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.

New York officially announced the signing of midfielder/striker Jorge Rojas.

The 31-year-old is arrived yesterday and will undergo a physical on today ahead of signing a contract with the Red Bulls. Just like Wolff, he will not be eligible to play for the Red Bulls until after the July 15 open of the summer transfer window.

With Rojas on board, what is next for New York? A forward, defensive midfielder and central defender are all on the agenda, but word has it Juan Carlos Osorio may not be able to fill all three needs without making a trade.

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In other news, some trade news really. Some of you probably have seen or heard about the locker room fight between Blanco and Wilman Conde.

Think Conde is on his way out of Chicago here soon? Honestly some believe a possibly three-way trade between LA, Chicago and Toronto is in the works now that Carlos Ruiz is on the trading block. Ruiz goes to Toronto, Conde to LA and Brian McBride (of course) goes to Chicago.

Do I believe that trade will happen? No. I just don’t see Ruiz going to Toronto. I know he wants to stay in LA so the move to Chivas still makes sense to me.

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.

Others in the news that are coming to MLS.

Jorge Rojas continues to look like he is on his way to New York. Word has it he is going to sign a year and a half deal. Some are saying he will debut with the Red Bulls in the middle of July, probably against LA. The Venezuelan striker should be a boost to an offense that has lacked some serious firepower since the sale of Jozy Altidore and due to the on-going injuries to Juan Pablo Angel.

The 31-year old has the experience and will probably link up well with fellow South American Angel. I just wonder if he will be enough to lift this attack back to where we expected it to be at the start of the season. The Red Bulls still need some work on their defense and midfield though here this summer. If Juan Carlos Osorio finds the right parts they could make a serious push for the playoffs. I still think though these signings are going to be too little too late for them in the end though. But we will see.

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The on-going rumor of Shola Ameobi coming to MLS continues. Apparently he continues to get linked to Toronto FC here.

His agent keeps ruling out the move, but TFC manager John Carver continues to make a push for the 26-year old Nigerian. The club would sign him as their designated player if he does indeed end up going State-side. I honestly don’t see this move happening considering there isn’t any talk of his desire to play in MLS and the fact that West Brom is heavily considered the favorite to sign the Newcastle striker.

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Oh and more talk on Darren Huckerby to MLS over the weekend. San Jose and Toronto still get linked to Norwich star.

San Jose would have to deal with Toronto for the allocation spot to get Huckerby if he signs with the league. Some reports say Toronto has the discovery claim to Huckerby. I’m pretty sure those reports mean the allocation rights to him though. Hopefully that won’t confuse too many people.

If it is the discovery claim to Huckerby the dealing will be a littler easier than what we are seeing between Chicago and Toronto right now for the rights to striker Brian McBride. But if we are dealing with allocation rights then we could be headed into a whole different direction here. It all depends on Mo Johnston and how he wants to deal with Huckerby and McBride. The Reds won’t get both players and I wouldn’t be shocked if they got neither as well.

But from the looks of things Toronto has other plans so San Jose may be in luck to land the Englishman. If that is the case it should easily help out their attack. I can see Huckerby fitting in pretty nicely in Frank Yallop’s system right now. Even as a wing player too I think the move would work out fine.

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, 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.

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.

Here’s what the report says on ManU and Shea:

Alex Ferguson is chasing big Brek Shea – the new rising star of United States football.

Manchester United’s top scout Jim Lawlor is preparing to fly to the States to watch the giant 18 year old, who is skipper of his country’s youth team, on the orders of Old Traf ford boss Ferguson.

The 6ft 3in Shea, who plays for FC Dallas in the MLS, caught United’s eye at last month’s Toulon tournament in France, where he stood out despite being years younger than most in the under-23 category.

The powerful Shea, whose family is of Norwegian stock, can play at centrehalf or in midfield and has been outstanding in his first season as a professional in America.

Shea is a colourful character who used to have a Samuraistyle haircut until he was told to get it trimmed by a national youth team coach.

He now sports a more conservative look that would meet the approval of strict disciplinarian Sir Alex Ferguson. The billionaire Glazer family, who own United, would love an all-American boy to sign because the potential spin-offs would be huge.

Honestly, I love Bristish writing. Especially when they know absolutely little of what they are talking about when it comes to Major League Soccer. I know Shea had a great time with the U-23 National team in France a month ago but that most certainly won’t be enough to get him to join a club like ManU.

Shea was the second overall pick in this year’s SuperDraft. He’s largely seen as a big time project for FC Dallas. He has the tools and the talent to be a big time player I think, but for now he is only seeing reserve time. Plus there is the argument in Dallas surrounding some of the young players that he isn’t nearly as good as fellow rookie Eric Avila. Its an argument but nothing more.

I wouldn’t read too much into this rumor just yet. Maybe if Shea had actually seen significant time on the pitch this season and had done well we would be a little more serious about this.

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Deseretnews.com is reporting that German midfielder Sebastian Schindzielorz is currently on trial with the  club. Schindzielorz is currently plays his football with Levadiakos in the Greek 1st division (Super League Greece) has played in the German Bundesliga with VfL Bochum and FC Koln.

He’s brought in by management for his athleticism and could fill the vacant roster spot.

His trial began a week ago with RSL. No word really yet on how it is going. The club is exploring other options with their open spot so you could see another player or two come in on trial real soon to compete for the position.

As we’ve seen in recent weeks, this club needs a strong midfielder, particularly on the wings. Schindzielorz could be that guy as he does have the experience and could be a good fit for RSL.

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We all know the New York Red Bulls are looking to make a few moves in the next couple of weeks once the transfer window opens up for them. Now the word around the internet world is that a former teammate of Claudio Reyna at Manchester City could be on to join the fun. Paul Dickov had been linked with a couple clubs earlier in the year and is now in line to possibly join the Red Bulls.

According to Sky Sports and Setanta, he may come over during the summer window next month.

The Scottish 35-year old sounds like a bit of a waste to me. I know the club needs a striker at this point but getting an aged striker may not be the answer. He knows how to score but hasn’t seen a lot of competitive action over the last couple of years as Man City has loaned him out to a couple clubs.

The biggest reason why anyone is speculating his name right now in a link to MLS is due to his time with Reyna and Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Yeah, it may be nice to get a familiar face in the locker room for these two guys but that doesn’t mean it will work out. This club needs a player with pace and the ability to knock in shots. I’m not saying Dickov isn’t that player but to me this just doesn’t seem like a smart move for the club if it is going to happen.

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Another EPL player is being rumored to a move across the sea to MLS. Nolberto Solano of West Ham United is said to be on the move this offseason. A couple MLS clubs have said to be interested in his services. Solano wants to say in England for another couple seasons if possible but he could make the jump if the right deal comes along. Liverpool is rumored to bid for the winger, so if that is the case throw this one out.

The 33-year old midfielder from Peru could be a good fit for a number of clubs. I could actually see this guy working out in New York or for a club like Chivas. He has good pace and certainly knows how to score.

The biggest draw for a MLS club is the free transfer part. His contract with West Ham ends at the end of the month and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get him to the States if he really wanted to come.

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And lastly for the day…is another edition of the Jared Borgetti to MLS rumor. This time MLS Rumors is linking him to the Houston Dynamo as possibly their designated player.

Uh, yeah, right. Houston wants and needs a striker like Borgetti but currently lacks the funds to do so. They would first have to dump a player in a trade or something along that lines to free up the cap space and then sign him to a deal either as a DP or something on long the lines of one like a Schelotto.

He’s been linked before in 2006 and again in 2007…and now again in 2008 to MLS. Will it happen? More than likely at this point it won’t happen. That is unless some team or the league makes him a deal that he cannot turn down.

Would I like to see Houston sign a player like Borgetti? Sure, if the right move presents itself. Colorado, Chivas, and San Jose have all said to be interested in him in the past. Now Houston is getting their turn on the rumor mill with him.

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.

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.

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Another Newcastle United player is linked to a MLS club as well. Interesting. This time its Australian captain Mark Viduka. The 32-year-old striker is being linked with DC United.

What’s that sound? Its the sound of Luciano Emilio getting talked about in trade discussions or the possibility of a release.

Look the guy may be aging but he sure does bring the goals wherever he goes. The question goes for DC, or any other MLS club looking to spend money on Viduka, do you take a chance on him? His asking price will probably be pretty high but you can’t deny the leadership ability that he brings to the table and the ability to score goals.

Its pretty apparent that DC is looking to make changes in the coming weeks. After knocking up Emilio’s contract a couple weeks back I question whether or not they will be willing to part ways with him right away unless he continues to not produce. More than likely you will see guys like Franco Niell get the boot more than anything here and maybe Emilio.

Again, some other clubs wouldn’t be too off in making a pitch for a guy like Viduka. I’d love to see him down here in Dallas but that may be stretching it a bit too much.

Update: Just saw over at Goff’s wonder blog that there is no talk between Viduka and DC. Apparently the rumor is just that, a rumor. To me though I think some clubs should look at him so who knows what other clubs he will get linked up with. Columbus maybe?

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See that Thierry Henry is now being linked to LA? I know that won’t happen but some reports overseas sure think they are lining up to make a swing at things. I wouldn’t count on it. If Henry comes to MLS he will be in a Seattle or New York uniform. It’s as simple as that.

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Ulises de la Cruz looking to come to MLS? Its possible he could be joining fellow countryman Juan Pablo Angel in New York.

“I talked with my friend Juan Pablo Angel [currently with the New York Red Bulls] and he [Angel] mentioned he is happy to play in the MLS since the press does not pay much attention to soccer.”

De La Cruz will be released from his contract with Reading at the end of next month. A move to MLS isn’t totally out of the question for the 34-year-old defender. He would be a solid addition to a Red Bull defense that still needs some depth.

He’s got some age but we know some veteran defenders in MLS can work out for clubs even if it is only for a half of a season. I wouldn’t be shocked to see his name pop up a little more over the next few weeks as the transfer window reopens and New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio looks to beef up certain areas of his roster like he was expected to do in the winter.

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More rumors coming later….back to the CL game!