[Link] US international Sacha Kljestan

To everybody upset over the price, relax, it isn't £3.5m, it is $3.5m. I'm skeptical, but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with McNaka... I and many others consider the Olympics his breaking out party, and he played wonderfully in the last couple of WCQs. We'll see what he has when we have to play the teams like Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras (stacked squad when you actually take a second to look at it).

 

SKY Sports are still quoting £3.5 MILLION pounds STERLING? So who is right?

 

Totally disagree. He has looked mediocre for club and country (including the Olympics). Honestly Edu would be a better player for 3m because he is at least athletic and can win a tackle. Doubt we put any money down but if we do he's going to bust harder than Edu has.

Also as a USMNT fan this would be a terrible move for Kljestan. He's not going to get a game at wing or over Brown, Crosas, Hartley, and probably even Robson for awhile. Next thing you know he's going to be rotting in the reserves and will eventually get less games for the US ala Edu.

Basically this move would be terrible for Sacha and Celtic.

Kinda leaves me a bit * that we have 3.5m for another midfield prospect but can't spend on a LB.

 

That is the general feeling I think. If we have 3.5m£ (or m$) just to use for ANOTHER midfielder then why can't we have at least something for LB?

 

I would believe the $3.5mil number. Not sure if you know about this but the British media has a horrible habit of picking up on stories from American beat writers and smaller journalists (basically just writers not for ESPN) and passing it off as their own. The original story was from a source close to a guy named Greg Seltzer and then that got leaked to another American writer Ives Galarcep who said it was 3.5mil USD... directly from the sources involved.

And if we sign him I'd urge people to wait until the end of the window to yell "WHY didn't we get a LB!?!?!?" Then I will join that chorus as well.

 

Stilic would be a better signing imo , iv never really rated the MLS at all especially if guys like Maurice Edu are supposed to be their star players

 

whats the story with edu,has he even played? i think they paid 4 millon for him.a trial will give wgs a chance to see if he will fit in.we've been linked to alot off midfielders.does he play in the middle or on the wings.mybe he is been weighed up as a replacement for aiden if he goes.

 

He's been injured a bit and to be fair is never going to get a game ahead of Mendes because of the talent difference and Ferguson because of the...well... you know. :icon_mrgreen:

He's actually a pretty decent player, and I'm happy he hasn't be able to settle because I was actually a little worried about him coming good... more worried than I was about Aaron who I saw straight away as just an answer to our Crosas signing.

 

I cant really comment because ive never seen the lad play. The trial will give WGS and the coaching staff a chance to look closely.

But like a few others, i would rather see the money spent on a solution to the problematic LB spot.

 

ESPNsoccernet - MLS - Kljestan to train with Glasgow Celtic for a week


apparently he is training with celtic this weekend

 

Should be interesting. I don't watch much American football so I'll spare you my poor judgment on the player. I like others still think we should concentrate on a LB or at the very least, players who could immediately improve our starting 11.

 

Dollars or Pounds, 3.5m is overpaying. We could and have got better for a fraction of that. For instance, how much did we pay for Robson? He was a low-risk "guarantee" guy since we had all seen him in SPL. It's not like that risk is made up in quality... I'd easily rate Robson above Sacha as well.
Against quality competition, Sacha has proven to be junk. His off-ball movement was poor, his passing was poor, he wasn't able to contain even a crappy U23 Japan team. Uchida (fullback), who plays in what most here consider a mickey mouse league, owned him like Messi up against Naylor. It's not a good sign when a fullback has better tricks than your midfielder.
Ten good minutes against a Dutch team that everyone thought was very disappointing and overhyped isn't much to go by.

No way Sacha could be a replacement for Aiden. He's not a tricky player... more likely a Robson/Hartley/Donati replacement. He's more of a box to box guy. Nothing real fancy about him.
4m is probably way too much for Edu as well (in dollars or pounds.) But I do think Edu is a player that will succeed in Europe at some point. Rangers have a way of wasting talent though so who knows.

Ohhh, this is all from Ives. Well that tells me what I need to know. That guy is a moron. For months he was peddling rumors of Naka to Seattle.
He'll peddle whatever bs he can come by for a few *-sucking page hits.
On the other hand, he is the guy who commented "I bet McBride wishes Uchida played on his team."

 

You should have read my comment more closely... Ives essentially stole the story from Seltzer, who then had Sky Sports steal it from him. Seltzer is a much more credible source and was only holding off because he didn't want to expose his source. Ives apparently doesn't give a *, and he's been flat wrong/stolen stories before, believe me I know.

Anyways, I think your judgement is far too harsh on Sacha. The fact that you mentioned his off the ball movement as a weakness shows me you might not watch him very much.

 

Well I'm sure we're interested in him... so I'm calling bs on the money being discussed. If we can get him for under 1m (pounds)... he's worth a punt.

As for my evaluation ... He's a grinder to me. I don't watch him in MLS... but I wouldn't take anything from watching him there either. He's not tricky and he doesn't do anything special for me. Nor is he "rock solid reliable" like Edu either (who I'm actually a bit shocked the huns haven't used at CB... he can play there and he'd be a step up from some of the options they've got. But then they're kinda clueless playing Reyna at LB and van Bronckhorst as a DM.)

 

Considering that it was from an American source I'm almost certain the price mentioned would be a little inflated... as it probably came from somebody within the Chivas organization, so that could be important. I believe I saw somewhere call him the "1-2 million pound-rated player"... and I think that would be a decent valuation of him.

In any case, I believe this is what the 6-day trial is for. If he's worth it we'll sign him, if not then we'll look elsewhere. It seemed to work pretty well for "Landycakes" over there in Munich .

 

Landycakes is on a loan and specifically because the owners of Bayern Munich aren't convinced. He got his foot in the door by personally knowing Klinnsy of course. He'll be a bit player at best (kinda like Maloney for us). Not really a comparable situation.

1-2m pound would be a fair evaluation for the silly-money EPL. Celtic shouldn't be spending that kind of money on a risk that wouldn't even make an impact until next season.

 

Good signing in the long term?

I posted about this exact issue yesterday: Donati is going back to Italy and Robson and Hartley are both on the wrong side of 30 and I'd be surprised if Naka is with us in September so where does that leave us? This signing may be more of a long term move to give us cover there and not put too much pressure on him to perform right away in which case this may be a schrewd move by WGS.

 

he's signed but waiting for his italian passport, which he qualifies for through his grandparents, to come through before he's eligible to take part in any competitve matches according to the evening times.

bear in mind i read it in the pub right enough so i may be remembering it wrong

 

No worries mate, I would have thought that if he had signed something a lot more would be made of it? Then again I am no lawyer but I would imagine he cannot sign for a team until he is eligible to play for them?

 

Landycakes is on trial at Bayern and I would bet my car he is gone by the summer when Olic and Gomez come in.