The MLS playoffs haven’t even started but the soccer silly season is apparently already in full swing. The latest world star linked with a stateside move in Real Madrid’s Xabi Alonso, reportedly mulling a move to New York or Los Angeles next summer. The report has been refuted on this side of the Atlantic.
The Galaxy flatly denied the story, telling MLSsoccer.com that they “have not pursued” Alonso. But the Red Bulls conspicuously declined any comment, when they could have shot the rumor down altogether. A league source said a move to New York was “not likely right now,’’ a lukewarm denial.
The initial report cropped up Wednesday on the program Punto Pelota, when Spanish journalist Pipi Estrada claimed the veteran midfielder Alonso will eschew a move to England, Italy or France in favor of America, specifically Thierry Henry’s Red Bulls or Landon Donovan’s L.A. Galaxy. The video can be found here.
“Xabi will not go to the Premier League, to the Serie A or to the French league,’’ said Estrada. “Instead, his future is in the United States and he’ll play for the LA Galaxy or the New York Red Bulls.
“If it comes to pass, he would be in the United States until he’s 34. And if he feels fit, he could play a final season with Real Sociedad, the club that’s dearest to him.”
The 31-year-old Alonso hasn’t played this la Liga season for Real Madrid, still recovering from a sports hernias and fractured right foot that he sustained back in August. But it should be noted that the Red Bulls have had at least cursory dealings with Real Madrid before, lodging the largest bid for Kaka in the summer of 2012 but having it rejected.
Alonso has over 100 caps for Spain, with whom he won the Euro 2008, the Euro 2012 and the 2010 World Cup.