Filed under: European Soccer, Bundesliga (Germany), U.S. Men's National TeamU.S. national team defender Jay DeMerit, who's been without a club since his departure from Watford despite playing every minute of the World Cup, is about to take a significant and surprising step up to the German Bundesliga, according to unsourced reports from England.
Early references to the story in the U.S. routinely use the phrase "multiple reports" with no citations, and so far the only ones FanHouse found were at talkSPORT and The Guardian.
TalkSPORT, a radio station owned by UTV Radio of the U.K., said that Wolfsburg coach Steve McClaren, former manager of the English national team and Middlesbrough, "is is ready to pluck Jay DeMerit from the wilderness and give the USA defender a career lifeline."
It added that "Schalke and Werder Bremen are interested in the central defender too and there is also interest from Italy and Spain. But sources close to DeMerit have revealed that former England manager McClaren ... is ready to beat his rivals to it by offering DeMerit a deal."
The Guardian offers even less, saying in a Tuesday rumors column only that DeMerit "is set to join" Wolfsburg.
tweetcount_src = 'RT @FanHouse:'; tweetcount_via = false; tweetcount_size = 'small'; tweetcount_background = 'FFFFFF'; tweetcount_border = 'CCCCCC'; tweetcount_api_key = '1cf4e3b7f7f20406a9dd9d1b1edc0e41b4fc20d1b21cb19a6f169387c696d333'; DeMerit has been a free agent since Watford declind to renew his contract in June, so is available to any club without a transfer fee. Considering his experience and bargain-basement price, DeMerit's failure to find employment was one of several American disappointments during the recently concluded transfer season (Benny Feilhaber's situation at AGF Aarhus taking first prize. Feilhaber is in contention for 2014. DeMerit is not).
DeMerit has gone on record since the World Cup saying he'd consider a move to Major League Soccer. The 30-year-old defender is from Wisconsin and played collegiate soccer for Illinois-Chicago before making his much-celebrated rise from the lower levels of the English game to the Premier League. He's played 23 times for the national team.
Wolfsburg, German champion in 2008-09, has started the new Bundesliga season 0-2-0 and has yielded six goals.
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