Bleacher Report - Articles by Brad Kelly

EPL:Deco lands in Chelsea

Brad Kelly — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:23:46 -0400

Barca and Portuguese Star Deco have Parted ways today. Deco will join Chelsea FC of the Barclay's English Premiership on a transfer in which the details have yet to be released. Chelsea now have former Portugal international Manager Scolari at the helm and he has wasted no time bringing in some new talent.

Deco was deemed to be out of Barcas future plans by new manager Pep Guardiola last week, this led to his transfer to the Blues.

"I am sure I have come at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was and come back to being the first one, not only in England but also to win the Champions League that has been their dream for so long," Deco said in an interview with Chelsea's official website.

There is no doubt Deco brings experience as before joining Barcelona he captured The UEFA cup in 2003 as well as a champions league title in 2004 with FC Porto of Portugal.

30 year old Ánderson Luís de Souza (Deco) Joins Chelsea FC bringing along with his two titles; 54 international caps and 4 international goals for Portugal and 45 league goals over the past nine years while splitting his 260 league appearences over that period with FC Porto (148 apps) and Barcelona (112 apps).

Toronto FC: Looking for Help in a BIG way

Brad Kelly — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:48:28 -0400

Toronto FC was battered and beaten once again on the road, dropping to a 6-4-3 record this season. Toronto was defeated by the New England Revolution 2-1 Saturday evening with the only bright spot of the performance coming from the Revolution's Steve Ralston who netted two goals in the match.

FC came out hard in the first 15 minutes of the match only to be scored on in the twelfth minute by Ralston who popped in a rebound from Adam Cristman's header. Toronto was well-beaten in a match where they struggled to retain possession with stars such as Laurent Robert, Marvel Wynne and Armondo Guevara providing many costly turnovers in the match.

In the 59th minute Ralston banged in another rebound for his second of the night and sixth in 16 games this year for New England. Toronto did provide some history as Mo Adu headed home FC's first ever goal at Gillette Stadium in the 78th minute; although, that wouldn't prove to help much as Toronto went on to concede defeat for the fourth time this year.

Toronto FC is still unbeaten in eight games at home this season but they have had no such success on the road and with the mid-season transfer table soon to open up talks of improvement have begun.

FC are now in talks with Scottish international and Manchester City Forward Paul Dickov. Thirty-five year old Dickov has had a yo-yoing career to say the least but he's always a player who takes the pitch to give a 100% effort. Spending the 2006-2007 season struggling through injury, Dickov has defied naysayers in 2008 with a successful loan at Blackpool.

He said: "It's been a new lease of life joining Blackpool and it's great for me. I know people go on about my age and I know before I came here there were a lot of clubs that looked at me and maybe thought my legs had gone. I like to think I'm proving quite a few people wrong about that."

Dickov has had a successful career wherever he has played for the most part. He's been capped with clubs such as Arsenal where he had 4 goals in 15 appearances, Leicester City where he saw the pitch 81 times and potted 32 goals, he scored 14 times in 44 appearances with Blackburn Rovers.

Most recently he had six goals in seven appearances for Blackpool and he has proved to be a seasoned vet by scoring 35 times while wearing the City Blues where he played in 117 matches. Paul Dickov is getting much deserved interest from Toronto FC who could use a high scoring, hard working vetern such as Dickov.

Dickov is not the only name being tossed around in Toronto as the speculation of Sunderland teammates Ross Wallace and Liam Miller echo loud. Both midfielders, Wallace and Miller are believed to be out of favor at Sunderland and FC is believed to be looking to them to strengthen their bench and the middle of the park.

Bryan McCabe, the Heat Is On

Brad Kelly — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:13:14 -0400

Big-contract blueliner Bryan McCabe is being forced out of T-dot.

McCabe, 33, has spent the last eight years under contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, playing as a top-four defensemen with the club for seven of the past eight seasons as well as playing as a first-liner with HV71 of the Swedish Elite League during the lockout.

There is no doubt that McCabe is a top-quality player, but fans and new management in Toronto believe he is being overpaid and they are looking to pinch their pennies.

McCabe has for the past year been the itch the Maple Leafs could not scratch, refusing to wave his no-trade clause. But it now seems the Leafs have a clever solution.

Management in Toronto say that McCabe will not be bought out of his contract, which has three years remaining at $5.75 million per season. But he also will not return to the NHL in Leafs' blue and white.

It's said that the pricey McCabe has played his final game as a Leaf. While the Maple Leafs' will not buy him out of the final three years of his contract, they won't be inviting him back to the team, either. This move is made in an effort to force McCabe to waive his no-trade clause.

Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher is doing quite the opposite of what John Ferguson, Jr. did during his years at the helm. Instead of going on a spending spree, Fletcher is looking for refunds.

He is demolishing all the bagage left behind by Ferguson, recently unloading fan-favorite Darcy Tucker and creating major spectulation about the man who now seems to be nothing more than a former Leafs captain, Mats Sundin.

Fletcher is looking to drop the bomb on McCabe by boarding up the doors and saying "Get out of town."

Still, he won't do anything without some return for McCabe, so now all that can be done by the blueliner is waive the no-trade or take a nice break.