ESPN

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish on Thursday finally confirmed what everybody already knew, that he's trying to sign Galaxy forward Robbie Keane on a two-month loan deal.

McLeish is looking to bolster a Villa attack that has scored just 22 goals in 20 games, the sixth-worst total in the 20-team English Premier League.

“We're having a look at it and trying to pursue it, so that's the latest, although nothing is actually done and dusted as yet,” McLeish told reporters. “If we don't know by Monday, then it'll probably be not done. That's why I don't want to say too much, in case it doesn't happen, but we're certainly pursuing it, and at the moment both parties are keen.”

Keane, an Irish striker who signed with the Galaxy in August, is training with his former club Tottenham through Jan. 20. British wire service The Press Association reported that Villa would pay nearly $775,000 to the Galaxy.

WORTH NOTING: Nothing official on David Beckham's new contract with the Galaxy is expected for another week or so, but new Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti -- who was in charge at AC Milan during the English star's first Serie A loan stint -- says he's staying with L.A. “We had the possibility to have Beckham,” Ancelotti told reporters after PSG returned to Paris following a winter break in the Middle East. “But Beckham decided to stay in Los Angeles because his family requested him.” Reports have Ancelotti now looking to bring in forward Ivorian forward Didier Drogba. ... Reports in Sweden claim former Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter's next signing as Hammarby's head coach likely will be forward Billy Schuler, who turned down a Generation adidas contract from Major League Soccer after helping North Carolina to the NCAA title.

(Read full post)

UCLA has lost a second underclassmen to Major League Soccer, but it wasn't like it was unexpected. Kelyn Rowe, who looked seriously at turning pro following his freshman season a year ago, is the league's fifth Generation adidas signing.

Rowe, the Pacific 12 Conference's Player of the Year, joins All-American forward Chandler Hoffman in MLS's developmental program and could be a top-three selection in the Jan. 12 MLS SuperDraft.

Rowe, 20, an attacking midfielder from Federal Way, Wash., has extensive youth national team experience and is in the U.S. under-23 group preparing for Olympic qualifiers early next spring. He was a third-team All-American as a freshman and amassed 13 goals and 20 assists in two seasons in Westwood. He was the first attacker off the bench as the Bruins marched into the NCAA College Cup final four earlier this month.

“It’s every kid’s dream to be a professional soccer player, and I’m definitely in that boat,” Rowe told MLS's website. “It’s a dream come true, so it’s a little surreal right now, hasn’t quite hit me. I think it will once preseason starts.”

He said the opportunity to play against the Galaxy and Chivas USA during his time at UCLA offered a glimpse of what could be.

“We got a little taste what it’s like to play at the next level,” Rowe said. “But it’s going to be hard. It’s never easy. The pace of the game is that much faster, the physicality is there, you’re playing against guys who have been playing for years at that level.”

Rowe and Hoffman had been expected to sign GA pacts, which include funds to complete their degrees and opportunities, because of the program's roster rules, that aren't available to college seniors. GA players do not count against their clubs' roster sizes nor salary caps.

(Read full post)

UCLA striker Chandler Hoffman has signed as expected with Major League Soccer's Generation adidas program.

Hoffman had a phenomental junior season, winning All-America honors after scoring 18 goals to lead UCLA to its first NCAA College Cup men's soccer final four in five years.

It had been assumed the forward from Birmingham, Ala., would sign with MLS, and he said following the Bruins' loss on penalty kicks to North Carolina in the NCAA semifinals that he planned to discuss his options “with my family the next few days, talk to the [UCLA] coaching staff and see what the opportunities are in MLS.”

UCLA sophomore Kelyn Rowe also is expected to sign a Generation adidas pact, which is offered to the best players retaining college eligibility. Players in the program do not count against MLS clubs' salary caps nor roster sizes and tend to dominate the initial selections in the first round of the SuperDraft.

“I’m thrilled to be included in the Generation adidas list,” Hoffman told the league's website. “When you just look at the players that have come through this program, it’s basically every big-name American player. To have that opportunity to come into MLS and be a professional athlete, which has been my goal, is a major accomplishment and something I’m very proud of.

“I also see it as a new beginning and a time to prove myself once again, because coming to UCLA from Alabama, a lot of people didn’t believe I could do it, and I’m sure that at the next level there are going to be people who think I can’t do it. So it’s just added motivation to me to prove myself, because I definitely do think I’m good enough to be a goalscorer at the highest level.”

(Read full post)

The Galaxy's roster for next season is slowly becoming clearer, it appears, and that's not necessarily a good thing. David Beckham might be off for Paris Saint-Germain -- nothing concrete on that yet -- but might L.A. also have to do without Juninho and Omar Gonzalez?


Sambafoot, a website covering Brazilian soccer, reports that Juninho, Beckham's midfield partner for the Galaxy, has signed a three-year contract extension with Sao Paulo FC.

Juninho, 22, spent the past two seasons with the Galaxy on loan from Sao Paulo, and there's no indication that another loan deal can't be done. The Galaxy had been seeking to purchase his contract, and Juninho last month expressed a desire to return to L.A.

“I'm very happy here,” he said a few days after the Galaxy's MLS Cup triumph over Houston. “This is a family right now, and after winning the cup, everybody is happy. I'm very secure here. I have my wife here and a lot of friends.”

Sao Paulo has not announced a deal on its website, and Galaxy coach/general manager Bruce Arena was not available for comment Tuesday.

Gonzalez, 23, the MLS Defender of the Year, has attracted attention in Mexico and in Europe, and Britain's Sky Sports reports that there “is major interest from the [English] Premier League.” Beckham, the report said, has helped, giving rave reviews of the defender in discussions with his contacts in the English game.

(Read full post)

Major League Soccer's annual Generation adidas tour of Europe begins Monday, and the 18-man team Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes will guide includes Zarek Valentin, who would still be part of Chivas USA if he were still in the Generation adidas program.

Valentin, 20, who went to Montreal in last week's expansion draft, is one of four players “graduated” last month from the developmental program on the roster for the 10-day trip, which includes games against Ajax Amsterdam's reserve team, FC Volendam and Almere City FC. Vermes played for Volendam in 1990.

The other “graduates” are Columbus midfielder Dilly Duka and Tony Tchani and Philadelphia forward Danny Mwanga.

Garden Grove's Luis Gil (Santiago HS), a rising midfielder with Real Salt Lake, Philadelphia midfielder Amobi Okugo (UCLA) and Seattle defender Michael Tetteh (UC Santa Barbara) are among continuing GA players on the roster.

MLS's decision to “graduate” Valentin from the GA program led the Goats to leave him exposed in the expansion draft, where he was nabbed by Montreal coach Jesse Marsch, a former Chivas captain. Galaxy coach Robin Fraser last week said it “extremely baffling” and said he was “extremely, extremely disappointed” to see Valentin, 20, pulled from the program.

GA players do not count against clubs' salary caps nor roster sizes.

MLS officials have not addressed the reasoning behind the decision despite requests to do so.

The GA roster is bolstered by former GA Kevin Alston, a defender for New England, and three Home Grown Players: New York's Sacir Hot and Matt Kassel and D.C. United's Conor Shanosky.

(Read full post)

Seems pretty wasteful to let the No. 4 overall pick in last January's draft, an outside back with the potential to become a star (and maybe for the national team, too), slip away for nothing.

Zarek Valentin's departure from Chivas USA in Major League Soccer's expansion draft isn't so simple. And Chivas coach Robin Fraser isn't happy about it.

The Montreal Impact, which next season will debut as MLS's 19th club, on Wednesday listed Valentin No. 2 on its list of 10 players culled from the other 18 clubs after the Goats failed to include him among the 11 players they were permitted to protect.

The 20-year-old right back's fate is product of MLS's decision to “graduate” him from its Generation adidas developmental program, a decision Fraser, Chivas' head coach, called “baffling” and “extremely, extremely disappointing” -- and one that vastly changed Valentin's worth to the organization.

He's young, he's developing and in no way is he there yet -- just what the Generation adidas program is about -- and as a GA he counted nothing against Chivas' salary cap nor roster size. His change of designation means his salary, $80,000 annually (with $138,000 average guaranteed compensation), suddenly is applied against the cap.

MLS success often is about how well clubs maneuver within and around the salary cap, and the Goats also are getting a salary-cap hit from second-year midfielder Blair Gavin's GA “graduation.”

'MADE NO SENSE': “All the ramifications went into that decision” not to protect Valentin, Fraser said Thursday. “Here's a player who comes out early [following his sophomore season at the University of Akron] and is the No. 4 pick and as a GA player that has time to develop.

“It was baffling, to be quite honest. Extremely baffling. And I was extremely, extremely disappointed that he had 'graduated' from that. That's the sort of of program meant to allow players time to develop. For me, it just made no sense.”

Valentin and former Akron teammate Perry Kitchen, who had a solid rookie season on D.C. United's backline, were the only GA rookies who “graduated.” They also were the only GA rookies to exceed 2,000 regular-season minutes. Kitchen played in 31 games, 30 of them starts, and was on the field for 2,726 minutes. Valentin's numbers were 25 (with 24 starts) and 2,114.

(Read full post)

Major League Soccer's technical staffs are in Fort Lauderdale the next four days to assess top draft prospects at the league's annual combine. Seventy players have been divided among four teams, and doubleheaders will be played Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

The draft, with three rounds of 18 picks apiece, is Thursday in Baltimore. Chivas USA has the fourth overall selection, and the Galaxy will pick 16th.

Ten players, nine of them college underclassmen plus 17-year-old forward Omar Salgado, who signed with the league when he was forced to depart Club Deportivo Guadalajara after committing to the U.S. under-20 national team, are on Generation adidas contracts and will count neither against the roster size nor salary cap for the clubs that select them. GA players traditionally are among the most talented and coveted in the draft.

The list includes UC Santa Barbara junior Michael Tetteh, a Ghanaian midfielder who prepped at the Dunn School in Los Olivos. Five GAs -- including Darlington Nagbe and Perry Kitchen, widely seen as the top two prospects in the draft -- come from NCAA champion Akron. Also among the group is defender Zarek Valentin, whose brother, Julian, was a defender for the Galaxy in 2008-09.

Four GAs -- Salgado, Kitchen, Valentin and Maryland goalkeeper Zac MacMath -- will miss the combine while playing for the U.S. U-20s. Nagbe, who on Friday won the Hermann Trophy as college soccer's top player, also will skip the conbine.

Five foreign players who did not play at U.S. colleges are in the combine, including forward John Rooney, the brother of Manchester United superstar Wayne Rooney. John Rooney spent time on trial with the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers to prepare for the draft.

(Read full post)

Major League Soccer's Generation Adidas trek to Madrid started off swell, with a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid's reserve team Thursday.

Galaxy forward Tristan Bowen (Van Nuys), former UCLA standout Amobi Okugo and rising star Luis Gil (Garden Grove/Santiago HS) are among 19 players -- all either in MLS' developmental Generation Adidas program or recent grads -- on the team guided by FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman.

Injured Chivas USA midfielder Blair Gavin is one of two current GA players who are missing the trip.

Sporting Kansas City forward Teal Bunbury, who last month made his U.S. national team debut, and Columbus midfielder Dilly Duka scored for the MLS side. Okugo, who plays for Philadelphia, was a standout in midfield, and Real Salt Lake's Gil came on in the second half.

Others on the roster include national-teamers Juan Agudelo (New York) and Brek Shea (FC Dallas). The team will face the reserve teams from Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday and Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.