[nas] Guzan on his way to England, if ...

Guzan on his way to England, if ...

via The Netminder by Beau Dure on 7/11/08

... he gets a work permit.

Chivas USA is preparing to lose Brad Guzan -- at the LATimes, Grahame Jones all but names his replacement. SI's Luis Bueno and ESPN's Ives Galarcep have more detail on the transfer itself, both naming Aston Villa as his destination.

If you think you've heard this before, you have. Guzan was heading for Villa earlier this year but couldn't get a work permit, a requirement for non-EU players heading to England.

Since then, Guzan has played a good bit more for the USA -- five of eight games, with three starts, though he's clearly the backup to Tim Howard. For the purposes of the UK's mathematical formula, the World Cup qualifiers are the only games this year that count. Guzan played in both games against Barbados, so that helps.

The bad news is that Guzan only played one of the nine games that mattered last year. So that's three out of 12, the inverse of the percentage he needs to qualify on math alone.

That means his work permit appeal will be subjective. His chances are certainly better than they were, but a lot of things can derail a deal.

Teammate Jesse Marsch talked earlier this week about Guzan's situation:

"I think Brad is a good kid, he’s got his head on his shoulders in the right way. He typically says the right things. But this has been a difficult stretch for him. ... For a young guy, there’s a lot of money on the line. He has the foundation of being a very good person, very level-headed, hard-working background."

Assuming the deal goes through, Guzan would join a proud tradition of U.S. goalkeepers in England -- Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, Juergen Sommer, Ian Feuer, Tim Howard and a couple of people with dual citizenship. And we're not even counting Howard grad Shaka Hislop.

No wonder English clubs like to shop here for goalkeepers.

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Guzan on his way to England, if ...

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