Hans Backe knows Luke Rodgers and he’s spoken to him recently. But at the moment, the Red Bulls coach doesn’t anticipate the Notts County striker will be joining him in New York.
A report surfaced on Wednesday that linked Rodgers, a 28-year-old who has also played for Shrewsbury Town, Crewe, Port Vale and Yeovil Town, to a move to the Red Bulls, reuniting him with Backe, his former boss of nine games.
But Backe said on Thursday that with Notts County’s ownership sorted out and the League Two side in good position to move up in England, he doesn’t anticipate seeing Rodgers arrive in Harrison anytime soon. Although he did say that Rodgers was one of three current Notts County to phone him.
“I think the club is now with the new owners and they have in way said that League One is the tops for us, we don’t have the goal to be a Premiership side, but they’re close to getting promotion now,” Backe said of his former club. “I think they’re in second or third position so I can’t see them letting players go before promotion.”
But Backe and Erik Soler, the Red Bulls general manager and sporting director, didn’t rule out Rodgers coming at a later date.
“For us not at the moment, but if you look at it in a larger window it wouldn’t be surprising if a coach was looking at players he knew,” Soler said. “It’s obvious we have discussed players from Notts County and players from other English teams, but we haven’t done anything with that so far. Maybe in the future.”
The Red Bulls also don’t seem too keen on bringing Dave van den Bergh back to New York. The 33-year-old Dutchman, who reportedly was waived by FC Dallas yesterday, would seemingly fill a void on the left side of midfield and clearly proved just two years ago his value with his service.
“That was new to us as of yesterday so we haven’t spoken about it until now,” Soler said. “We are continuously discussing different things and different players. At the moment it is not a discussion. If it’s going to be one in the future, I don’t know. Not at the moment.”