A couple clubs officially signed some forwards yesterday in hopes to beef up some pretty weak offenses.

Kansas City has brought back forward Josh Wolff after a year and a half away from Major League Soccer. Wolff spent the last couple of seasons in Germany.

Wolff joins a KC offense that has managed just 11 goals all season, second-fewest in MLS this season (second only to San Jose).

Wizards coach Curt Onalfo is hoping Wolff can duplicate his goal-scoring success from his first stint with the Wizards, when he netted 27 goals in four seasons, including a pair of 10-goal seasons (2004-2005). Wolff compiled 59 goals and 35 assists over the course of nine seasons spent with the Chicago Fire and Wizards.

He won’t be able to play with the Wizards until the opening of the summer transfer window on July 15.

Some wonder after seeing Wolff struggle with the US National team recently if he is really the answer to KC’s offensive woes. Honestly, I think at this point anyone new could be good for this offense. They brought in guys like Claudio Lopez at the start of the season to no success. I don’t think he alone can help this club though get back into the playoff picture right now. He is 31 and has seemed to have lost a step.

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The end of June only means one thing, the summer transfer window is near it’s due date for reopening for all clubs. After today MLS contracts go guaranteed for the year, so don’t be shocked to see a few more names be dropped along with DC’s Franco Niell and KC’s Eloy Colombano.

MLS clubs are turning to the tranfer window to improve rosters in hopes to make that final push towards the MLS Cup playoffs. Some clubs will make trades, others will add new players while dropping some dead weight.

Needless to say this is a busy time in Major League Soccer.

So, were does that take us for today? Well, let’s start with a couple quick rumors that are floating out there in the internet world.

First off, it looks like LA is indeed looking to move Carlos Ruiz (and his high salary) elsewhere this season. With the play of Edson Buddle, along with Landon Donovan the Galaxy are seeing that they could move The Fish to clear out some space to bring in some much needed defensive help.

Steve Goff briefly mentioned over the weekend that they could be looking to send him across the halls at the Home Depot Center to Chivas USA. The Red-and-White would need to clear some space first but look to be interested in bring him on to improve their offense, which has struggled this season due to injuries.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see another couple clubs get interested in Ruiz here if he is really on the trading block. It will come down to who is the most creative in dealing with Alexi Lalas.

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One of the more interesting pieces of news to come out over the weekend. According to Buzz Carrick over at 3rddegree.net, the league front office turned down a bid from an unnamed European club for FC Dallas striker Kenny Cooper.

The bid was fairly low, at least low in compairison to what the league got for former Red Bull striker Jozy Altidore a couple weeks ago. This bid was in the $1 million neighborhood from the club.

I tried pinning down the club or at least the county of the club that made the bid on Cooper. But that didn’t go as planned, so any guess could be a good one here. With the transfer window set to open up it could have been any number of clubs. One of my sources did say it was not a high profile club, which isn’t surprising to me. There had been a few clubs in Dallas over the last few weeks scouting but I’d rather not take a blind guess until I know for sure or until I get word from someone else that is just as sure on this.

The main thing I was told was that the league, not the club, put the stop on this deal. The club can say no to transfer deals and clubs have in the past done so, even when the league is ready to allow a transfer to happen. Cooper does have a couple option years on his contract left so it wouldn’t shock me to see him go in the next year or two, especially if he keeps his form up.

Its just the nature of young American players in MLS these days. Develop them, sell them when they are hot and continue to find the next thing in the process is the way this league is working here. No one should be shocked by that either. I’m still shocked that a guy like Cooper or even someone like Taylor Twellman aren’t in Europe here by now. I know Cooper started out with Manchester United but you have to think he will end up elsewhere sometime soon.

Yeah, its pretty random and almost rare to get actual rumor news out of Major League Soccer’s website, but today they posted a story on Dutch star Edgar Davids training at the Home Depot Center with the LA Galaxy.

Yeah, while I wonder about the possibility of an actual move to MLS by Davids, I won’t read into any speculation that he will end up with the Galaxy.

The Dutchman is currently on vacation in California and called up Galaxy head coach and fellow countryman, Ruud Gullit, to see if he could join the team in training this week. Gullit didn’t hesitate to extend an invitation to Davids, who is looking to stay in shape this offseason.

Sure the obvious connect could be there for him to join but there would be the Galaxy because of a fellow Dutchman coaching the club. I just don’t see it yet.

He came close to signing with FC Dallas last year and is currrently out of contract. Several MLS clubs would love to have a player like Davids. Would he be worth a Designated Player price? I honestly say no. He would be a good value for a club though going into the home stretch of the season though. P

ossibly a club with roster spots like Dallas could use him so time will tell if this little trip to the States pays off for a MLS club.

Another Monday Kicker here on WVHooligan.com. We are zeroing in on that summer transfer window to open up so of course there is a lot of talk right now in the world about a few players making their way to the MLS. Some are probably decent rumors, while others are probably nothing more than a bit of talk.

You can be the judge on some of these rumors, I’m fairly certain about some of these. Forgive me if some of this is a few days old.

I want to start here in my town, Dallas, about a little rumor about Manchester United going after teenage prospect at FC Dallas, Brek Shea. I know this one is almost a week old but it falls into the category in my books of a “yeah, riiiight” in terms of likely happening. Continue Reading…

Reports out of the Big Apple suggest that Venezuelan winger Jorge Rojas could be joining the Red Bulls this summer.

According to Ives, some reports had a deal already being finalized between Rojas and the Red Bulls, but Ives learned that no deal has been completed yet. The key word there being “yet”.

If Rojas does reach a deal with the Red Bulls, he would not be able to join the team until July 15, when the MLS transfer window opened. It was previously thought the MLS summer transfer window would open up on June 15, but I suppose we all got our dates wrong as it does indeed open up in July. A one month difference shouldn’t be a big deal for most clubs.

For those who aren’t familiar with Rojas, he is a winger that can also work his way into an attacking midfield role when needed. The 31-year old Venezuelan has bounced around from club to club in Venezuela over the years. Mostly playing for smaller clubs. He is the second most capped player in the history of the Venezuela national team.

Some may also remember him for his play against Boca Junior in the Copa Libertadores earlier this year.

He should be a solid addition to this club. They really need some attacking flair on the wings and more importantly someone to help create in the middle of the pitch as an attacking midfielder. That role hasn’t been kept up as it should have been this season. That’s been a big reason as to why the Red Bulls have been rather weak on offense this season.

While I think its a good signing, I sort of look at it like a Laurent Robert or Rohan Ricketts signing like up in Toronto. A solid wing player that contributes well but doesn’t make headlines. This strikes me as one of those kinds of signings.

An interesting sidebar for those who love the transfer/signing rumors, Ives threw this in at the end of his post:

Rojas, 31, is one of three players Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio has targeted for the upcoming summer transfer window. Fellow Venezuelan Gabriel Cichero is another player with strong ties to the club. The Venezuelan national team defender could fulfill Osorio’s lengthy search for a left-footed central defender.

We all knew this kind of information going into the season that the club needed a winger and another defender or two. With the Red Bulls not playing well in recent weeks it looks like the countdown is really on for the window to open up for them to get some reinforcements into the lineup to energize this club.

EDIT: click below to see full article

Its been a busy week in and out of the office for me. Today is no different with the normal work going on, the Champions League final (Go Blues!) and the regular WVH stuff. Today is a good day to catch up on some MLS transfer rumors that are floating out there in the internet.

The summer transfer window is only a few weeks away from opening up for the MLS clubs. Players are starting to be linked left and right to possible moves here.

Let’s start up north with Toronto FC. Reports out of England today talk about a possible move for 28-year-old striker Shola Ameobi. He has a prior relationship with TFC head coach John Carver, during Carver’s Newcastle days.

We all know the need and desire for a top striker in Toronto. I’ve said for weeks that Toronto is one good striker away from really being dangerous here in MLS. Would Ameobi be that big time goal scorer that the Reds have been looking for? He certainly knows his way to goal and would be able to link up well with former Newcastle United midfielder Laurent Robert.

Ameobi is at a good age to bring him over to the league and having a history with Carver doesn’t hurt.

I’ve said before that Jeff Cunningham’s days in Toronto are numbered and with a guy like Ameobi in the discussion I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cunningham begin to get serious looks from other clubs in MLS. I’m sure a Houston or San Jose would love to get their hands on Cunningham. Continue Reading…