Most U.S. national team fans will agree that center back Geoff Cameron had a superb Copa America Centenario tournament this past summer.
[ MORE: Summer transfer grades ]
Turns out plenty of Premier League teams agree.
With the dust settling after Transfer Deadline Day in England on Wednesday, a source has told ProSoccerTalk that four PL clubs were interested in signing Cameron, 31, during the summer transfer window.
[ MORE: How much did each team spend? ]
The former Houston Dynamo product was chased hard by both Crystal Palace and Sunderland in the closing days of the window as they looked to bolster their defensive options but it is believed Stoke City did not want to sell the Massachusetts native who arrived in Staffordshire in 2012 and has a contract with them until the summer of 2018.
ProSoccerTalk understands Hull City and Bournemouth were also inquiring about Cameron’s availability in the closing hours of the window but with center back Bruno Martins Indi arriving at Stoke on Deadline Day and German central defender Philipp Wollscheid heading out of Stoke to Wolfsburg, it is believed that the Potters didn’t want any movement among center backs and any deal for Cameron was a non-starter.
Any transfer for Cameron would’ve also been complicated given the fact that he was with the U.S. national team in Florida ahead of their two crucial 2018 World Cup qualifiers in the next five days.
A mainstay in central defense for Jurgen Klinsmann’s USMNT, Cameron is incredibly versatile and has played at center back, right back and central midfield over the past four seasons for Stoke. He has racked up 129 PL appearances and 145 in all competitions in England, scoring twice.
Entering his fifth season in the Premier League with the Potters, there’s been constant chatter about other clubs around the league wanting to pick up Cameron in the past few transfer windows.
That’s not surprising as over the past 12 months he’s shown the form of his life at center back for the U.S. — Cameron scored three goals in six appearances for the USMNT between late 2015 and early 2016 — and at Stoke. He has started the past two games at center back for Stoke after recovering from flu-like symptoms at the end of preseason and his status as the leading U.S. player in the PL is undoubted.
Now that the transfer window is closed, Cameron will be fully focused on helping the U.S. reach the hexagonal round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. Klinsmann’s side face St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday in the Caribbean and host Trinidad & Tobago next Tuesday in Jacksonville.
