After months of waiting for a resolution, New York Red Bulls fans were dealt a blow today as the team announced that striker Luke Rodgers would not be returning in 2012.
The full statement from the team:
"After going through the entire immigration and appeals process, Luke's P-1 Visa application has unfortunately been denied by the U.S. government for now. We have spoken with Luke about potential options and have mutually decided that it would be in all parties' best interests to terminate his current MLS contract so he could play elsewhere. However, we will also continue to track his progress this year while working with immigration officials with the goal that he could join the Red Bulls sometime in the future."
Immigration woes and Luke Rodgers have never been far apart in his history for the club. His initial attempt to join the team in 2010 was thwarted by a denied visa application. The likely cause: a criminal past that included a 2002 assault on a player in a parking lot and a 2003 accidental disfiguring of a teenage girl with a firework.
He finally managed to succeed in the visa application process in 2011, and joined the team shortly after the start of the season. Over his one season with the Red Bulls, he saw the field in 23 games, scoring nine goals and adding three assists. He won over many NY area fans after blasting LA's Landon Donovan for talking too much. He was sidelined midway through the season with plantar fasciitis, but his return helped spark the run that enabled the team to squeak into the playoffs.
With Rodgers now no longer on the roster, and Juan Agudelo still four weeks off from returning from his knee surgery, it's expected that Hans Backe and Erik Soler will being looking at other options to help maintain depth in the team's attack.
