Sitting in the almighty cubicle at work, I began pondering things that were decidedly less work like and wondered to myself where some of our favorite players could/should end up in the summer transfer window. Granted there are many Americans playing the beautiful game across the pond, but I chose to focus my energies on the select few, battling relegation/lack of contract offers in the Premiership.

Cory Gibbs

Cory, Cory, Cory……Unfortunately I don’t think you have much of a choice, seeing as how you haven’t played but a game or two for the Addicks since signing last summer. And, I think those games were preseason. Actually I think I’m completely off and you’ve been Addicks property for two years now and still have yet to get a run of games in.

Either way since not many people have gotten a look at you I don’t think anyone will be knocking your door down. I think your best bet is to sit tight. If Charlton survive to fight another year in the Premiership, yay for you, and if not manhandling the children down in the Championship would be a good way to get a midseason loan, or better a permanent, move back into the top flight.

Nick’s Pick: Stay where you are

Oguchi Onyewu

Gooch, what the hell have you done to yourself?!? As stated in a Yanks Abroad article the move to Newcastle was dumb. I thought it was a good idea at the time, as you could step in and solidify the Magpies D, but instead you had a couple of ok showings and then got dropped. Not that this is entirely your fault because as we all know Newcastle’s central defenders are woeful and we understand that you didn’t want to embarrass them by bitch-slapping the Wayne Rooneys and Thierry Henrys of the league around. So… where to from here? I would say that you should weigh your options wisely this off-season, and by that I mean seriously consider your growth when moving. Don’t just try to land at the biggest club possible because one of two things will happen; 1) No PT while they’re grooming you, or 2) Baptism by Fire, which could stunt your confidence and growth. I would think that you should be able to land at most any club that needs a defender but consider who their main defensive pairing for the coming season will be, if either of the two defenders is named Titus Bramble, RUN. Make sure the coach has been around for a few years, or was a defender in the past.

The Riverside isn’t looking so bad now is it???? If ‘Boro will take you back I say jump at the chance, after stumbling out of the gates they have righted their ship and look set to stay mid-table for another few seasons. Plus you have Jonathan Woddgate and Gareth Southgate there to help you achieve your potential.

Reading would be a dream move for you at this point, but they may not want to shake too much up considering the success they had this year.

Ledley King at Tottenham has been struggling with fitness for most of the year, meaning Martin Jol may be looking to pick up a center back for added cover. This move might be what you were expecting out of Newcastle: a team on the up and consistently challenging for a spot in Europe. ManCity might also be looking to replace Sylvain Distain who was speculated to be on the out before the beginning of this past season. If Citeh are interested this move would take a lot of pressure off of you, since they’re stoked if they can achieve 10^th or better.

For your confidence’s sake I would suggest a move to the Bundesliga where the style of play more closely suits your own; you’ll get to lock horns with some of the biggest and toughest forwards in the world. However, I still think you should stay in the Premiership and learn to play the faster tempo game. Against Ecuador you were exposed to be a touch slower than their forwards, and since the US rarely plays games against European opposition you need to work on this aspect of your game first: for personal and national team success.

Nick’s Pick: Middelsbrough

Eddie Lewis

Eddie Lewis, what is there to say about you? You jumped that sinking Preston North End ship just in time for Leeds’s rise back into the glory days of Premiership football. Just kidding Eddie.

Since Leeds is going down, again, I would suggest coming back home. While you still may have a few years left at the highest level, the trend in the Premiership is towards younger wingers. Not quite sure about what Championship teams need, but if you can find one that wants your services more power to you. Of all of the players I think you could come back home to the MLS and make quite an impact over the next few years; not only on your club team, but also by setting an example for the burgeoning young wingers coming up through the MLS ranks.

Where would I like to see you go? I think it would be hilarious to see you in Los Angeles. You were once touted as the American, left-footed David Beckham so how cool would it be to see the two of you bombing down the wings and crossing the ball back and forth to each other. I say that because I’m not sure LA has the requisite type of forward to benefit from either of your services. I think Eddie Johnson could sure use your services in “Enter European City Name Here” (inside joke between the Seven Guys short writers). In the one Kansas City game that I watched this year they performed well, but every offensive ball they played was on the floor. I’m a fan of controlled passing and one touch football, but I recognize the need for another form of attack. Eddie Lewis on the wing would provide the Wizards with the ability to cross the ball from the wings (mind you I’m not saying they don’t possess a winger that can do this, I’m just saying I haven’t seen one).

I think Kenny Cooper and Dallas could also benefit from your industry on the flanks. The heir-apparent to McTarget forward on the National team would be terrorizing defenses even more if he was able to get regular aerial service in the box. I realize that Ronnie O’Brien fills this role on the right side, but he’s been battling injury problems for the last part of last season, and you can never have too many wingers when you have a beast and a poacher running your front line.

New York might also be a good place for you to land, reuniting with Captain America, Clint Mathis, and DaBruce and singing “The Gang’s All Here” might be fun. You could mentor Marvell Wyne, if he’s still there, on how to cross the ball, and provide the width New York were in desperate need of last Thursday night.

Nick’s Pick: Dallas

DaMarcus Beasley

Apparently DaMarcus’s good run of form has not been good enough to secure him a contract for next season, though it could still happen. If it doesn’t and he ends up in the unemployment line I don’t think he’ll have as hard of a time finding a job in England as Onyewu will. In fact I think Beasley would give Gooch’s soon-to-be former employers an interesting option. When needed Beasley can play the left winger in a 4-3-3, as he showed at PSV, with Duff, Owen or Martins, and Beasley running roughshod up front for Newcastle would give them one of the fastest front lines in the world. DaMarcus can also play the outside midfielder in a 4-4-2, if Newcastle wants to give Antoine Sibierski a run out. However, as has been stated above Newcastle is not a good place to be right now, nor anytime in the near future.

Manchester United could always use a Ryan Giggs replacement and a fitting compliment to Christiano Ronaldo. The problem is; I’m almost positive that DaBease does not meet the ridiculously high standards of ManU, but then again they do have Darren Fletcher.

Chelsea have a habit of purchasing speedy wing players and then sitting them on the bench for obscene amounts of time, but again I’m not sure he meets the benchwarming standards of Chelsea.

Fulham (Premiership version) would be a good fit, because as I’ve pontificated so often in this space, they need to play the ball out wide as much as possible, and Beasley would give them a Wayne Routledge replacement, should he not remain at the Cottage.

Fulham (Championship version) might be a great fit for Beasley even though the level of competition will drop, think of what it could do for his confidence, see Bobby Convey the year before this past one.

Charlton (either version) are in need of something aside from Darren Bent, so this might not be a bad time to link up with your best friend in Cory Gibbs.

Everyone else, in the Premiership anyways, seems to either have wingers or not utilize them.

Nick’s Pick: Charlton or Manchester City

Jonathan Spector

While the move to West Ham initially seemed like a good idea, it has now, sadly, gone down hill. With the arrival of Spector’s former manager, who hardly played him at Charlton, Spector’s time with the Hammer’s first team has grown increasingly more limited.

A move back to The Valley might be in order, where he could reunite with Alan Pardew, who bought him from ManUtd, and at least have a fighting chance to make the squad. Though, if West Ham succumb to Relegation’s tentacles most of the talent that considers themselves too good to play Championship Footie will jump ship. This would give Spector the run-out he needs to gain experience and hopefully cement his place when/if West Ham return to the Prem, but it would also mean the team is less capable of returning to the top flight in a timely fashion. The same could be said for the move to Charlton.

I don’t think going down would be the worst thing in the world for the young defender, but personally, I think he’s too good for the Championship. When he has seen some extended time out on the field for both club and country he has acquitted himself well, and if not for an injury late last term, may have made an appearance or two in the World Cup.

The problem is that he’s an overall defender, and when teams shop for defenders they want the guys who can specialize in something. Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Gary Neville, Patrice Evra, Ashley Cole, etc. all make overlapping runs and have incredible speed, while the likes of Paolo Maldini, Nemanja Vidic, Daniel Van Buyten, Sol Campbell, John Terry, Jamie Carragher, etc. are all large, stalwart defenders who don’t take shit from anyone. While Spector is still young and can develop into the latter, he doesn’t posses the speed to raise eyebrows. So if he’s going to move some manager has to say to himself: “I need me a meat and potatoes kind of guy who can play anywhere along the back line.”

Nick’s pick: Move to Charlton

Brian McBride

If I were Brian McBride, I would lay down an ultimatum to Fulham: “Either we start playing the down the flanks and crossing a little more, or I’m outta here.” His situation is delicate because he’s too valuable of a weapon to waste his last English season away in the Championship, however his age and do anything for the team attitude tell me he’ll stay with Fulham even if they go down. Since the inception of time and Fulham Football Club (or just since I’ve been following them), they have continued to under-utilize their leading scorer as well as his side-kick Helguson.

If Fulham do manage to beat the drop, I don’t foresee Bake packing his bags. But, if they do go down there are precious few target forwards in the Premiership; leading me to believe he won’t have a problem finding work. Since there are so many teams who could use a forward like him I’ll make my comments in laundry list format:

Manchester United – The Reds haven’t had a true target forward for as long as I can remember, and with a couple of Withdrawn Strikers in Rooney and Saha, McBride would be very useful. Granted, United don’t really play the target forward style of offense, but it might be a nice change of tactics if the “Fun and Gun” game-plan is not succeeding (see last night in Milan). I seriously doubt McBride would interest Sir Alex, as he has shown he prefers slighter speedier players. But it can’t hurt to dream about an American making a huge impact at one of the largest clubs in the world, can it?

Everton – The other Liverpool team could also benefit from a target forward as the 3 year James Beattie experiment is still proving futile. Andy Johnson is quite capable of creating something from nothing and Everton’s propensity for a 4-5-1 formation would leave very little room for McBride. Plus, they have a few talented up and comers. However, McBride’s yeoman-like work ethic fits with the Toffee’s style.

Reading – Kevin Doyle aside I’m not sure Reading has any strikers. Every time I watch them play the ball seems to mysteriously find its way over the line and into the net, but no one really knows how. Reading’s style of play would be a good fit for a target player, but I’m not sure that he would benefit Reading, unless it’s in a Teddy Sherringham type role. Plus, think they have this guy with orange shoes or something, named Leroy Lita, who appears to be their target. That is, if he’s ever healthy again.

Manchester City – Citeh desperately needs a forward who can put the ball in the back of the net. DMB is outscoring two of their “forwards” for God’s Sake!!! Samaras and Corradi both possess the physical attributes of a target forward, and may end up being wonderful players if given a little bit of time to adjust and develop, which would make McBride surplus to requirements, but in the ‘Win now at all costs’ mentality of the Premiership ManCity may be looking come summer.

Wigan and Sheffield United – I don’t know much about either of these teams, but it would appear they could both use some help in the scoring department. I do know that Wigan likes to play the long ball which is perfect for McTarget, but since they’re doing just as well as Fulham and look like candidates for relegation next year too (with Fulham and Sheffield United) I wouldn’t suggest going there.

MLS – Any team in MLS would love to welcome home a 3-time World Cup veteran but his heart lies in Chicago and Columbus. If he does decide to come back, MLS would have to splash the cash since he re-upped his deal for another year. Columbus could definitely use the press since they continue to find a way to fall further and further off the radar. Chicago may not need him, but since when have they been intelligent about who they sign? Bringing the hometown boy back would definitely be a coup; however, I don’t think they’d want to pay a transfer fee and another designated player salary after signing Culo Grande from Club America.

Nick’s pick: Fulham (Premiership version) or Everton.

Carlos Bocanegra

‘Los is another “meat and potatoes” kind of guy who can play anywhere along the back four and even some defensive midfielder role, ala Claude Makelele with more of a battleship mentality. He can also put the ball in the back of the net on dead-ball situations, which raises his stock quite a bit higher than Spector’s. He has 5 goals this season, which puts him second on Fulham behind McBride, which either speaks volumes about his ability to find the open spaces, or Fulham’s strikers lack of ability to find the open spaces. I’m 50-50 on that one.

In my opinion Bocanegra is too experienced and talented to play in the Championship and should seek out a move to another team, if Fulham go the way of the buffalo. Again, we run into the problem of which manager in the Prem wakes up on June 1^st and says “I need some meat and potatoes.” I’m sure it won’t be many, though Villa can’t keep counting on Olaf Melberg forever.

Nick’s pick: Fulham (Premiership version), Villa, or ManCity

Clint Dempsey

The Deuce is finally fit and seeing snippets of playing time in the all but doomed Fulham squad. As I’ve said before on this wonderful medium of communication, I think Dempsey could benefit from Fulham going down. Many of the seasoned vets who can’t take the hack-a-Shaq style employed by the Championship midfielders will jump ship to teams in other leagues or try to get on in the Premiership. This will open up lots of playing time for young Clint to gain a solid understanding of life in England, as well allow him to cement his place in the team, or not.

If Fulham can make an expeditious return then Dempsey would hopefully be the first choice for his position when that time comes. If they can’t battle back up, and he’s making an impact it would seem likely to me that he’d be able to find his way onto a yo-yo team like Sunderland or some mid table Premiership team.

All of that type of speculation is a year premature. In the meantime I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head that uses a formation that would suit a player like Deuce. Therefore…

Nick’s pick: Stay where you are

Jay DeMerit

I will confess that I haven’t caught that many Watford matches, and when I have I couldn’t look past the harsh glare of their Ketchup and Mustard swirl kits to find Jay DeMerit.

The few times I have seen him, was in replays of the other team scoring a goal. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they were his fault. According to other people that I read and talk to, DeMerit has not done badly for himself in his first stint in the Premiership.

So well in fact, that these people also think, or wish, that he was a Premiership caliber defender. I’m not sure about that one, but then again I’m not sure about having seen much of Demerit, either. So, to best suit his needs I think he needs to follow my recommendations for Gooch (above); find a team with a veteran coach, and at least one veteran central defender so that you may learn your craft a little better.

That being said, I’m not sure who the Championship teams that will be promoted are going to be, but I think Birmingham will be one of them, and they’ve been a halfway decent side in their recent foray into the top flight. However, this does not always guarantee a crack at the starting 11, and you’ll probably facing the same relegation dog fight again.

Nick’s pick: Play your ass off in the Copa America, and the Gold Cup and earn your way into a lower mid-table Prem side.