Monaco Bid For Bradley Now €8.5 Million

It looks like Heerenveen is driving a hard bargain before it parts with leading goal scorer Michael Bradley. France's Le Figaro is reporting that AS Monaco's bid is now up to €8.5 million after being previously reported at €6 million. Over the weekend, The Mirror (UK) reported that Middelsbrough had bid circa €5 Million while Germany's Bild had Bayer Leverkusen's offer at €4.5 million. It remains to be seen whether another club is able or willing to match Monaco's offer for the 20-year-old American. Either way, if this turns out to be true, he could be the most expensive American player ever which (at today's exchange rates) would price his transfer at $13.7 million. This would surpass the previous record of $10 million Spanish side Villareal paid for the New York Red Bulls' Jozy Altidore only one month ago.

Subotic Sees Action for Dortmund in Charity Tourney

Borussia Dortmund fans got their first good look at new defender Neven Subotic in Sunday's Hallelujah Cup, a charity tournament to raise funds to fight child poverty. The tournament consisting of the main Ruhr valley teams, namely Borussia Dortmund, MSV Duisburg, Rot-Weiss Essen and SG Wattenscheid 09 played in a round robin format of 50 minute matches (25 minutes per half).

Subotic got to spend time playing on the BVB back line next to Mats Hummels and Roman Weidenfeller for the first time in a game situation. Against RW-Essen, he had a defensive misunderstanding with Leonardo Dede in the 5th minute which nearly gave up a goal to Essen's Josef Kotula. Match reports indicate he had a few other shaky moments but he later created a dangerous scoring chance against Essen in the 18th minute. That said, all four teams reportedly looked out of form prior to their summer training camps.

Dortmund ended up finishing fourth in the four team tournament which was won by MSV Duisburg of the Second Bundesliga. The Borussia Dortmund team will now decamp on Wednesday to their training camp at Feusisberg near Lake Zürich in Switzerland. The team has five weeks to prepare for the its first competitive match, the DFB-Cup (German Cup) 1st round, which will be played either on August 4th or 5th. Friendly matches against Young Boys Bern and Galatasaray are also planned plus a July 22nd tilt with AS Roma.

Cagliari: Interested in Mastroeni?

Serie A side Cagliari are reported to be interested in US and Colorado Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni. The 31-year-old veteran has been keen to play in Spain or Italy and according to Napoli Affari, Cagliari is interested in signing him. Originally born in Argentina, Mastroeni's international performances have been seen positively here the past few years since he seems to fit the mold Italian coaches are looking for.

The Sardinian side finished 14th in the league last year and is looking for experience in the midfield but does not have the resources to buy big-name talent. So, Mastroeni may be just what they need (and the price is right).

Meanwhile, there seems to be renewed interest from Bologna for the services of Benfica's Freddy Adu, who is also reportedly being courted by AS Monaco and Genoa. Fellow American Oguchi Onyewu of Standard Liege is also in talks with a few teams; the Bundesliga's FC Cologne and Fulham of the English Premiership.

Racing Santander, Brescia Still No Deal on Szetela

Racing Santander is still looking to dish off American midfielder Danny Szetela since he does not fit into new coach Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz' plans. He was loaned to Brescia of Italy's Serie B last year where he made 9 appearances. Brescia would like to keep him for another year but Racing wants to sell him and the Italian club does not appear ready to buy.

Part of the loan deal was that Brescia had the opportunity to buy Szetela provided they pick up that option by June 30th. These terms can always be modified if both sides agree to a new deal. If Brescia won't buy, another team may interested. Otherwise, the young American could be left in a bad spot - stuck with a team that does not want him.

Real Madrid, Barcelona In The Hunt For Drogba

As the transfer wheels turn, new and exciting scenarios continue to unfold. With Barcelona seeming to fade in the race to sign Russian phenom Andrei Arshavin (probably bound for Stamford Bridge), they are now in the hunt for Chelsea's Didier Drogba. But wait, their arch rivals Real Madrid have alreadt been courting the Ivory Coast international and appear to have the upper hand thus far. Barcelona has already spent €77 million on transfers for the 2008/09 season and may be near their limit.

That said, Drogba is a personal friend of Barça's Sammy Eto'o and the club has deep financial reserves so its too early to count rhe Blaugrana out of the running. The club was also in the running for Arsenal's 25-year-old striker Emmanuel Adebayor, but the Gunners' price tag for him is identical to Drogba's (but whose proven abilities are not nearly the same). With 80 goals in four seasons at Chelsea (which has him under contract though 2010) and an estimated price tag of €45 million, only the biggest clubs will be in a position to bid for Drogba.

There was much speculation that the 30-year-old Drogba was heading to Inter Milan, where he would be reunited with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho but the recent Spanish interest appears to have changed the game. Last week Drogba's agent, Pierre Frelot, stated that a move to Spain could be an attractive proposition. Expect the bidding war to be fierce.

Giuseppe Rossi on Italian Olympic Roster

New Jersey-born striker Giuseppe Rossi has been selected to play for Italy in Beijing next month. The team will gather next week to start training at Coverciano, the Italian Soccer Academy near Florence. Meanwhile, his new Villareal teammate, American Jozy Altidore, is still waiting to learn if he will be able to play for the US Olympic team. It remains to be seen how happy Yellow Submarine coach Manuel Pellegrini will be having two of his young strikers off on Olympic duty during the preseason training which starts on July 14th. Villareal's first preseason match is July 30th against Liverpool while the Olympic men's soccer tourney runs from August 8th-24th.


The rest of the Azzurrini (Baby Azzurris) are:

Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Robert Acquafresca (Cagliari), Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Antonio Cadreva (Udinese), Luca Cigarini (Parma), Andrea Coda (Udinese), Andrea Consigli (Atalanta), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Paolo De Ceglie (Juventus), Lorenzo De Silvestri (Lazio), Daniele Dessena (Parma), Sebastian Giovinco (Juventus), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Marco Motta (Udinese), Antonio Nocerino (Palermo), Andrea Ranocchia (Arezzo), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Andrea Russotto (Treviso), Salvatore Sirigiu (Citta di Castello), Emiliano Viviano (Brescia)

Monaco: Offering € 6 million for Bradley

According to France's Le Figaro, AS Monaco is not only after Freddy Adu but may be offering SC Heerenveen € 6 million for US midfielder Michael Bradley. Germany's Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV, along with England's Middelsbrough and Everton have also expressed interest in Bradley. Currently, the Monaco bid is the most definitive piece of news to have leaked out thus far. Weeks ago, some at Bayer Leverkusen had reckoned it would take €3 million to buy the 20 year old American before Boro offered €4 million. If the Monaco offer turns out to be true, others may have a tough time topping it.