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Canadian Strike Duo(Friend&Johnson) in Heerenveen


Grizzly

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Thanks to Lanegan for the tip. Checked about Friend on the club website and not only is Friend's signing substantiated it seems as if Johnson has also signed as well. All of a sudden lots of Canadians in Holland (just like old times) and as much as Scandanavia has helped us Holland will be even better. As much as I can understand of Dutch between English and German, Johnson has signed for 1 year with a club option to extend it for a further 2 years. Friend will sign for a 4 year contract after he passes the medical exam with a club option for 1 more year. Looks like Heerenveen is betting on getting some future transfer fees from them. I think this is a much better option for Friend than Crystal Palace.

sc Heerenveen zoekt het in Canada

31 maart 2006

sc Heerenveen heeft deze week Will Johnson vastgelegd. Johnson is 19 jaar en afkomstig van de Amerikaanse club Chicago Fire, uitkomend in de Major League Soccer. Johnson is een snelle, multifunctionele aanvaller, die op alle posities voorin uit de voeten kan. Hij geldt in eigen land als een groot talent en is een vaste waarde in Canada U 21. Ondanks zijn jeugdige leeftijd heeft hij ook drie A-interlands achter zijn naam staan.

Johnson werkte de laatste weken een oefenstage af op voorspraak van Heerenveen-speler Michael Bradley, die hem van de MLS kende. Johnson heeft een contract getekend voor één seizoen met daarin een optie voor de club om het contract met nog eens twee seizoenen te verlengen.

sc Heerenveen heeft daarnaast overeenstemming bereikt met de Canadese international Rob Friend. Friend geldt als de vast spits van het Canadese nationale team en komt op dit moment uit voor het Noorse Molde FK, de club van Daniel Berg Hestad. Ook met zijn club bestaat overeenstemming over de transfersom.

De Canadees, 25 jaar oud, 1.93 meter en kopsterk, scoorde vorig seizoen 11 maal voor Molde. Rob Friend kwam tot dusverre 6 maal uit voor zijn land. Hij kwam in 2003 naar Noorwegen om voor het Noorse Moss uit te komen. Molde nam hem in 2004 over. In Amerika speelde hij voor de University of California. Friend wordt vandaag medisch gekeurd en zal bij goedkeuring een contract voor vier jaar tekenen met een optie voor de club om het contract met één jaar te verlengen.

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Well, the Dutch do like Canadians! This is better than giving Ottawa Tulips.

Both players should benefit from playing in Holland and work well together (one's tall, the other is small and fast - a slightly poorer version of Hume/Occean). The Canadian team might also benefit by having a potential strike team which will possess something the MNT usually lacks: chemistry. With this strike pair in Holland, 3-4 Canucks in Houston, and any transfer activity in Norway that unites Canadian players, the MNT might be well on its way to having real chemistry before MLS even arrives in Toronto.

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More from SkySports:

Frisians snap up Canadian

Heerenveen have signed Canadian international striker Will Johnson to a pre-contract agreement for next season.

The 19-year-old will join the Eredivisie club on an initial one-year contract from the beginning of July, with the club Dutch club having the option of extending the youngster's deal for another two seasons beyond that.

Johnson's impending move to the Abe Lenstra Stadion comes after the Toronto, Ontario-born player opted against signing a new deal with his former club in American Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire.

On the recommendation of Heerenveen's American midfielder Michael Bradley, Frisians boss Gertjan Verbeek handed the talented teenager a trial with the club earlier this month.

He has since gone on to impress the Dutch club with his abilities and earn himself a move into the European game for next season.

The striker told skysports.com of his delight at making the move to Holland and Heerenveen.

"I am very excited to be joining a club like Heerenveen," Johnson said.

"It is a big step up from the MLS and it will only make me a better player playing in a league like the Dutch First Division.

"All of the players and staff at the club made me feel welcome from the first day and made it an easy choice to sign without looking at other interests around Europe.

"I really look forward to pushing myself over there and furthering my career over in Europe.

"It is a very exciting time for me and I plan to make the best of this opportunity over in Holland."

In Johnson, Heerenveen have acquired a player of emerging talent, with the attacker having appeared for Canada's Under-20 side at last year's World Youth Championships in Holland.

He has gone to earn three senior caps with Frank Yallop's full Canada squad, with the latest being a late substitute appearance in a 2-0 friendly over Austria in Vienna on March 1.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by jonovision

Let's rattle off the Canadian contingent in tulip country, shall we:

Friend and Johnson at Heerenveen, Wagenaar at Den Haag, De Guzman at Feyenoord, De Jong at Helmond Sport.

I feel like I'm missing a few. Perhaps some youth players?

Is it Ramalho at Groningen?

Have we heard anything more about De Jong getting a transfer to Roda? I would imagine, in any case, that it may depend on his team promoting into top flight, they need to get a win tonight or next week to assure the playoff.

Not only do I think the quality is better in Holland, as ball skills are more important than the sheer force they sometimes overemphasize in Norway, but it is a league that is watched closely by the big ones, there are plenty of coaches all over the world, and the player agent situation is strong as well.

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quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Have we heard anything more about De Jong getting a transfer to Roda? I would imagine, in any case, that it may depend on his team promoting into top flight, they need to get a win tonight or next week to assure the playoff.

There's an article on De Jong on the official Roda JC website: http://www.rodajc.nl/default.asp. Unfortunately I can't read Dutch.

And I think I heard a rumour that he was supposed to sign today.

Edit: Babelfish says that he's signing a 4-year deal today. Don't quote me on that though.

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The article:

Marcel de Jong speelt vanaf volgend seizoen bij Roda JC

Marcel de Jong tekent morgen een 4-jarig contract bij Roda JC. De middenvelder komt nu nog uit voor Helmond Sport.

De 19-jarige De Jong is geboren in Canada, maar heeft ook een Nederlands paspoort. Bij Helmond Sport speelde Marcel de Jong in twee seizoenen 48 wedstrijden en scoorde daarin 6 maal.

The meaning:

Babelfish seems to have done an alright job for you. The headline reads that de Jong will play for Roda JC beginning next season. He signed a 4-year contract. The final paragraph reads that he was born in Canada, but holds a Dutch passport (which I think undersells his Dutch-ness). He played in 48 games over two seasons with Helmond Sport, scoring 6 times.

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From the Palace messageboard:

"According to media reports the transfer fee was 16 mill NOK, that's just over £1 mill! A really high fee that, especially when you consider that he in July (when he is going to Herenveen) has only got 4 months left of his contract! Supposedly also a further % of next sale also in the transfer deal. Good deal by Molde!"

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by sstackho

From the Palace messageboard:

"According to media reports the transfer fee was 16 mill NOK, that's just over £1 mill! A really high fee that, especially when you consider that he in July (when he is going to Herenveen) has only got 4 months left of his contract! Supposedly also a further % of next sale also in the transfer deal. Good deal by Molde!"

That is such a high fee, if true, for such a club, that you would have to wonder if there are some future considerations in there, or maybe a friendly to be played at Molde, to compensate.

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This is fantastic news for Friend. It seemed like yesterday that he was struggling against relegation and injuries in the Norwegian second tier with Moss.

It is nice to see that the rumours have subsided and a club actually stepped up with a solid offer. Better move than either Crystal Palace or Valerenga, IMHO.

In the past year all of our major strikers (and then some) have moved to larger clubs.

The next Canuck to make a move to a larger club: Bernier

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quote:Originally posted by sstackho

From the Palace messageboard:

"According to media reports the transfer fee was 16 mill NOK, that's just over £1 mill! A really high fee that, especially when you consider that he in July (when he is going to Herenveen) has only got 4 months left of his contract! Supposedly also a further % of next sale also in the transfer deal. Good deal by Molde!"

[:0]

Bloody Hell.

If that number is even half true that's a damned good fee all things considered. A damn good fee. Wow. Quite the vote of confidense by Heerenveen in Friend's potential. Or just as likely Friend's value was driven up by competing bids. Either way both cases are flattering testiments and very positive feedback from the football world at large.

Ha. Great news for Johnson too. Chicago can go and blow their $30K out their ass.

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Guest Jeffery S.

I heard today that Holland has changed their Champion's League qualification system, so that apart from the league winner the 2nd spot goes to the winner of a playoff between the next four teams. Odd that this decision seems to have been made with Ajax in 5th, but there you go. Maybe the decision was made before Ajax was playing poorly, I don't know.

In any case, even though Heerenveen lost today, they are just a point behind Ajax with the latter's weekend game pending. Meaning that Friend and Johnson would have an outside chance at Champions next season depending on what their future teammates can do in the next weeks.

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  • 4 months later...

http://www.sc-heerenveen.nl/web/show/id=41682

Friend and Johnson are both listed on the SC Heerenveen 27 players roster for the start of the season. They will battle with 5 others forwards for the starting spots. We can expect Johnson to be playing with the reserves and maybe their youth team (if they have an U-19 or U-21 team) but I hope to see Friend getting a starting role with the first team.

Good season to both of them!!!

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I don't know if the team has a new manager or not but they played a 4-3-3 last season, which could bode well for playing opportunities.

Plus, three of last season's four top scorers (Huntelaar, Samaras and Bruggink) seem to haved moved on.

If jersey numbers mean anything (a big if); Yildirim (#7), Friend (#9) and Nilsson (#10 - 2nd top scorer '05-'06) might be slated as first choice starters.

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I suspect you will see 4-3-3 again this year. At least that is what they played against Zwolle today. Heerenveen's three pricey signings this year are Friend (4,500,000 Euros), Alfonso Alves (4,500,000 Euros from Malmo) and Gonzalo Garcia-Garcia (1,000,000 Euros from Apeldoorn and before Real Madrid B) are all listed as Strikers on www.transfermarkt.de but Alves played as a midfielder today if Heerenveen's website is correct. Nilson may still be the odd man out.

Heerenveen has become a solid midtable club over the past 15 years and maybe progressively moving up. As for youth development, I think all that needs to be said is that long-time trainer Foppe de Haan retired to be the Dutch National Youth coach and the current team includes Jeroeon Drost, Gianni Zuiverloorn, Michael Bradley, and Will Johnson. All, I think, played in the World U-20 in the Netherlands. Only Drost was playing for Heerenveen prior to that tournament.

Incidentally, I was just checking Heerenveen's Transfer records. This is a shrewd dealer. Over the past 14 years:

Jan Dahl Tommason acquired before the 1993-94 season(amount not listed) and sold for 3,900,000 Euros to Newcastle before the 1997-98 season.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy acquired before 1997-98 season for 1,575,000 Euros from FC Den Bosch and then sold for 7,000,000 Euros to PSV Eindhoven before the 1998-99 season

Marcus Alback acquired before the 2001-02 season for 1,100,000 Euros and sold for 3,000,000 Euros to Aston Villa before the 2002-03 season.

Georgios Samaras acquired before the 2001-02 season (amount not known)and sold for 8,500,000 Euros to Manchester City before the 2002-03 season.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar acquired from PSV Eindhoven before the 2004-05 season (amount not known) and sold for 9,000,000 Euros to Ajax Amsterdam during the 2005-06 season.

This is especially impressive when you consider that other than these transaction most others were free transfers and while there may have been a loss or two over the years, they have been in the thousands rather than the millions.

Bottomline, Heerenveen may not be a well known club but it does know the shrewd business of European professional football.

Friend and Johnson may be on a less travelled route but it still is a historically successful route.

Incidentally, the Alves and Friend purchases, I think, are club records. Nevertheless, not bad for a club from a city of about 30,000 people with a relatively new stadium (1994) that now has a capacity of about 26,000.

quote:Originally posted by David C.

I don't know if the team has a new manager or not but they played a 4-3-3 last season, which could bode well for playing opportunities.

Plus, three of last season's four top scorers (Huntelaar, Samaras and Bruggink) seem to haved moved on.

If jersey numbers mean anything (a big if); Yildirim (#7), Friend (#9) and Nilsson (#10 - 2nd top scorer '05-'06) might be slated as first choice starters.

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quote:Originally posted by Start fan in exile

Let's hope Heerenveen does qualify for either CL or UEFA cup for Friend's sake. He gave up an opportunity to play in the UEFA Cup with Molde this fall.

But Heerenveen are in this year's UEFA Cup already. In the actual first round, whereas Molde are in the 2nd qualifying round.

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