Middlesbrough’s bid for Max Arfsten was rejected by Columbus Crew.
Everton legend Tim Howard described Middlesbrough’s offer for wing-back Max Arsten as a ‘slap in the face’ in a rant about USA players being lowballed.
Boro made Max Arfsten their top target to fill their left wing-back role this summer. However, Columbus Crew knocked back their opening offer worth around £2.25 million, with French Ligue 1 side Toulouse also interested in the 24-year-old.
Arfsten is believed to be keen on the Boro move, but Columbus have made clear they don’t wish to sell this summer and are yet to soften that stance with two weeks remaining in the British summer transfer window. As such, while not completely giving up on Arfsten, Boro have started to explore other options as they’re conscious of needing someone for the position by September 1.
Discussing Boro’s offer for the USA international, however, Tim Howard used it as an example of an issue he’s previously raised about US players in the MLS not being valued highly enough by clubs outside of the States.
Speaking on the Unfiltered Soccer podcast with Landon Donovan, he said: “I mean, Middlesbrough man, like, pay us like you owe us. This is crazy. He’s a young, up-and-coming US national team player. More than likely going to be on the World Cup roster if he continues this way. The rest of the world, wake up. This is such a slap in the face.
“People who constantly complain about us banging the drum like, ‘Woe is me with the American player.’ This is an example of it. If this was a young French kid, a young French left back, who just cracked into a national team, who just played [in a tournament]…maybe $20 million. You can’t get a bag of balls for $3 million dollars! So hats off to Columbus for saying ‘thanks, but no thanks.”
Arfsten has been tracked by Boro’s recruitment team for some time now, with scouts first out watching him last November during the MLS play-offs. He’s since started the new season well for his side and was also part of the USA squad that reached the final of this summer’s Gold Cup. Howard went on to explain how excited he is about the player.
“What I would say is that it’s exciting for Max Arfsten,” he said. “For a national team player, what we want to see, and what Mauricio Pochettino will want to see, is you go from strength to strength. You have a good summer, so what do you do? Do you kick back and relax, or do you crack on?
“He’s come back and he’s shown that it wasn’t just a one-time thing. He’s ready to keep pushing. He’s gone back to his club team and proving himself.”
While Arftsen remains Boro’s top wing-back target this summer, Columbus’ hardball stance may force them to look elsewhere. Indeed, they’ve already started looking at alternative options as more and more names come up in the final weeks of the window. One of those is Southampton’s Charlie Taylor, who was offered to Boro by representatives, as the York-born star looks for a way out at St Mary’s having fallen out of favour.
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