
Rafa Marquez attended his first Red Bulls training session yesterday, one day after being presented to the media here. It appears that Marquez will make his RBNY debut this coming Sunday @Chicago. And even though Rafa fills the third, and last, DP spot, it appears that the club is not done shopping and could add up to two more players before the transfer window closes later this month. You can click here for more Rafa press conference pics and click here for more Rafa in training pics, courtesy of Red Bulls Official on Facebook.
A couple of days ago I put up this post in regards to this report, by Big Apple Soccer, that Juan Pablo Angel had almost been dealt to Seattle in exchange for their want-away DP, Freddie Ljungberg. Dave Branek, of the Daily Harrison's great Red Bulls Blog, then put up this Rafa Marquez post, where (at the very bottom) Red Bulls Sporting Director Erik Soler states that the rumored JPA for Ljungberg trade "was never on the table". So, was it true or not? I've asked Big Apple Soccer, via Twitter and via e-mail, if they stand by their story. As of this writing, I've not received a reply to my question but will post, whatever it may be, as soon as received. Hopefully, this was all just hearsay and, really, I have trouble believing it even now.
EDIT: we just received this statement from Big Apple Soccer:
BigAppleSoccer.com does not comment on its stories.A few other RBNY tidbits:
Mr. Soler has denied any RBNY interest in Brazilian midfielder Geovanni.
Kristian Dyer reports that Jeremy Hall and Luke Sassano both had some sort of surgery today. He also reports that Brian Nielsen (is he still with us?) had his knee scoped and that Mr. Backe stated no roster moves are necessary at this time. Edit: Here's the story from BAS.
