Thursday, July 5, 2007

Some dude named Dalby might play in England next season.

I have no idea how I heard about this, but apparently Preston North End of the English Championship is close to signing former US U-20 captain Greg Dalby. North End, which came narrowly close to earning promotion to the EPL last season, is waiting to sign Dalby pending the Home Office granting a work permit. I'm not holding my breath.

Why have I never heard of this kid? He's 21 and apparently he's an "exceptional young talent." Why didn't he come to the MLS or anything? Has he been hiding in Europe for the last few years? I checked the Yanks Abroad database for some further information and they don't have anyone listed under that name, though they do have someone named "Dallman" who was also born in 1985.

What the hell?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember him from the U-20 side though I can't really say that he impressed me all that much. A quick check shows that he was drafted by the Rapids this year in the second round. Looks like he either never intended to play in MLS or didn't like the money on offer as he's been shopping himself around Europe (Serie A, Celtic, Bremen). It's hard to see how he'd qualify as an "exceptional talent" in order to be granted a work permit by the Home Office. I would think that when Convey's Tottenham move collapsed at the same stage he had a lot more cachet than Greg Dalby has ever enjoyed.

DM said...

Your mastery of the intar-webs never ceases to amaze me. And yeah, Convey is much more 'exceptional talent' than anyone I've never heard of, but I've got to think that PNE being a second-tier club, in context their 'exceptional talent' might not be so exceptional.