Category: Americans Abroad

Real Betis midfielder Cardoso addresses transfer rumors amid links to European giants

The midfielder has been linked with the likes of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid

Real Betis midfielder Johnny Cardoso has denied that he is looking for a transfer this summer following a report of interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Last week, Diario de Sevilla said that La Liga giants Barcelona and ​​Atlético Madrid were eyeing the U.S. men’s national team midfielder, as well as Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and unnamed clubs from the Premier League and Serie A.

The 22-year-old only joined Betis from Brazilian side Internacional in December, moving to La Liga in a transfer worth a reported €6 million.

But Cardoso’s performances with the Andalusian side have apparently already convinced some of Europe’s top clubs that he may be worth a large investment.

Cardoso spoke to Spanish radio station Onda Cero on Wednesday, and insisted that his “head is in Betis” as rumors of an impeding exit swirl.

“I arrived here a short time ago. I am very happy,” the midfielder said. “My head and my goals are here at Betis. I try to continue working hard and develop well at the club.”

Asked directly if he would leave Betis ahead of next season, Cardoso replied: “No. My head is in Betis and I leave the conversations for my agent.”

Cardoso added that he was very happy with how quickly he’s adjusted to one of the world’s top leagues, where he’s started 12 of his club’s last 14 games.

“I did not expect such a quick adaptation,” the New Jersey-born midfielder said. “I am very happy with everything. All my teammates, technical staff, the club have helped me a lot with the adaptation. We have a lot to develop.”

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U.S. youth star Figueroa, 17, signs first pro contract with Liverpool

The teenager is one of the most promising strikers in Liverpool’s academy

U.S. youth international Keyrol Figueroa has signed his first professional contract with Liverpool, the Premier League club has announced.

Figueroa joined Liverpool at the U-14 level, and has marked himself as one of the club’s most promising forward prospects with his displays in its academy.

The 17-year-old is the son of former Premier League defender Maynor Figueroa, who is the all-time leader in caps for Honduras with 181.

But the ex-Wigan defender’s son opted to represent the United States at the international level, a choice he explained last year during the Concacaf U-17 Championship.

“I was questioning which team I was going to represent,” he said. “But what made me pick the U.S. is the fact that all my family are spread across the U.S. I think every little person represents me. So I thought the U.S. was a perfect choice.”

Figueroa was born in Honduras but moved to England at a young age when his father transferred to Wigan.

Figueroa has missed a good portion of the current season due to injury and international duty, but recently returned with a goal for Liverpool’s U-18 side.

Overall, the striker has three goals and two assists in nine appearances for the U-18 side this season, as he looks to move up to the U-21 side for next season.

Figueroa appeared in all four games for the U.S. at the U-17 World Cup in November, scoring once as his side was knocked out by Germany in the round of 16.

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McKennie on Juventus future: ‘I’d like to stay, but we’ll see what happens’

The USMNT midfielder has been linked with an exit as his contract enters its final year

Weston McKennie has said he would like to remain at Juventus beyond this season, but the midfielder also left the door slightly open to a possible exit.

McKennie has been one of his side’s top performers in 2023-24, regaining a prominent role with Juventus after an ill-fated loan with Leeds in the second half of last season.

The U.S. men’s national team star is set to enter the final season of his contract, which will expire in June 2025. That makes the coming months potentially decisive when it comes to his Juventus future.

Juventus has been in talks with McKennie over a new contract, but may be forced to sell this summer if a deal can’t be reached.

After his side drew Roma 1-1 on Sunday, McKennie spoke to DAZN about his future with the Bianconeri.

“I have a year left in my contract, and my agent is speaking with the director. I’d like to stay, obviously, but we’ll see what happens. Hopefully, we can work it out,” he said.

Juventus currently sits third in Serie A as the season winds down. The club fell well off the pace in the title race after a promising start, and will have its only chance at silverware on May 15 when it faces Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final.

Should he stay, McKennie said he is hoping to bring his side back to its past glories in the coming seasons.

“As for the team, we have the same goal we’ve had for the past three years. We want to win the Scudetto and play a big role in the Champions League; we want to return Juventus to the glory days, how it was before,” the Texan said.

“Juventus are a team with a lot of winning history, and this team wants to show that we belong in that history as well, so hopefully, we can win the Coppa Italia, at least a trophy this season and finish the season strong and for the future put Juventus where we belong.”

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Pulisic shines as No. 10 but AC Milan throws away win vs. Genoa

The USMNT star did all he could to get his side a win on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough

Christian Pulisic did all he could to help AC Milan to victory on Sunday, but a shaky defensive display from the Rossoneri meant they had to settle for a 3-3 draw with Genoa.

Playing as a No. 10, the U.S. men’s national team star nearly scored in the first half before assisting what appeared to be a late winner from Olivier Giroud.

But a mix-up in Milan’s defense resulted in an own goal from Malick Thiaw that gave the visitors a share of the spoils.

It was an inauspicious beginning for the home side at San Siro, as a poor challenge from Fikayo Tomori gave Genoa a chance from the penalty spot within five minutes. Mateo Retegui made no mistake, giving Genoa an early lead.

Pulisic nearly equalized right away, curling a shot off the far post after some nice work inside the box to open up space.

The USMNT star nearly scored again before the break, drawing a great save from Genoa goalkeeper Josep Martínez with a drive from distance.

Pulisic would eventually get on the scoresheet after Milan fought back to tie the match 2-2, playing an inch-perfect cross to the back post for an unmarked Giroud to volley home.

There would be one more twist, however, as Tomori’s attempted clearance ricocheted off Thiaw and in for an 87th-minute equalizer.

Pulisic now has a career-high seven league assists this season to go along with a career-high 13 goals in all competitions.

For Milan, the club still maintained a five-point lead in second place after second-place Juventus drew Roma 1-1 later on Sunday.

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Tyler Adams remains sidelined for Bournemouth clash with Arsenal

Adams is running out of time to make another Premier League appearance this season

Tyler Adams remains out for Bournemouth, with the U.S. men’s national team midfielder rapidly running out of time to play a further part in this Premier League campaign.

At a pre-game press conference, Cherries manager Andoni Iraola ruled Adams out for Saturday’s clash with Arsenal.

Adams will have missed seven straight games with back spasms that first bubbled up in early April. The new injury has derailed a promising return from a hamstring issue that effectively cost Adams most of 2023.

After Adams’ second game out, a 2-1 loss to Luton Town, Iraola had expressed some hopes that the back issue would be resolved quickly. More recently, the Bournemouth boss referred to the issue as “not a bad injury” before adding that “we have to be careful with these decisions,” indicating that Adams may not return until he’s completely healed.

The problem? There’s not much time left for that to happen. With the New York native ruled out of the Arsenal clash, there are just two games remaining this season in which he could return. Bournemouth’s final two fixtures are May 11’s home match against Brentford, and a season-ending trip to face Chelsea on May 19.

The Cherries sit 10th in the table, and have little left to play for this season. The club has been safe from relegation worries for some time, and has only the faintest mathematical chance of claiming a Europa Conference League playoff round berth (essentially needing to win three straight while getting significant help from elsewhere in the league).

However, Adams’ performances in his brief spell back on the pitch will likely make Bournemouth fans wonder where the club would be had he been healthy all season. The USMNT No. 6 was at his best in a 2-1 win over Everton in March, shortly after scoring a spectacular long-range goal against Mexico on international duty.

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Pulisic pays tribute to Reus after Dortmund legend announces departure

The pair played together for three and a half seasons with the Bundesliga club

Christian Pulisic paid tribute to his former teammate Marco Reus on Friday, following an announcement that Reus would be leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season.

Reus confirmed he won’t sign a new deal when his contract expires in June, ending a 12-year run with Dortmund.

The 34-year-old will leave as one of Dortmund’s all-time greats, saying he will seek out a new club rather than retire.

“I’m incredibly grateful for and proud of this special time at my club Borussia Dortmund,” Reus said in a club statement.

“I already know now that I will find it difficult to say goodbye at the end of the season. And yet I’m happy that there is now clarity and that we can focus fully on the very important final games that we still have to play.”

Reus will hope to sign off with a Champions League title, with Dortmund carrying a 1-0 lead over PSG into next week’s semifinal second leg in Paris.

Pulisic began his pro career with Dortmund as a 17-year-old during the 2015-16 season, and would go on to spend three more seasons with the German club before joining Chelsea in 2019.

In a post on his Instagram account, the AC Milan star shared the farewell video from Reus and wrote: “What a guy, what a player.”

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McKennie posts, deletes Manchester United jersey picture on Facebook

The photo was up for less than an hour before it was quickly deleted

There was a curious photo that briefly showed up on Weston McKennie’s Facebook account on Friday.

Accompanied by a caption of “I’m here!” was a photoshopped image of the Juventus midfielder wearing a Manchester United jersey. The profile picture was up for less than an hour before it was deleted.

According to Calciomercato, the explanation was the most obvious one: McKennie’s account was hacked.

The post certainly came at an interesting moment, with McKennie locked in contract talks with Juventus near the end of a standout season for the Serie A club.

The latest reports out of Italy suggested that the U.S. national team midfielder rejected the club’s most recent offer, which could see Juve look to sell him over the summer rather than lose him for free when his contract expires in 2025.

Among the clubs linked with a summer move for McKennie is, naturally, Manchester United, which GIVEMESPORT recently said was eyeing a transfer for the 25-year-old.

The report said that McKennie could be available for as little as £15 million despite his excellent campaign in Serie A.

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Weston McKennie played Fortnite during a World Cup final watch party

The USMNT midfielder isn’t interested in soccer unless he’s playing it

The 2018 World Cup final was a pretty enthralling game.

Aside from the simple fact it was a World Cup final, France and Croatia also played an open and entertaining match in Moscow, with France prevailing 4-2 to lift its second World Cup title.

Weston McKennie was at a watch party with some friends and teammates that day, but don’t ask him too much about that match. Because he was playing Fortnite.

In an interview with ESPN, the U.S. national team and Juventus midfielder professed to be among the group of pro players who give it their all between the lines — and then mostly ignore the sport when it’s not time to play.

Case in point: that watch party, which took place at Christian Pulisic’s house when he was still at Borussia Dortmund. McKennie, who played for nearby Schalke at the time, attended the event with several other players amid the teams’ preseason camps.

“Everyone was on the couch watching the game,” McKennie said. “There were a whole bunch of TVs.”

But the USMNT midfielder was playing Fortnite.

“They all just laughed at me,” he said. “Like, ‘How can you be playing that right now? This game is so good.’ And I would look up every once in a while. But it just doesn’t interest me. I’ll play soccer and give it everything I have. But that mentality when I’m not playing, I need to switch it off.”

Rabbi Matondo, who currently plays for Rangers and was a teammate of McKennie’s at the time, was dumbfounded.

“I used to ask him, ‘How do you play football the way you do and have no knowledge of anything going on in the sport?” Matondo said.

For McKennie, who has starred for Juventus this season and will be a major part of the USMNT during the upcoming Copa América, finding the right balance between off-field and on-field engagement is key.

“I enjoy playing football. I want to go as far as I can,” the 25-year-old said. “But honestly, if my career ended tomorrow, I would be happy. And I wouldn’t have regrets for anything that I’ve done.”

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Report: Barcelona and Atletico Madrid eyeing USMNT midfielder Cardoso

The 22-year-old only just arrived at Real Betis, but he could be quickly sold in the summer

Johnny Cardoso has only been at Real Betis for a few months, but his performances are already attracting interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

According to a report from Diario de Sevilla, La Liga giants Barcelona and ​​Atlético Madrid have expressed their interest to the representatives of the U.S. men’s national team midfielder.

In addition to that pair, there is also interest from German powers Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, as well as unnamed clubs from the Premier League and Serie A.

The 22-year-old only joined Betis from Brazilian side Internacional in December, moving to La Liga in a transfer worth a reported €6 million.

Cardoso has impressed since making his Betis debut against Barcelona in January, drawing rave reviews for his displays while starting almost all of the club’s league matches since then.

The holding midfielder has a release clause of €80m in his current contract, but the report from Diario de Sevilla states that Betis could be open to a sale for €30m.

That figure could rise if a bidding war emerges for Cardoso, who is understood to be happy with his new club. Betis, for its part, doesn’t want to lose Cardoso, but would also be willing to sell if it could make a huge profit on a player who only just joined the club.

Cardoso has earned 11 caps for the USMNT, and is expected to be a big part of Gregg Berhalter’s plans in the upcoming Copa América.

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USMNT and PSV right back Dest confirms torn ACL

The fullback is staring at a lengthy recovery that will likely see him out for the rest of 2024

The news was expected, but Sergiño Dest wanted to deliver it himself: The U.S. men’s national team right back has a torn ACL.

Dest made the announcement through his social media channels and his club side PSV on Wednesday, saying: “I want to give you an update on the injury myself. I tore my ACL. Hearing it [the news] was very painful. I will be out for a long period of time.

“Soon I will be operated on and then I will work on my recovery. It will be tough for me. I know that I will come out of this stronger, that’s for sure. For the rest, it is now to hope for the best and find the old version of myself again.”

The news was expected after PSV announced Dest would be out for an “extended period” after suffering a serious knee injury in training on April 20.

The 23-year-old will likely miss the remainder of 2024, including the USMNT’s participation in the Copa América this summer.

Dest’s club future is uncertain. The fullback had a standout campaign with PSV, which has a reported €10 million purchase option when his loan from Barcelona expires at the end of this season.

Even after the injury, PSV head coach Peter Bosz made clear that the club would still like to activate that option.

“He also just played well actually all season. Then you want to keep him. The same goes for the club, actually. I think they would also like to keep him,” Bosz said last week.

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