Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Monaco Still After Bradley

According to Le Parisien, now that a deal to bring Freddy Adu to the Rock is sealed, Monaco boss Jerome De Bontin is now focused on signing Heerenveen starlet Michael Bradley. Recent reports from Le Figaro and Nice Matin indicated that Monaco had offered €8.5 million euros for the high scoring American midfielder but that Heerenveen was demanding a price closer to €10 million. Previous reports had Middelsbrough offering circa €5 Million while Germany's Bild had Bayer Leverkusen's offer at €4.5 million.

With only 20 days left until the French transfer deadline, Monaco will need to resolve the Bradley transfer soon. If they cannot afford Heerenveen's asking price, they'll need the time to sign another attacking midfielder - namely Bordeux's Alejandro Alonso from Argentina.

A few Spanish clubs are also interested in Alonso so Monaco may be keeping him on the back burner until they know the outcome of their Bradley gambit. With four goals in 80 appearances, Alsonso is not quite the goal scoring threat that Bradley is but he does come with a good understanding of the French game, UEFA Cup experience, and (most likely) a lower price tag.

It remains to be seen whether another club is able or willing to match Monaco's offer for the 20-year-old American and whether Heerenveen will accept it. The Stade Rennais FanZine Da'Squad mentions that Bradley is among the options the club (which recently signed Carlos Bocanegra) is considering to fill a hole at attacking midfielder.

Either way, if the leaks and rumors turn out to be true, he could be the most expensive American player ever which (at today's exchange rates) would price his transfer at circa $13.7 million. This would surpass the previous record of $10 million Spanish side Villareal paid for the New York Red Bulls' Jozy Altidore just over one month ago.

5 comments:

Marrick said...

lol thx for the updates

Unknown said...

Are these insinuations about Bradley's position and Monaco's interest in his goal-scoring the thoughts of the blogger here or are they from the original article in [i]Le Parisien[/i]? Bradley is not an a-mid, and he is not going to routinely score 15-20 goals a year. If Monaco are looking to buy him for goal production, they'll be disappointed.

And I still think Heerenveen would be crazy not to sell the kid for the kind of money supposedly offered (8.5M Euro).

Chris Courtney said...

Both...and I agree that his goal output will not match what he has done in Holland.

I also agree that Heerenveen would be crazy not to cash in on Bradley. I think they will but they are waiting for the best deal.

Anonymous said...

de Bontin was just in Cali to seal the Freddy deal, wonder if he had a nice sit down with Bradley there as well......

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