{"id":4873,"date":"2011-07-19T12:43:15","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T16:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4873"},"modified":"2011-07-19T12:43:15","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T16:43:15","slug":"exploring-the-possibilities-harry-kewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4873","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the Possibilities: Harry Kewell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of the week, New England Soccer Today will examine\u00a0a trio of\u00a0players that may be targeted by the New England Revolution during the summer transfer window, which opened on July 15th. While the Revolution have revealed little in terms of which players has been targeted, three possibilities have emerged. In the first part of this series, Julian Cardillo spotlights Harry Kewell<\/strong>,\u00a0the former Galatasary midfielder\u00a0who’s been long-rumored as a potential transfer target by the Revs.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>
\nSteve Nicol\u2019s April trip to\u00a0Europe could have found a viable target for the Revolution to go after in the summer transfer window.\u00a0 Harry Kewell was playing in Turkey for Galatasary during Nicol\u2019s trip and has since become a free agent, opening up the possibility of him coming to MLS and joining the Revolution.<\/p>\n

The Revolution, who currently sit in\u00a0last place in the Eastern Conference, have\u00a0watched their\u00a0offense stagnate this season, scoring just\u00a016 goals in\u00a019 games.\u00a0 The mid-season arrival of Rajko Lekic has led to just\u00a0three goals\u00a0while service from the wings has remained scant, at best.\u00a0 The Revolution have\u00a0been shut out eight times this season,\u00a0due in large part to the fact that the team has struggled to find a tactical\u00a0formation that produces consistent attacks or keeps the ball.<\/p>\n

Add the departures of Marko Perovic and Ilija Stolica, plus\u00a0the over-dependence on club captain Shalrie Joseph to steer the offense, and\u00a0it’s\u00a0clear: the Revs’ attack is in serious crisis.<\/p>\n

So the prospect of signing Kewell, an Australian-born player and a veteran of two World Cups, may be exactly what the Revolution need.\u00a0 Kewell is one of Australia\u2019s most dynamic players, able to play on the wing or as an attacking midfielder.<\/p>\n

Kewell also has fifteen years of international experience under his belt, playing for Leeds United, Liverpool, and Galatasary.\u00a0 He has 16 goals in 54 caps with the Australian national team with additional stints for the under-17 and under-20 sides.<\/p>\n

Naturally,\u00a0the Revolution\u00a0wouldn’t be the only\u00a0party interested in Kewell\u00a0if they have, in fact, spoken with him.\u00a0 Reports say that Kewell could also return to his native Sydney to play in the Australian league or the Premier League to play with Newcastle United.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future for me personally is undecided right now,” Kewell told Turkish TV earlier this year. \u201cI will make up my mind at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kewell\u2019s professional career got started from a young age. At age 15, he was\u00a0 invited to trial with Leeds United in 1994 after traveling with the Marconi under-14 Stallions to Italy, Thailand, and England.\u00a0 Leeds later added Kewell to their senior roster in 1995.\u00a0 Kewell remained with Leeds until 2003, though he commanded a \u00a32.5 million bid from Inter Milan in 2002.<\/p>\n

Kewell scored 45 goals in 181 appearances for Leeds before joining Liverpool in 2003, rejecting big offers from Manchester United, Milan, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Barcelona.\u00a0 He joined Galatasaray in 2008\u00a0after injuries hampered\u00a0him\u00a0in the English Premier League.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Revolution are no strangers to injury-ridden talent, having a deep injury list the past three seasons.\u00a0 But, it’s worth noting that\u00a0Kewell has managed to stay injury-free since 2008, and in the process, has\u00a0scored 33 goals in 86 appearances with Galatasary.<\/p>\n

Kewell, known today by\u00a0many in the soccer\u00a0media as \u201cAustralia’s finest football export,\u201d could be the player that helps open the Revolution\u2019s offensive floodgates should New England prove to be his next destination.<\/p>\n

In last week’s post-match press conference, Nicol retiterated his club’s need for new players. Perhaps Kewell is one of those players the gaffer has in mind?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could Harry Kewell help solve the Revolution’s attacking woes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Harry-Kewell-001.jpg?fit=460%2C276&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4873"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5537,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4873\/revisions\/5537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}