Report: English Championship club bid for Zack Steffen

Zack Steffen’s services are a hot commodity. According to MLSSoccer.com’s Sam Stejskal, the Columbus Crew and U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper has had a bid in the vicinity of $4 million submitted for him by English Championship club Bristol City.

Steffen, 23, joined the Crew in 2016 from German club Freiburg where he started his professional career. After a year and a half as the Crew’s starting ‘keeper and finding his way into the conversation for USMNT No. 1, is it time for the Pennsylvania native to head back to Europe?

Stejskal also reports that Crew manager Gregg Berhalter wouldn’t acknowledge the rumors but did reveal that multiple clubs have expressed a desire to acquire Steffen.

In goalkeeping years Steffen is still very young and has a long career ahead of him. If this move isn’t right for him, he’s well within his right to holdout for a better move in the future. He returned to the U.S. two years ago because he struggled for minutes in Germany and has rode this wave of success to where he stands now. You can’t blame him if he chooses to keep riding it and see how much further it can take him.

There’s also the issue of acquiring a UK work permit that many of Americans have struggled with. Despite Steffen’s recent emergence on the international scene, he’s highly unlikely to qualify for a permit yet. Perhaps a full year of USMNT caps could help him towards a transfer to a bigger club in England?

What do you think about this rumor? Does it make sense for Steffen to leave now or should he give it some time?