Americans Abroad

Lewis transfer to Preston North End is finally done.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Friday, August 30, 2002) -- In the conclusion of a story that seemed to change by the hour, United States midfielder Eddie Lewis finally appears headed from Fulham of England's Premier League to the First Division's Preston North End.

Twenty-four hours after Preston manager Craig Brown declared the deal dead, the club confirmed the acquisition had been completed.

Brown, in great need of a left-side midfielder, has been pursuing Lewis since he played in the World Cup. Preston reached an agreement with Fulham calling for a transfer fee of approximately $750,000 a while ago, but Lewis was not willing to accept a substantial pay cut which his potential new club was proposing.

Lewis' contract with Fulham, which ran to the end of the current season, reportedly paid him around $400,000 annually. He asked the same salary from North End which, while not making him Preston's highest paid player, would have placed him in the top half dozen. Brown proclaimed that would have thrown off the team's salary structure, so when Lewis held tight to his demand, Brown said he was walking away from the negotiations.

"We made general enquiries, but we won't pursue them further," Brown said yesterday, so Lewis returned to Fulham, prepared to play out the rest of the season on the reserve side.

With Saturday's transfer deadline looming, however, Preston was not able to make a deal for another player, so negotiations between Brown, Lewis and Lewis' agent resumed at Deepdale. After a number of hours of what was called hard bargaining, an accord was reached. Its terms are not announced.

"I have been trying to sign Eddie ever since I came to Preston, and I watched him closely at the World Cup," Brown said. "He is very versatile and comes highly recommended to me by (Fulham midfielder) John Collins, who has seen Eddie at close quarters with Fulham. We are now just waiting for Eddie to undergo the formalities of a medical and gaining international clearance."

Brown said he wanted to have Lewis in the lineup for North End's home match against Ipswich on Sunday, but a typical work permit snafu that Americans routinely suffer through won't allow that.

It was thought all Lewis had to do was go through a physical and as soon as transfer papers were put through to the Football Association, he would be eligible. But late today, the transfer of Lewis' work permit was denied because he did not play in the requisite 75 percent of U.S. national-team matches over the last two years, so he will have to go through an appeals process.

Since Lewis had a permit to play with Fulham since March 2000 and he played in the World Cup, it is expected his appeal will be successful. Preston officials said they are hopeful the work permit will be approved in time for Lewis to be in uniform for the September 8 match at Wolves. "It should be sorted out in time for the flying USA winger to go straight into the squad at Molineux," the team's web site stated.

Robert Wagman is a senior correspondent for SoccerTimes and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com..