http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/s...offers-from-china,-middle-east-and-us?cc=5901 Sounds like the typical rumors to boost his price. I haven't seen him play much lately, how has he been the past few years?
Freddie went from 21 goals in 41 games in 2010-2011 to 4 goals in 26 games this past season. Huge drop off especially considering his ridiculous consistency in Spain. I saw Sevilla play a couple of times his past season and he looked like age had finally caught up to him. Kind of strange since it happened fairly rapidly and he was coming off a stellar 2010-2011 season. Freddie will be 35 soon and he may be a sinking ship. Helluva player but he doesn't have much left in the tank, I think.
This is posted on the Chinese league thread, as much money as China is throwing at these players; it is very hard for MLS to compete.
Yep, and those players are looking for a real retirement league. They (for the most part) would not have been good signings anyway. But the competition is good. It'll start forcing teams to develop players, which will lead to much better US players, which will increase ratings, which will drive up viewership, which will help us compete for stars in their prime rather than at age 34.
Lucas Barrios and Giovanni Moreno are not old; I do hear they raised their international limit from 3+1 to 6. (Not sure if 5+1 or just 6 internationals). That is ok, we do have 2 LA teams and perhaps in a few years 2 NY teams, those two cities are very popular with the Europeans.
They may not be old but they (CSL teams) have to overpay in order to get them to come over. Barrios is earning about 3 times as much as he did when he was playing for Dortmund. He is now earning as much or more than Edin Dzeko, Balotelli, Higuain, and Benzema (all 2011 numbers). He gets paid more than Drogba did while he was at Chelsea. Speaking of Drogba, the numbers on that list you quoted seem way off. Most of the reports I've read are saying his salary is higher than 12.5 million a year, yet alone for 2.5 years. Most reports are saying that his salary has doubled from his time at Chelsea. What you are seeing in China is NASL v2.0, so the question is going to be how long they can sustain spending 2 to 3 times what the market value is.
Agreed, this may blow up the league on the long run, but people (economist magazine) have been saying that about China for many years now. Who knows, the most pissed off people have to be the Europeans, MLS, The Arab leagues and China keep inflating the market value of players.
