Leeds go west for Rodgers

Doing business with the American MLS seems to be very much in vogue.

Thierry Henry to Arsenal, Robbie Keane to Aston Villa, Landon Donavon to Everton, signing players from America has become the latest fashion craze for English clubs, like teenage girls rushing for a sale at La Senza.

Not content with watching one capture from the MLS break his sides resilience and send them crashing out of the FA Cup faster than you can say “Va Va Voom”, Simon Grayson has looked across the pond to get his own new signing, the 24 year old Robbie Rogers from Columbus Crew.

The winger has reportedly put pen to paper this morning after the clubs agreed a deal and he heads t’Yorkshire land o’Leeds all the way from soccer land, subject to the rubber-stamping of his work permit and will add competition to a squad hit by injury, with Robert Snodgrass, Jonathon Howson and Davide Somma all currently absent.

Even though he has 18 caps, he has failed to play 75% of competitive fixtures for the USA over the last two years, so the pen-pushers will begin to work tirelessly in order to prepare Rogers for his hearing, which will allow him to play for Grayson’s side, later this month.

Not quite on the same level of signing as that of the mercurial Henry, Leeds won’t mind as Grayson is a keen admirer of the midfielder after he impressed so much on a recent trial that the manager used the word “delighted” when talking about him, and even found a space for him to travel with the side down to Arsenal, to watch their narrow FA Cup third round defeat. Reports that the two had a candlelit dinner together in a posh north-London restaurant are yet to be confirmed.

Rogers managed 25 appearances for the Columbus Crew and has a big reputation west of the Atlantic for getting into the MLS best XI for 2008, the same year that the Crew won both the MLS supporters shield and the MLS cup. He also won the former with the Supporter’s shield-hogging Crew a year later; before they were persuaded to let somebody else have a go. His contract expired last month.

A report that will further “delight”, to use a Grayson phrase, Leeds fans is that the much-in-demand Shaun St Ledger has undergone a U-Turn on his move to Ipswich and travelled up to Elland Road for talks with the club. He is expected to leave Leicester today and faces a tough dilemma of which club to sign for, hmmm……

@AdamGray1250

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