Charlie Davies Transfer: The Plot Thickens?

While the French media reported a few days ago that Hammarby's American striker Charlie Davies had all but locked up a deal with Sochaux, methinks the phone lines are burning up between his agent and several clubs, to include Rennes, Saint Etienne, and at least one Bundesliga club.

Word on the street is that the price tag for the 23 year-old US breakout star of the Confederations Cup will be anywhere from is currently somewhere between € 2.5-5 million.

LFV friend in Amsterdam, Greg Seltzer, also reports that Croatian side Hajduk Split are in the mix. So who is the German club? Borussia Dortmund? Stuttgart? How about Bayern Munich, which is still in the market for a striker or two?

My spidey sense tells me that Davies and his agent and playing this one smart and letting the impact of the striker's continued exploits in the Gold Cup sweeten the deal and add to the list of potential suitors. Stay tuned!

Rennes Fans Vote Bocanegra Mr."Sex On Legs"

You couldn't make this one up...

Courtesy of Ligue 1:

Carlos Bocanegra’s flawless displays at left-back for Rennes this season have won him many admirers, but it appears that the Californian’s surfer-boy good-looks have also not gone unnoticed.

The 29-year-old American has been voted the Breton club's most sexy player in an Internet poll, and to celebrate his victory, all female spectators at Rennes' match with Auxerre on Sunday - which is also International Women's Day - will be given an eight-page publication with photos and a biography of the USA international.

Bocanegra, Rennes Grab A Point At Lyon

Facing a home side bent on revenge for a 3-0 loss earlier this season, Carlos Bocanegra and Rennes marched into Lyon’s Stade Gerland tonight and took a point from the league leaders.

Rennes came out with a good measure of confidence, trading scoring chances with Lyon from the beginning . In the 12th minute, Bocanegra appeared to have given Rennes an early lead when, displaying an NBA-quality vertical jump, he out-jumped the keeper to put away corner for an apparent goal. Unfortunately, it was called back for a foul in the area.

Star Lyon striker Karim Benzema started after all but was effectively marked out of most of the match by Rennes captain Petter Hansson with no small amount of shirt pulling by the big Swede.
Bocanegra and Hansson both directed the defense well with Bocanegra also serving the midfielders and forwards with some clever through balls. Bocanegra also did a good job of preventing Ederson from sending any effective crosses across the Rennes goal.

Coming back into the drizzle from the halftime break tied 0-0, both teams played tug-of-war until the 63rdh minute when Benzema finally beat Hansson but then couldn’t beat Rennes keeper Nicolas Douchez. Rennes countered with a nice over-the-top ball to striker Jimmy Briand who muffed a golden opportunity to give his team the lead. Lyon then pounced quickly, thanks to quick and excellent distribution from keeper Lloris which was touched on to Kader Keita who then slotted the ball left to a criminally unmarked Kim Källström who cranked it into the Rennes goal for a 1-0 lead.

Rennes answered yet again with Briand being sprung by a through ball from Fabian Lemoine, finding himself once again one-on-one with the keeper, only to muff the shot in the 68th minute. Benzema left the match in the 73rd minute after suffering a sneaky hip check from Rennes midfielder Moussa Sow.

Both teams continued to probe and attack with Rennes shifting to a 3-5-2 in the 75th minute and Bocanergra becoming more involved in supporting attacks forward. Rennes applied good pressure on a tiring Lyon team from the 80th to 88th minutes and it looked like they would go home empty handed and frustrated by Briand’s missed chances.

But Briand finally came through in injury time, when a Lemoine long ball was flicked forward to him by Hansson, which he collected and fired home for a 1-1 draw. The result placed Rennes in 6th place with a total of 43 points, four of them coming against Lyon this season.

Bocanegra, Rennes Head Into The Lyon’s Den

American defender Carlos Bocanegra and his Rennes teammates face perhaps their stiffest test of the year as they head into Stade Gerland tonight to take on league leaders Olympique Lyon.

Fresh off nearly toppling the mighty Barcelona on Wednesday night in the Champions League (a match which ended 1-1), Lyon coach Claude Puel is looking to carry the same attacking spirit into tonight’s match.

The real reason Bocanegra and his team will have their hands full is that this same red-hot Lyon is itching for revenge from a humiliating 3-0 loss at the hands of Rennes in the Stade del la Route-de-Lorient back on October 5th (their worst loss of the year). Lyon, a team accustomed to winning trophies every year, hates to lose - but to losing to those "upstart punks from Bretgane" really got their goat.

Lyon is expected to start essentially the same lineup as they used Wednesday against Barca with the possible exception of hometown hero and striker, Karim Benzema, who may be rested initially in favor of Frederic Piquionne. The six-foot, two-inch Piquionne is deceptively fast and always dangerous on set piece plays (not to mention he is even more dangerous when served by the sublime dead ball skills of Juninho).

Questions remains whether Lyon will be able to bring the same 90 minute intensity tonight against a better rested Rennes side. Can their boisterous home crowd help carry them through?

A road win could vault Rennes back to 5th place while a draw would bring then even with Lille in 6th place in Ligue 1. Lyon, sitting atop the league with a comfortable six point cushion over Toulouse, can always use the points but tonight, its all about pride.

Lyon has not lost at home so far this season while Rennes has only won three wins on the road (out of 12 played so far). Rennes has earned six draws on the road so stealing a point from a fatigued Lyon side could represent success for Guy Lacombe's side, provided they can withstand the early barrage from the revenge-minded home team.

Bocanegra is expected, as usual, to start at left back for Stade Rennais, which is expected to play a 4-5-1 of striker Briand, midfielders Br.Cheyrou, Sow, Danze’, Mbia and Lemoine, a back line of Bocanegra, Aubey, Hansson, and Fanni, plus Douchez in goal.

More later after the match.

Monaco: Park And Adu Doubtful For Sunday

AS Monaco will probably go into Sunday night's match against Nice after the club announced that strikers Chu-Yong park and Freddy Adu have picked up similar injuries in training this week. Park is suffering from pain to the patellar tendon of the right knee while Adu is experiencing hip pain after taking some hard knocks during practice. Both are sitting out training for 48 hours and are doubtful for Sunday's match unless they pass a last minute fitness test.

Bocanegra at Rennes: "A Real Leader"

On Monday, Carlos Bocanegra and his Stade Rennais teammates got off to a good start in 2009 with a 1-0 Coupe de France victory over Sochaux.

The team is currently in third place in Ligue 1 with 34 points, four points behinds leaders Olympique Lyon and one point behind second place Bordeaux.

Reflecting on how the team's new additions have done during the first half of the season, manager Guy LaCombe told the Ouest-France: he saw "a good surprise with Kader Mangane (pictued on the far right) in central defense and as for Carlos Bocanegra, on balance I knew he would fit right in and he's turned out to be a real leader. ”

Bocanegra and the rest of the the Rennes squad will start the chase for the league championship on Saturday at home against FC Nantes. At the same time, Lyon is reportedly interested in acquiring Rennes right back Rod Fanni, who has started every game for the club this season.

When asked about the report, Fanni told the French media: "I've heard talk. Lyon has made contact with my agent. I won't lie, there were discussions but between that and saying I'm on my way… it's way too soon. They simply made enquiries. I would like to stay at Rennes for at least the rest of the season because things are going well here. After that, we'll see."

If the club ends up selling Fanni this summer, they would be wise to consider picking up FC Toronto's Marvell Wynne, whose speed and technical ability would make him a perfect fit.

Photo courtesy of Ouest-France

Bocanegra and Rennes Top Adu's Monaco

Stade Rennais' Carlos Bocanegra went the full 90 and AS Monaco's Freddy Adu came on in the 69th minute in a 2-1 home win for Rennes. Bocanegra was among the match's most efficient players with 73% of his passes being successful. Adu had only a handful of touches in the late going but did manage to take a shot which went wide of the Rennes goal.

Monaco did well to maintain possession but continue to struggle to create dangerous scoring chances, producing only one shot on goal today. Their attack still seems static and without much creative flair.

The win put Rennes into 3rd place in Ligue 1 on 25 points while Monaco continue to struggle in 14th place with 16 points. Bocanegrea has established himself well as the mainstay of the Red and Blacks as they continue to pick up points at a respectable pace but are still five points shy of league leader Olympique Lyon.

Adu continues to struggle for minutes at Monaco, making it less likely the team will decide to take the buy option on his loan deal from Benfica. That said, the longer the team floats in the lower half of the table, the more pressure there will be on coach Ricardo Gomes to shake things up, especially in their lackluster midfield. Whether that shakeup leaves room for Adu remains to be seen.

Lyon- Monaco Starting Soon

Freddy Adu's AS Monaco faces their stiffest test of the season when league leader Olympique Lyon travels to the Rock tonight looking for three points. Adu looks set to start the game on the bench but look for Monaco to throw the kitchen sink at the Lyon juggernaut if they want to salvage at least a point. Follow the match here.

UPDATE: FREDDY ADU WATCHED FROM THE BENCH AS FRED SCORED A 56TH MINUTE GOAL TO GIVE LYON THE LEAD FOR GOOD. FINAL SCORE: LYON 1, MONACO 0.

Probable Lineups (Courtesy of Le Championnat):


AS MONACO FC OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS
Saturday, November 08, 2008 - 19:00
STADE LOUIS II

MONACO

Starters:

16 RUFFIER
12 ADRIANO
14 SIMIC (c)
25 CUFRE
3 NKOULOU NDOUBENA
6 POKRIVAC
19 GOSSO
23 LEKO
26 MOLLO
10 PARK
22 LICATA


Substitutes:

30 ROMA
4 MODESTO
2 MONGONGU
21 MERIEM
9 SAGBO LATTE
11 ADU
27 NIMANI

LYON
Starters:

1 LLORIS
3 CRIS (c)
4 BOUMSONG
11 GROSSO
20 REVEILLERE
6 KÄLLSTRÖM
17 MAKOUN
19 DELGADO
28 TOULALAN
9 FRED
14 GOVOU

Substitutes:

30 VERCOUTRE
32 GASSAMA
7 EDERSON
26 SANTOS
36 FAURE
10 BENZEMA
27 MOUNIER


Eleswhere in France, Carlos Bocanegra and Stade Rennais take on St Etienne Sunday at 5 PM (Central European Time)

PSG: Onyewu's New Home?

As the final hours tick away on this summer's transfer window, the faithful of Paris Saint-German seem to think they'll see American Oguchi Onyewu suiting up for them very soon. PSG has been searching for a new starting defender after Lilliam Thuram retired due to a heart condition and attempts to find a quality replacement had failed. Monaco and Marseille (the club he almost signed with in 2007) had also previously expressed an interest with Marseille dropping out of the running last Thursday. According to today's Le Parisien, Monaco is opting for Swiss international Patrick Müller so if Gooch ends up in France, PSG will probably be his new home.

Still, much could change in the coming hours so stay tuned...

In other news, American Danny Szetela went the distance for Serie B side Brescia in yesterday's 2-2 draw with Empoli.

Monaco: Still Interested in Bradley?

Yet another twist in the Bradley transfer saga as the deadline approaches in just five days. After there seeming to be much interest from Monaco for Heerenveen's American midfielder Michael Bradley a few weeks ago, they then focused on Betis Seville's Marko Babic as a new offensive option. This morning here in Europe, word has come out on Footmercato.fr that ASM has not agreed terms on Babic and is now taking another look at bringing Bradley on board.

Looking over at the state of play on Standard Liege's American defender Oguchi Onyewu, PSG looks less likely as an option as word came out last night that the Paris side wants to acquire defender Jean-Alain Boumsong from Olympique Lyon.

Update: Adu Named To Squad For Match Against Caen

It looks like AS Monaco's American newcomer Freddy Adu may see his first Ligue 1 action tonight against Caen after being named to the 18 man squad. Fellow newcomer Dario "The Pitbull" Simic, a Croatian defender, transfered in from AC Milan, was also named to the Monaco squad in its third week of competition where they are in 4th place at 1-0-1 with 4 points.

The other 16 named to tonight's squad of Les Monégasques are: Roma, Ruffier - Mongongu, Nkoulou, Modesto, Muratori - Pokrivac, Leko, Perez, Gosso, Meriem, Diaz - Ménez, Pino, Nimani, and Bakar.

At the same time, Toro News is predicting American Danny Szetela will be in the starting lineup for Brescia in tonight's Coppa Italia match with Torino.



UPDATE: Freddy Adu came on in the 86th minute in a 1-1 draw with Caen before a half-full stadium of 9,000 spectators. Monaco's Frédéric Nimani was the main man for the home side, scoring a 51st minute goal and constantly causing problems for the Caen defense. Next week Monaco travels up to the Alps for a battle with Ligue 1 newcomer Grenoble, a team which is curently in third place while ASM sits in fifth.

Danny Szetela started and went the distance for Brescia in a 2-1 loss to Torino to end their Coppa Italia campaign.

Bocanegra, Rennes Draw Marseille 4-4 In Wild Finish

France's Ligue 1 got underway tonight as 19 teams try to break Olympique Lyon's 7-year grip on the championship. American defender Carlos Bocanegra anchored the central defense for Stade Rennais in a battle with traditional power Olympique Marseille. It did not help matters that going into the match, star striker Sylvain Wiltord had been suspended after criticizing coach Guy LaCombe in an interview with L'Equipe. At the same time, the club has been in the hunt for a quality central defender to pair up with Bocanegra, bringing in Lucien Aubey from Racing Club Lens in the last two days - too late to start with the team tonight.

Rennes got on top early with an Olivier Thomert goal in the 6th minute but soon found themselves under a Marseille barrage starting with a 12th minute goal by Bokari Kone (who beat Bocanegra badly in the process) and one by Hatem Ben-Arfa in the 14th. Mamadou Niang added one in the 29th to make it 3-1, which held going into halftime. Thomert scored again in the 51st, making it 3-2.

The Rennes home fans saw a wild finish thinking they had at least managed a draw when Marseille's Elamin Erbate scored an own goal to make it 3-3 in the 90th minute. Then, two minutes into injury time, Elliot Grandin thought he had the winner tapping in a goal to put the visitors on top 4-3. With injury time running out, a thrusting attack by Rennes led to midfielder Bruno Cheyrou finding the back of the net to make it 4-4 just before the final whistle blew.

An hour's drive away in Lorient, Andrew Jacobson did not suit up as the home side collected all three points, beating Le Mans 1-0 on a Christophe Jallet goal.

While Freddy Adu readied himself to face the Netherlands in Olympic play, his AS Monaco teammates faced Paris Saint-Germain. After a scoreless 78 minutes, Frédéric Nimani knocked one in to give Monaco the win 1-0.

The English Coca Cola Championship also started competition this week as Jay DeMerit went distance for Watford in a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.

Earlier in the week, Reading and Aston Villa faced off in a friendly featuring three American players. New signing Brad Friedel played the full 90 minutes in goal and made an impression on the Villa fans stopping a Stephen Hunt penalty in the 10th minute. The penalty was awarded after Marin Larsen took down Reading's American midfielder Bobby Convey in the box. Friedel could do nothing in the 36th minute when a deflected ball got past him for a Reading goal. A few minutes later, Reading's American keeper Marcus Hahnemann had to stop a John Carew header from tying the match.

Friedel made a few more key stops later before Villa equalized when Gabriel Agbonlahor slotted a cross past an onrushing Hahnemann in the 80th. The Royals start the Championship season Sunday against Nottingham Forest. Villa's other American keeper, Brad Guzan, is in China to play with the US Olympic team.

In another preseason friendly, Clint Dempsey put in an unremarkable 15 minutes for Fulham in a 2-2 draw with Torino.

Over in Germany, Hannover 96 opened up its German Cup campaign tonight with a 5-0 win over 4th division side Halle with American Steve Cherundolo going the distance at right back. In the 79th minute, referee Lutz Wagner had to stop the match for 10 minutes due to fighting in the stands and fireworks being launched onto the field.

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.

AS Monaco: Still Interested in American Duo

According to the Nice Matin, AS Monaco is still leaning toward bringing in Americans Michael Bradley and Freddy Adu but under different arrangements. Benfica's young American appears to be close to a deal to be loaned to Monaco with an option to buy. Initially, Benfica had upped his price to €4 million after there was also interest from Bologna and Genoa.

Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley had been in ASM's cross hairs recently with reports of an offer in the neighborhood of €8.5 million. Bradley is also being pursued by Middelsbrough, Bayer Leverkusen, and perhaps other clubs working behind the scenes. Monaco remains interested in Bradley but is indicating that his price would need to come down before they will buy him (which means Heerenven are asking for more than Monaco has already offered). Any transaction for Bradley or Adu will need to happen before the August 17th French League transfer deadline and even then, Monaco would need to wait until after the Olympics before either one showed up to Stade Louis II. Personally, I think only one of these two will ever pull on a Monaco jersey (and his name isn't Bradley).

Adu to Monaco: Loan With An Option to Buy?

According to several French press reports, AS Monaco boss Jerome de Bontin is still working to bring Benfica's Freddy Adu to his club. The arrangement reportedly being discussed is a loan with an option to buy since Monaco was not prepared to pay the €4 million Benfica was asking. Observers think the deal is close to done and could be announced within the near future.

Meanwhile up in Austria for pre-season training with his team, Hertha Berlin's Bryan Arguez continues to see significant playing time with the first team due to injuries of veteran defenders. Saturday in Stegersbach against FC Copenhagen, Arguez continued to prove his value to the team in a 0-0 draw. Based on his performance, coach Lucien Favre voiced his satisfaction with Arguez (and four others), that "I'm very happy with these players."

Hertha faces its first real challenge of the season on Thursday in the home leg of a UEFA Cup qualification match against Moldavian side FC Nistru Otaci. The road leg will be played on July 31st in Chisinau before the team heads off to a preseason tourney in Mallorca where they will face Newcastle United and Steve Cherundolo and Sal Zizzo's Hannover 96. Barring injury or a drop in form, Arguez is expected to start each of these early matches in central defense.

Today, Danny Szetela and his Brescia teammates head up north to the Alto Adige region to start their training camp. There, coach Serse Cosmi will put the team through its paces before playing a series of pre-season matches. According to Brescia Oggi, Szetela stands a good chance to earn more playing time this season if he can continue to show improvement.