Clues About Jozy's Future?

Over the weekend, Jozy Altidore made some waves by suiting up and scoring a goal for the team he seemed destine to leave (and very well still could), Villareal. The goal can be seen below; Altidore makes a good run to the back post and finishes with an easy volley in front of an open net to level the score at 2-2 with none other than Besiktas, one of his biggest suitors this transfer window:



As tends to be the case with the chaos of the transfer window, I'm trying to glean something, anything from what has happened this past weekend, which also includes the addition of Jozy to the USMNT roster for the Brazil friendly after Jermaine Jones' decision to turn down his first call-up.

Could Jozy's inclusion in the Villareal preseason friendly be a sign that he is, after all the speculation, actually in the club's plans for the coming year? With their surprise inclusion in the Europa League thanks to Mallorca's financial troubles, Villareal will have a busier schedule and thus need a deeper squad than they might have previously anticipated. Thus, they might need Jozy to add depth up top. And if they seek to alleviate their own issues by selling off some of their more prized assets, that might open up space for Jozy to get his big shot with his parent club.

But then again, this could very well just have been good business that turned out great for Villareal, as they opted to showcase their young striker first hand to the club that has been so frequently linked to him over the past couple of weeks. Maybe this was just the last step in the courtship, with this "tryout" giving Besiktas the last bit of information they needed to assess Jozy's ability and keeping him sharp ahead of a potential transfer.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe it was just Villareal giving a young player some preseason minutes ahead of a season in which their depth might be tested. It's hard to say at this point.

And then there's the whole matter of Jozy's USMNT call-up. As I've said ad nauseam over the past couple of days, Bob has shown a track record of understanding and respecting his players' club situations, opting to leave them be when it's probably be best that they stay with their employers. Considering this is a fairly meaningless friendly, would Bradley really call Jozy away from preseason in Spain (or Turkey/Netherlands/etc.) if his club situation was still way up in the air? My first instinct would be that he wouldn't do that; at what could be a pretty monumental moment in Jozy's young career, figuring out his situation in Europe is infinitely more important than some post-World Cup friendly between two less-than-full-strength squads.

So does that mean that Altidore's club situation actually might be more settled than it appears to us outsiders? There have been reports that the transfer talks have stalled because of a price impasse, so who knows, maybe the two sides are preparing to move on.

Or could it be that this is all just another calculated showcase by Villareal? One more match in which they could display their asset for Besiktas and any other clubs that are still interested?

To be honest, I really have no clue at this point. Some of you out there might be able to shed some light on recent developments with reports you've come across, so feel free to share any wisdom in the comments section. Or, you know, you can just vent some frustration with this whole transfer saga. Either way, the fact of the matter is that we still don't know where Altidore will be plying his trade this season.

So much for this past weekend helping to figure things out. Still just the same ol' chaos...

The one thing that I can assure you of is that I'll be sure to keep an eye on his situation and update you with anything meaningful that might come along in the coming days.