Brian McBride to leave Fulham - MLS bound?

Brian McBride will be leaving EPL team Fulham. McBride is another American who will no longer be at the London club. He will soon be 36 years old, and I have to believe that his soon to be retirement is a deciding factor on this decision.

It’s been known that McBride has always had the desire to return home in the states. Not that he has been unhappy with life in England, quite the opposite really. He has enjoyed perhaps the most successful overseas career of an American field player. He is well respected and well liked by managers and players alike.

The thing is, McBride is still a top quality forward. In fact, I’d say he’s only gotten better since choosing to retire from international play. If he were still playing for the US National team, I have no doubt that he would still be the number 1 player at forward, and could, this very minute, call Bob Bradley and get a place on the team.

It has been speculated that McBride wants to play for the US in the Olympics. If that is true, there is no way that U-23 coach Peter Nowak could not take McBride as one of the three overage players. With McBride on the field there is always strong presence in attack, something the U-23 team needs. I certainly hope those rumors are true and that we see McBride in a US jersey come Olympics time.

So where does McBride end up? it’s obvious he is coming back to the United States, and he can still play at the highest level. His hometown is Chicago, the best team in MLS right now, the Chicago Fire would have a major coup should McBride play out his career there. It will take some shrewed transfers and allocation moving for Chicago to make this happen. His old MLS team, the Columbus Crew, could use a player like McBride, but again for the Crew to land McBride would also take some miraculous moves by the Crew front office. Right now, Toronto FC has the first chance of McBride, and he would be a huge asset to that team. But I don’t see McBride going to Toronto, he’s coming back to be back in his home country. Regardless, it will certainly be interesting to see how this shakes out.

Where do you want to see McBride end up? Where do you think he could help a team the most?