The Atiba Situation

[Guest Can. in UK]

Latest Atiba rumours from SkySports: (in referecne to Dallas interest)

"While not many specific names have been bandied about as possible targets by The Burn, Elliott went on record with the team's interest in Canadian youth midfielder Atiba Hutchinson. The 20-year-old has just returned from a set of trials in Europe, including two in Russia and one with Serie A club Udinese. Hutchinson is currently under contract with Swedish club Osters, and would require a transfer fee, thus taking an allocation for The Burn to acquire him.

According to the player's agent Barry MacLean in a report from the Canadian Press, D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy also have interest in Hutchinson.

The talented defensive midfielder helped his cause by making the all-tournament team in last November's Under-20 World Youth Championships. Hutchinson is expected to be a key contributor to Canada's push for Olympic qualifying next month in Mexico, where he will face the Under-23 side for the United States in group play."

[Dandal]

Atiba will turn down Saturn, says Öster director Ola Rydén to a local newspaper today. He's afraid that he could be forgotten over there and doesn't feel that a move to Russia is the right step in his career right now. But this doesn't mean that he is now set for another season in Sweden. He has other options and there are still ten days left before the transfer window close.

[Grizzly]

Maybe this is moot because Atiba has turned Saturn down but I have spent a fair bit of time in Moscow and was briefly in Dallas and lived 3 years in the US. Today I looked at international crime statistics on the interpol website and the rate of almost every property and violent crime is significantly higher in the US than in Russia. For example, the average per capita murder rate in the following cities from 1998-2000.

New York 8.77

Washington, D.C. 45.79

Moscow 18.20

Ottawa 0.98

In addition, the Russian figures include attempted murder whereas the American and Canadian only include successfully committed murders. Were the Russians to remove the unsuccessful murder attempts the rate would surely be much lower. I don't know whether Dallas is nearer to the New York or Washington rate but even New York is almost 9 times that of Ottawa. I am not trying to say that Russia is a safe country, only that in my opinion having lived in both countries that the U.S. is at the least as dangerous as Russia if not moreso. Thus I don't see the sense of turning down an offer from a good team in a good league that would probably pay well to accept an offer with an inferior team in an inferior league in a country with many of the same negatives that one would find in Russia. Atiba has apparently turned down Saturn but has another offer on the table. If this offer is from Dallas and he accepts it I would definitely be disappointed and think that it is a poor move. If it was for example from a Dutch or Portugese team where there is a good league, a safe country and one would have a lot of exposure to scouts in other leagues, I might agree that this may be a better move for him. I am not criticizing the level of the MLS either, I agree with Crazy Yank's assessment and might even place it higher than he does. But the Swedish league is not that far off that level either while the Russian is definitely superior. A poster on the other board stated that Atiba had problems adapting to the Swedish life and language and wanted to play in an english speaking country. This does surprise me from what I have heard about Sweden (never actually been there). I think Oesters is in a fairly small town though so maybe this is the reason and if he had trouble adapting to Sweden he should definitely not move to Russia.

[Dandal]

When the bid from Saturn came, Öster's management commented that apart from that, they had two actual offers for Atiba. One of them is swedish premier side Helsingborgs IF, the other supposed to be a danish team, probably Aalborg (danish premier). As far as I've been able to pick up no north american clubs have been in negotiations with Öster.

My personal guess is that Atiba probably will end up in Helsingborg. They seem pretty keen for one, they have posted several deadlines for his decision, but are still openly interested despite Atiba's unability to answer to those deadlines. Helsingborg has also proven to be a good step stone to continental teams. This is where Henrik Larsson (of Celtic fame) played when he left Sweden and several Öster players has played here a year or two before moving on to mainly Bundesliga teams.

[Dandal]

Ok, I think this is the end of it:

Atiba Hutchinson signed a three year deal with swedish premier side Helsingborgs IF tonight. "There's been a lot of talk, but I feel I've made the right decision and I'm happy to have made it. I'm sure I will get on well here" he said. Expectations with the Helsingborg fans are high. "I feel a certain pressure", Atiba says, "you always do when you sign for a new club. But most of them saw me last season and know what I can do". He also added that Helsingborg's squad for the upcoming season "looks promising".

Helsingborg's head coach Peter Swärdh said that they've been following Atiba over the whole last year and he was satisfied to get "an exciting player" to the team. "He's got both attacking and defensive qualities, but most of all a great potential". "Hopefully he'll take another step with Helsingborg. We will bcome a better team."

[Grizzly]

I guess this will be no surprise to anyone but I am disappointed in this. Helsingborg in the last few years has been pretty mediocre, usually finishing between 3rd and 6th (last year). Thus his chances of playing in a European Cup are probably lower than with Saturn. I think Saturn has a good shot at a Cup spot next (they probably would have made it this year had they not fired their coach 5 games before the end of the season) and Russia has more Cup places than Sweden. And while two or three Swedish teams might be near the level of Saturn, possibly Helsingborg if they have made significant signings, the Russian league has 16 teams at this level and he would be regularly facing much stronger opposition. Basically he is staying at the same level with a better club, not much of a step forward. While noone knows the real reasons for this decision, considering the possibilities that seemed to open after the U20-WC, if none of the big four possibilities panned out, I would have felt better if he had signed to play in a stronger second tier league. At his age I think it is important to play as soon as possible in the strongest league possible. The only positive I can see with Helsingborg is that they may be more open to transfers and less likely to try to hold onto him than Saturn. I sure hope he doesn't play out the three year length of this contract in Sweden.

[beachesl]

It may be a backward step, but probably one he is comfortable with. I don't know much about his personal situation, but it can be soul-bending to keep changing cultures. Probably as interesting and challenging as Russia was, he probably wasn't ready to make anohter adjustment. This is perhaps the biggest factor for the future

[marcl_19]

to be honest i dont see it as a backward step. Sure he had some chances with bigger clubs, but hes in the same league as he was last year, not a team that got relagated into the 2nd div. So as long as he has a regular spot in the 1st 11 (preferably as a midfeilder, not a fullback).

[SeanKeay]

I think this is a good step for Atiba. He has a better club to play for and he looks like he will be one of the teams go to guys. He has already is adjusted to the Swedish lifestyle and if he can have a few more strong seasons in Sweden then it is time to make the big move.

[Dandal]

I agree with beachesl that it probably was important for Atiba to find a solution that he personally was comfortable with. In an interview today he said "I get on really well here in the swedish league, otherwise I wouldn't stay. I hope this is a good place for me to develop".

On the russian alternative (and remember, he never visited Russia) he said "I didn't feel it was the right place for me. I'm young and it didn't feel like it would have benefit my career. I didn't feel comfortable moving to Russia either. It seemed a bit dangerous."

So he chose the known and comfortable instead of the unknown and challenging. I can't say I blame him. The kid is only 20 and he's picked a club with a good track record when it comes to develop players for the continental leagues. But I doubt he'll stay all the three years.

[Mimglow]

quote:Originally posted by Dandal

I agree with beachesl that it probably was important for Atiba to find a solution that he personally was comfortable with. In an interview today he said "I get on really well here in the swedish league, otherwise I wouldn't stay. I hope this is a good place for me to develop".

On the russian alternative (and remember, he never visited Russia) he said "I didn't feel it was the right place for me. I'm young and it didn't feel like it would have benefit my career. I didn't feel comfortable moving to Russia either. It seemed a bit dangerous."

So he chose the known and comfortable instead of the unknown and challenging. I can't say I blame him. The kid is only 20 and he's picked a club with a good track record when it comes to develop players for the continental leagues. But I doubt he'll stay all the three years.

Another positive: We can look forward to 3 more season of reporting from our man on the ground, DANDAL!! [^]

[beachesl]

Where in Sweden do you live, Dandal? On the southwest coast near Helsingborg (where you could see Atiba often), or elsewhere?

What club do you support there?

Thanks for keeping us updated!

[Canuck Oranje]

Don't expect Atiba to stay for three years. I would assume the reason for a three year contract is for the club to gain some benefit when he moves on. I would expect him to move on after one or two years allowing Helsingborg collect a transfer fee.

I also wonder if Osters retains an interest in any further move especially since it is unlikely they received as much as they would have with a Russian transfer?

[Grizzly]

I am not saying it is a step backwards, only that it is not a very big step forward. Nor am I saying that he should have played in Russia if he was uncomfortable moving there. He should have checked it out himself though, it is only a 60-90 minute flight from Stockholm to Moscow, thus quite easy and inexpensive. If I was his agent, I would have tried to establish contact with some good Portugese, Dutch, Belgian, Greek, Turkish (I guess if he didn't want to go to Russia he might not want to live in Turkey either but at least he visited it) or 2nd Bundesliga teams in case nothing worked out with the bigger teams. There is an enormous number of teams from northern leagues that train in Turkey in January so tryouts would be very easy as he was there already. These leagues would certainly help him to prepare more for future opportunities with bigger clubs. I think if you took the top half A-league teams and the lower half MLS teams you would have a league about the same level as the Swedish. I am not trying to knock the Swedish league which has helped a number of our players, but a 20 year old of his potential should be playing at a higher level if he has the opportunity. While it is certainly his perogative to decide what is most important to him, if I were a 20 year old player of his ability I think I would take a few more risks to further my career.

[Dandal]

First a little multimedia for those of you interested, there is 2 minutes from Helsingborg's press conference with mr Hutchinson earlier today in this clip from the local TV news in Öster's home town (Växjö), starts at about 15 min 50 sec into the clip: http://www.svt.se/vaxjo/smalandsnytt/1910_hi.ram . This clip will only be up for 24 hours. The Helsingborg version of the same press conference is at http://www.svt.se/malmo/sydnytt/nyawebben/onsdag1910_hi.ram . Atiba starts at about 16:50. Don't worry about the swedish language parts, they're not saying anything you don't know. Interviews with Atiba is in english.

The most common guess is that Helsingborg paid about US$400K, less than half of Saturn's offer. Öster's management says that Öster's retainer was the hardest part to get to an agreement on, but they were very satisfied with the outcome. So my guess is that a fix sum and/or a substantial part of the next transfer fee will go to Öster in exchange for the rather modest fee paid now.

To beachesl; yes, I live in the southwest. I've got 4 swedish premier teams (and a couple of danish) within easy commuting distance. I like them all (correction, I've got a problem with FCK from Copenhagen, don't know why but I like to see them lose), which of course means I'm not a fan in the fundamentalist sense of the word. Helsingborg is a nice town, stadium within walking distance from the city centre and ferrys that will take you to Denmark (Elsinore, home of Hamlet) in 15 minutes. I'll probably get my fair share of Atiba this season.

And gee, Mimglow, thank's [:I]

[Cheeta]

quote:Originally posted by beachesl

It may be a backward step, but probably one he is comfortable with. I don't know much about his personal situation, but it can be soul-bending to keep changing cultures. Probably as interesting and challenging as Russia was, he probably wasn't ready to make anohter adjustment. This is perhaps the biggest factor for the future

Agree completely except the bit about a step backward. Not altogether sure another campain or two in Sweden wouldn't be anything but helpful. Atiba might feel differently as he was looking abroad (ie outside Sweden) for a new home, but it's odviously to me at least, he must be much more comfortable with Sweden than he is with Russia.

The 1st world Swedish welfare state has to be a lot less alien to the man than a post-Yeltsin Russia. Hope to see his star rise out of the Swedish footballing league over the next couple of years. A confident (and developing) Hutchison joining our World Cup squad in Germany can't but add to our midfield.