TRADES: Fowler, Where He Goes, I Go; Delgado Fizzle

I'll begin with a confession: I love Robbie Fowler. It's not just the goals, or that he plays for Liverpool, my adopted (and often-ignored) English club; it's the....the...everything. The goals help, to be sure, but it's more about how efficiently and incisively he plays elsewhere on the field - e.g. the capacity to deliver a killer ball, as he did in this weekend's pounding of Sheffield United; a decade of following Fowler has compiled a reel of dozens of sharp plays besides stored in what's left of my memory. It's also that classic mug that fronts his head; a hundred monkey-sculptors working for a hundred years would never craft a face like that - it simply wouldn't occur to them.

Fun as it was to see Fowler have a great day with Liverpool this past weekend, it's the Fowler-to-MLS rumors that really have me thinking about him. Better still, now and again, he gets linked to the New England Revolution; I mean, what's not to like? Another striker shouting for service...some times getting it, sometimes not...just think of the possibilities...

Of course, the trade may never happen; by the time you reach page four of that BigSoccer thread, you'll see links to articles strongly suggestive that Fowler would like nothing better than to stay at Liverpool. But if Fowler does makes it to MLS, I'll probably develop a deep affection for whatever team he joins - excepting possibly the Los Angeles Galaxy; can't stand them for some reason. I'm just saying, I'm one signing away from this space suddenly becoming, say, a Columbus Crew blog.

In other trade news, I didn't give the Nick Rimando getting reacquired and actually signing with Real Salt Lake story enough prominence last Friday and am doing it now. The fallout from this is actually pretty interesting, what with Jon Conway staying put with Red Bull New York (RBNY), etc. One does have to wonder, though, how excited Rimando is about his new home. Maybe an inside track on a starting spot will help with that.

Finally, if you want to read about the unravelling/unravelled deal to bring Agustin Delgado to RBNY, you could do worse than to read Ives Galarcep's write-up for a Jersey paper; frankly, I'm shocked he got a year ban for what sounds like, at third or fourth hand, simple fighting. If anyone out there knows it was bigger than this, feel free to pass on word. And tucked in the bottom of a Steve Goff blog post is mention of the Kansas City Wizards being interested in some Argentine player named Luciano de Bruno.

(########)

No comments: