Sports

Red Bulls’ skipper to meet with top Premier League managers

The Red Bulls’ Mike Petke may have been a rookie coach this past season, but – thanks to sporting director Andy Roxburgh – he’ll get a weeklong tour through the English Premier League to pick the brains of some of the game’s finest minds.

After assistant Robin Fraser spent a week at Everton, Petke will attend training sessions with EPL-leading Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham next week, meaning with Arsene Wenger, Jose “The Special One” Mourinho and André Villas-Boas.

“It’s all part of refreshing ideas, refreshing your thoughts — not to copy anybody, but to stimulate our thoughts in training and message and so on,’’ said Roxburgh. “I’ve worked a lot with Jose Mourinho and André Villas-Boas trained in Scotland as coaches. And Arsene has worked with me in Scotland as well — the Scottish connection was there.”

On Sunday, Petke and Thierry Henry will meet with Wenger and Red Bulls Head of Global Football Gerard Houllier. Petke will attend Arsenal practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, and meet with Henry’s former Gunners manager afterward. That night, he’ll attend Tottenham’s FA Cup tilt against West Ham. Thursday they’ll take in Chelsea training and meet with Mourinho.


Roxburgh said with CONCACAF Champions League on tap, the club will have to build more depth and spell aging stars Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill. He confirmed Henry is entering the last year of his contract, but gushed over his quality (“the quality never goes”) and said Henry could always re-sign after 2014 because he’s pleased with the direction of the organization.

He acknowledged the salary cap crunch the team will face this offseason, and reiterated that if they do sign a Designated Player, it’ll be one that will help on the field, not in terms of finances. But he did add they were eyeing a few players in the second stage of the Re-Entry Draft and might have some player acquisition announcements in the next few days.

Asked specifically about departed players Fabian Espindola and Brandon Barklage, he said Espindola’s contract wasn’t picked up because of fiscal reasons (he would’ve resulted in a $400,000 cap hit) and Barklage was not retained for tactical reasons.


Ownership is willing to spend $2 million to add on another practice field, locker rooms and waiting room to the training complex, to be used by the academy team and potential third division team. They hope to have the third division team by the end of 2014, and wanted to get it done for this year but red tape got in the way.

Red Bull will make two preseason trips to Orlando, and will probably play in the Walt Disney Pro Soccer Classic – taking academy prospects Chris Lema and Arun Basuljevic with them. Roxburgh has been encouraged by the academy, expects Matt Miazga to be part of the rotation next year and thinks Marius Obekop has the potential to take a big leap forward.