During the European transfer window, which ended last Wednesday, Major League Soccer rejected the advances of two European soccer clubs on New England Revolution players Shalrie Joseph and Taylor Twellman. It was perhaps most surprising that Celtic’s well-documented pursuit of Shalrie Joseph ended in stalemate despite the Scottish club doubling its initial $1 million offer. Celtic has been chasing the holding midfielder since last July, when the Revs tied the Scottish champion, 1-1, at Foxboro. Apparently, $2 million just wasn’t enough for the rights to Joseph, who earns $150,000 per year and is now in talks to extend his contract with MLS. Celtic currently holds a 19-point lead at the top the Scottish Premiership and is in the round of 16 of the European Champions League, where it will play AC Milan.
Meanwhile,MLS also rejected a $1.2 million bid for Revs striker Taylor Twellman from Norwegian club Odd Grenland. There, it was likely that MLS wanted more money, too, though both the league and U.S. Soccer would be remiss to let one of its most important strikers leave for an obscure club in a league where the quality is either comparable or below that of MLS. Twellman is currently training with the U.S. team in Arizona for Wednesday’s friendly against Mexico.