Aside from a two-year stint at Real Madrid, Wesley Sneijder always plays for clubs below what his talent prescribes. He appears ready to continue that trend by coming to America.
The Dutch dynamo appears to be heading to the west coast to join the expansion LAFC. Sneijder is one of the top midfielders of his generation, but has spent most of his career at clubs that don’t have the worldwide fan base his talent deserves. He’s underrated because he hasn’t spent most of his career with a Barcelona or Manchester United.
Apparently he likes being underrated but overpaid. He’ll make $3.5 million per year in L.A.
Sneijder started his career at Ajax before a move to Real Madrid in 2007. He later helped Inter Milan win a Champions League title back when there was more than just Juventus in Serie A. The attacking midfielder has been at Galatasaray since 2013 and has one year left on his contract, prompting the potential move stateside.
Sneijder was vital in getting Netherlands to the 2010 World Cup final, scoring five goals before the Dutch lost to Spain in the final. Four years later he played a role in the 5-1 dismantling of Spain on the way to a third-place finish.
Sneijder would join a new club devoid of any names, aside from possibly Mexico’s Andres Guardado, who is reportedly close to a deal as well. But hey, Will Ferrell.
Can he make a difference for the new kids in town in L.A.?
Probably.
In terms of wins, he’d probably do at least as much as the bigger names LAFC are reportedly chasing like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Javier Hernandez, but he’d need more than one teammate and a star-studded list of owners to do it.