French outlet Lequipe, Fabrizio Romano, and the Athletic’s Tom Bogert have reported that French Ligue 1 club RC Strasbourg are close to a move for Atlanta United left back Caleb Wiley, with the goal of a future move to English Premier League side Chelsea. Chelsea and Strasbourg share the same ownership group.
Wiley is Atlanta United’s greatest success as a Homegrown player. In 82 appearances with the club, Wiley has recorded 6 goals and 6 assists. He has 2 senior appearances with the United State’s national team, and while he is not with the squad for the Copa America, he is expected to be a key piece for the nation during this year’s Summer Olympics.
If Wiley first heads to Strasbourg, he will be coached by Patrick Viera, formerly the coach of New York City FC. Viera will surely value his positional versatility, as the 19-year old has excelled as both a winger and defender and could develop as either in Europe. Wiley’s sale would be similar to the sale of another young American left back Homegrown prospect from Atlanta, George Bello, to Arminia Bielefeld. However, that deal was only for $2 million, and this deal is expected to garner a fee around the $10 million range.
If the deal goes through, Atlanta United will be left with a gaping hole at left wing-back. Atlanta’s two best choices on the roster would be Ronald Hernandez, who has been a jack-of-all-trades over his time at the club, and recent Homegrown signing Matt Edwards. There was a rumor that Atlanta United would sign Portuguese left back Pedro Amador from Moreirense FC two weeks ago, but no follow up news has been reported.Â
While the fee would be good for the team and the move would be good for Wiley’s career, similar to the Giakoumakis and Almada moves, a Wiley transfer would not help the team in the short-term. Over the next few days, we will see if it comes to completion and what sort of fee the team can garner for one of the best left backs the club has ever had.
All these American kids are leaving way too early. You need to dominate level 3 before you try level 4.
[…] Rumor: Caleb Wiley set for move to Chelsea, Strasbourg ownership group […]
Had to look up where Bello is now but he’s in Europe. We have good luck as of late with home grown left backs moving to Europe.
Glad for Wiley.
Bello definitely left too early. He could have stuck around for another year or so to increase his value. Maybe he felt Wiley was going to take his job soon, so he left earlier.
Even if he just wanted it out, he should’ve been more discerning about his landing spot. Arminia proved to be an absolute shit show. They were Bundesliga when they signed Bello, and were a very mediocre 3rd division team this past season. Bello went to LASK and appears to have been a first-choice player for them.
Too lazy to look up myself, but is Bello getting any playing time where he is?
All the dominoes are crashing down
I’ve been thinking out the possible moves we can make if we need to replace Wiley as well. What about Weghorst from Burnley, Aaronson on loan from Leeds (both Championship teams will need the salary space) plus John Hilton from Dutch second division. No need to wait on visas for Hilton and Aaronson, and if we hire a new coach in the off-season we could still have a DP slot open or try to keep Aaronson longer term.
i get that everything is for sale for a particular price, but why would we sell so many strong players at the same time? GG, Almada…now Wiley. Not too mention, I thought the reason for talent development and homegrown programs is to create players for your system of play…you know what you have w/o having to pay a premium for a Barco or an Araujo.
Good question, but different reasons for all.
TLDR – MLS is a selling league, so it’s the reality of being a selling league. Many good leagues, including some that are better than MLS, are selling leagues.
GG – Got an offer so good, we couldn’t turn it down, plus he was interested in going there. I don’t think he was shopped. Cruz Azul just made an offer.
Almada – His desire has always been to play in Europe and playing here was a means to that end. He played on a World Cup winning squad, so being in MLS clearly did not hurt him. Atlanta United can’t drag their feet forever on selling him. Eventually (end of 2025?) his contract will run out and he can leave for free. If an offer came in that was acceptable to Almada, he was always going to go. Plus, there was a rumor that he told management before the season started that selling him to Europe sooner rather than later was in everybody’s best interests.
Wiley – Many MLS teams sell young players the second an offer from Europe comes in. NYRB, Philly and Dallas (also 3 of the very best academy to MLS systems) do so. The offer is rumored to be around $10 million, which beats the crap out of the usual “Give us $4 million (but we’ll secretly take $2 million if we have to) and the kid is yours” offers. It’s my understanding that Wiley wants to play in Europe.
By the way, NYRB is the only MLS team that really has a defined style of play that they do train academy players in. Philly and Dallas excel at getting players ready to move into the professional ranks, but I’m just not sure it’s correct to say that they teach a specific style or system there.
Add to this that AU has been built in a pre-Messi model to date. They are systematically clearing a lot of DP space and I won’t be surprised to see them embrace a more post-Messi roster build going forward. MLS changed underneath them. Adapt or die.
I’ve been pretty down on him but apparently there’s something I’m missing. Maybe we’ve just been misusing him. Or maybe my expectation for what a wing back can do is too high
I think one of the main things to remember is he’s only 19. He’s still got another 4-8 years (Atlanta United has only been playing for 8) before he’s supposed to be in his prime. Also consider any left or right backs we’ve had in the past, and if they’re better, what age they were when we had them. For example, Gressel (who couldn’t play RB with us, only RWB) was 23 in 2017, Garza 25.
In other words, no he’s not perfect, but he’s got a ton of upside potential.
How ‘bout this one…There is a rumor on Transfermarkt that ATL UTD is considering Callum Wilson!
https://www.transfermarkt.us/callum-wilson-to-atlanta-united-fc-/thread/forum/613/thread_id/752
Add in Miggy and make it a 2fer.
Great. SOmeone who is hurt more then GG.
Do. Not. Want. He’s 32 and played less than 1000 minutes last season. He’s very effective when he plays, but he’s not durable.
Christian Benteke is 33 and has revitalized the DCU attack. If you don’t want to have your striker sell on aka GG then you need to consider guys like Callum.
If he goes, I hope it’s to Strasbourg and I hope Almada eventually gets to Lyon. I subscribe to Fanatiz and I would like to be able to check on both of them from time to time in Ligue 1.
The odds are huge that Pedro Amador isn’t going to excite anybody and may just be a cheaper version of Hernandez, so I don’t think any tears will be shed if nothing comes of that.