisie last season, Palmer-Brown played well for the club in the second half of the season. It was his second consecutive loan from the Premier League giants after playing for Belgium’s Kortrijk the season before. Now Palmer-Brown will be looking for his third loan from Manchester City.



Unfortunately, Palmer-Brown can’t play in England due to his lack of a UK work permit (although he might train in the preseason with Manchester City). The likely bets are that Palmer-Brown moved back to a midtable Eredivisie team or a higher-table Belgian team. There is an outside chance of Germany as well but Palmer-Brown might elect to build on what he has learned in the leagues of his previous loans.

Cameron Carter-Vickers

Potential new loan from Tottenham

Cameron Carter-Vickers is still only 21 but has played for three different teams in the Championship on loan (Sheffield United, Ipswich Town, Swansea City). Will he return to the Championship yet again? Will Tottenham be willing to sell Carter-Vickers as opposed to loaning him? Of course, it’s possible that Tottenham keep Carter-Vickers as a backup defender although that would probably not be best for him.



The most pressing question for Carter-Vickers this season is if he can step up from a mid-table Championship defender? He has established himself at that level but can he play for a team contending for promotion into the Premier League? Or can he even find himself into a Premier League squad?

At his age, he’s shown himself to have a pretty high floor. But what is his ceiling? Perhaps Tottenham will raise the bar for Carter-Vickers on a more ambitious loan or maybe another team will put in a transfer offer and make him a centerpiece of their plans.

Matt Miazga

Potential new loan from Chelsea

Miazga, 23, is another one of the American players signed with a big club and doing the loan circuit – which is sometimes difficult. Miazga has already played minutes in five professional leagues (MLS, Premier League, Eredivsie, Ligue 1, and the Championship). The good news is that he ended last season on a high note where he played very well for Reading and helped the club avoid relegation out of the Championship.



If Miazga wants to make the Premier League, it is understandable that he might stay in England. He also will want to show progress with his loans and continue to move up. There is little doubt that a Premier League team might be interested, but Miazga needs to go to a place where there is a path for him to be a starter.

With an EU passport, Miazga has a lot of doors open to him but the best bet would be for a Championship-level team with a chance at the playoffs or promotion. If he moves away from England again, Germany could be an option or perhaps a Belgian or Dutch team with European ambitions.

Tyler Boyd

Potential transfer from Vitoria Guimaraes

The new U.S. national team winger Tyler Boyd, 24, has a lot of interest right now after a great loan from Guimaraes to Ankaragucu in Turkey. In the Super Lig, Boyd scored six goals and had four assists over 14 games where he helped his club avoid relegation.



Boyd’s performance in Turkey was so strong that Vitoria are almost certainly going to sell Boyd and cash in. The most talked about destination is Besiktas and the bigger Super Lig teams make sense since they watched Boyd rip through the league last season.

Despite reports, the deal with Besiktas is not agreed to yet – although it is possible Boyd ends up there. ASN has been told Boyd still has interest from numerous teams in numerous leagues.

Paul Tenorio recently reported that new expansion team Inter Miami is interested. That would make sense if David Beckham is involved. When ASN interviewed Boyd in November and in May, Boyd said that Beckham was one if his biggest inspirations growing up and his favorite player when he was a kid. So it would make sense that if Beckham calls, Boyd is going to listen.

It’s wide open and it would seem that some of the bigger Turkish clubs would hold the edge right now. So much has happened for Boyd is such a short period of time.

Emerson Hyndman

Loaned to Atlanta United with option to buy


While reported for quite some time, Emerson Hyndman’s move to Atlanta United became official on Monday when it was announced by the reigning MLS Cup winners. While this is just a loan, don’t expect Hyndman to return to Bournemouth.



Hyndman, 23, is past the point where he can play reserve ball in England and get minutes on an occasional half-season loan to Scotland. Hyndman probably could have tested smaller leagues in Europe but at his age, he would need to prove he is an immediate impact player. And he hasn’t done that yet.

As the 2015 U.S. U-20 captain that advanced to the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup, Hyndman is still held in high regard in the United States. But the Texan needs to turn the corner to a point where he can play regularly?



The fact that Atlanta paid a good amount for Hyndman suggests he will get a fair chance in Georgia. Per the official release: “Atlanta acquired Hyndman’s Discovery Rights in a trade with FC Dallas in exchange for an international roster slot in 2019 and 2020, in addition to $200,000 in General Allocation Money.”

Playing alongside Pity Martinez, Ezequiel Barco, and Julian Gressel while behind Josef Martinez and Hector Villalba will be an experience for Hyndman. But the situation to watch is Darlington Nagbe who has occasionally been linked with a move the Columbus Crew. Hyndman and Nagbe have similar skillsets and roles. Nagbe would seem to be in the way of Hyndman earning regular minutes and Hyndman would be an expensive bench option.

The big question here is does this mean Nagbe is on the move?

Chris Gloster and Sebastian Soto

Potential transfers from Hannover

Right now there is a lot of reports from Germany talking about Hannover’s U.S. U-20 World Cup duo of striker Sebastian Soto and left back Chris Gloster being on the move. Hannover are coming off a horrendous season where it was relegated out of the Bundesliga.

Specifically, interest seems to be stemming from PSV Eindhoven which reportedly had a bid rejected from Hannover for Gloster. Apparently, they are seeking a transfer fee closer to $1 million.


This seems difficult to pull off since neither player has an EU passport and the minimum salary for non-EU players in the Eredivisie is now €436,202 for players ages 20 or older and €218,000 for players under 20. If PSV is interested in one of both of the players, it will want some sort of option to get out of the deal before the player turns 20 and the salary goes up.



But as of now, there shouldn’t really be much of a rush to get out of Hannover. The 2.Bundesliga should offer opportunities for both players and Hannover will want to make a quick return. That being said, Gloster has apparently told Hannover he wants to leave but Hannover will only sell if there is real money.


Cole Bassett

Rumored transfer to Freiburg


Last week Goal reported that SC Freiburg made an offer Colorado’s homegrown midfielder Cole Bassett. Bassett, 17, has been a regular with Colorado since last season and has made 20 league appearances with the struggling club.



What was unreported is the offer size and that means everything as to whether or not this makes sense. Is the offer flyer or is it serious? Bassett was only recently signed and is just starting his professional career. He is also part of the team’s plans as it tries to become relevant in the league – where it is currently at the bottom of the Western Conference.



Bassett is actually in a good situation right now. He is young, playing against men, adjusting to life as a professionally, and has plenty of U.S. youth national team eligibility ahead of him. The concern of him leaving now is that he would probably have to downshift to youth soccer again.

If Bassett succeeds over the next two seasons, he might be in better position to move. If he can continue to play at Colorado, he will surely be part of the U.S. U-20 team for the 2021 cycle. If he can continue making strides for Colorado and then play at the U-20 World Cup, he will likely command a bigger transfer price, he will be more ready for first team minutes right away, and will have more suitors as to where to go.

Bassett trained with Freiburg during the last offseason so they are well familiar with him but Colorado will likely ask for a lot – as they should since he’s going to contribute for them and his sale price could be much higher in a few years after the U-20 World Cup.

Paxton Pomykal

Rumored European interest

After a strong U.S. U-20 cycle and a very good start to the season with FC Dallas, a lot of eyes are on Paxton Pomykal. The odds seem likely that he will eventually get sold because FC Dallas seems willing to be a club that sells and Pomykal fits the bill as an impact player.

Despite his success at the U-20 World Cup, a move doesn’t have to be imminent. Matt Miazga was outstanding at the 2015 U-20 World Cup but didn’t sign for Chelsea until after the MLS season. DeAndre Yedlin had a solid 2014 World Cup and managed a quick sale to Tottenham but was loaned back to Seattle to finish the season.



Pomykal is ready to make a big jump – most likely Germany. He’s shown a lot of growth over the past two years where he went from being a key player on the U.S. U-18 team through the U-20 team and now to Dallas. It is easy to see things happening for him soon – perhaps as early as this summer. But if that happens, a loan back to Dallas is also a possibility.

Tim Weah

Transfer to Lille


This is an interesting deal as the U.S. U-20 attacker will move from Paris St. Germain to Lille within Ligue 1. PSG was always going to be a difficult place for Weah, or for anyone, to play. The talent often provides just too difficult level of a competition.

But Lille is the defending runner up in France and it will be still challenging for Weah to play. The club is also headed for the Champions League which will require heavy squad rotation due to heavy slate of games – to go along with the domestic cups.



While watching Weah play at the U-20 World Cup and during his recent loan at Celtic, Weah showed that he is capable of some true moments of magic. But being a consistent threat is the next challenge for Weah and that will come with more playing time.

Will he get it at Lille? The €10 million fee the club paid for him likely means he’ll be given a real chance at Lille in serious situations. Then it will be on Weah to prove his staying power. Overall, it’s a promising move. It’s not PSG but it’s a very good club that, unlike Celtic, is invested in him and will face a lot higher quality opposition on a regular basis. It’s no guarantee Weah makes it at Lille but it is an attainable challenge.

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