Michael Parkhurst at Nordsjaelland (Denmark) discussion thread [R]

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

The Danish league is heavily scouted by teams from bigger Euro leagues. Some of you might remember not long ago when Ceres posted a list of all the Danish-based players who recently transfered to Spain, Italy, Germany, etc.

And as far as Scandinavian leagues go, it's one of the more technical and less long-ball oriented ones.

This wouldn't be a bad move for Parkhurst, IMO.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

It seems that most MLSers who go there leave on Bosmans. So, the way that the MLS calendar coincides with Scando leagues probably has alot to do with it.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

The Danish league is on the European schedule, not the Norway/Sweden one.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

The Danes do take a very long winter break however, which makes theirs a de facto spring-fall league.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Excellent post all around, and I've quoted a great point.

Individually, what more could Parkhurst possibly accomplish in MLS? He's been one of the best defenders in the league for years, and only received 4 caps.

There is no downside to this move. He's playing - at worst - at a level that is on par with MLS, and he'll make twice as much money (perhaps more, since he'll be a free transfer.) Additionally, he should be an immediate starter at that level, so there's no harm to his national team progression. He could probably play at a higher level, but from the US perspective, I'm glad that a player in the pool has certainty in his club status.

As mentioned above, if he's not going to make DP money here and he's not earning caps in line with his talent, why stay?

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

I find the lack of MLS players of late to be a disturbing trend. I have no illusions about MLS being the world's best league but there are a lot of players in MLS and historically the MLS guys have done at least as well at the WC (98, 02, 06) as our Euro based guys.

I just find it very strange when Joe Cannon can't get a cap but we call in obscure GK's from a Scandinavian league into camp.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

I would dispute that statement on quality -

The success of 1994 was on Wynalda, Ramos, Harkes and Dooley (and failure was on Meola), the whatever success was in 1998 was on Keller and Reyna. 2002 was on Friedel, Sanneh, O'Brien, Reyna and Donovan (recent of Bayer). 2006 was on Reyna, Keller, Bocanegra ... and, well, no one else showed up.

Joe Cannon hasn't had a good MLS season since 2005.

The guy should havce never left Lens, if he had a chance to stay there.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

and Beasley, Mathis, McBride, Wolff, Pablo, and even Frankie played well.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

"UPDATE: I have been informed that Parkhurst is set to sign with FC Nordsjælland, as suggested in the reader comment. Luckily, I have someone I can call tomorrow to get the official word."



I didn't see this update mentioned. Not too sold on the move myself, was hoping for better.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

From No Short Corners:

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Holy shit!! You, sir, are the man.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

At least he left out McBride this time.. I've seen where he credited McBride's early 90's cup of coffee with Wolfsburg and a 3 month loan to PNE for his 2002 performance.

 

Bingo. This is why players are leaving MLS in droves. The middle class in MLS quite simply have more value on the open market than MLS is able to pay them. It's as simple as that. This may change after the next CBA, but this MLS off-season is going to be one of major player losses for the league.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Every year a whole new set of young players leaves Argentina for Europe, and they're simply replaced by the next group. The same hopefully will happen in MLS, until the salary structure is altered. Even then, the lure of playing in European competition could drive players to Europe EVEN IF MLS offers the same salary.

I mean, go to a Hammarby match and then a NE Revolution and tell me where you'd rather play.

I think US fans think player's are making transfer decisions based on USMNT opportunities. However, the player's I've talked to (Adin Brown in particular) have all told to that is not one of the major considerations in choosing between a European league and MLS. It's got a lot more to do with the salary....................and the ability to make a better living in Europe.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Actually, besides White and Feilhaber then Danny Califf also live in the outskirts of Aarhus, despite the fact that he is playing for FC Midtjylland...
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Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Another benefit for old Parkie is the reduced taxes for his first three years. He'll be paying 25% taxes, plus a bit more for vacation, etc. Good luck Parkie.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Doesn't Feigenson rep Rev White?

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Nordsjælland is a great club for Parkhurst. That's where Heath Pearce built up his reputation. Also, I think we should factor in the hotness of Danish women when discussing YA transfers.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

FCN (or translated : FC NorthZealand) have always suffered from the fact that Brøndby and FC København steal most of the media attention, big sponsorships and players on Zealand (or Sealand if you wish), so financially they are a fairly small club, but they have always been very good at finding young talented players that they develop and then manage to sell to bigger foreign teams... As you have also write, they have sold several players the past few years... Like Nordstrand to FC København (fee €2 million), Kris Stadsgaard to Reggina (€1.5 million), Mads Junker and Anders Due to Vittesse Arnhem (€1.5 + €1.3 million), Francis Dickoh to Utrecht and so forth (though Pearce left for Rostock on a free transfer)..

However, they have grown tired of always just being the yong talented team that play some very nice soccer, but lack the needed experience to reach the top of the table... so in the last transfer window they used some $$ on signing a few more experienced players.. Canadian international Patrice Bernier from Kaiserslautern and Benjamin Kibebe .. though they also, as usual, signed a few younger players like Nicki Bille Nielsen andDennis Cagara..

Unfortunately for FCN, the other Superliga teams have also been using much more $$ on transfers, because of a much bigger TV deal, so they have not really been able to climb in the league table this season... So now I guess they want to add a few more experienced players to their squad..

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Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

No it is not... Granted, that not all that many players move from Norway or Finland to the bigger leagues, but Sweden and especially Denmark export lots of players to the top leagues in every single transfer window...

Danish Summer transfers 2008 (excluding transfers between Danish and other Scandnavian clubs) :

Simon Kjær, Den U19 NT, FC Midtjylland --> Palermo (fee €4m)
Michael Gravgaard, Den 18 caps, FC København --> Nantes (fee €4m)
Oluwafemi Ajilore, Nigeria, FC Midtjylland --> FC Groningen (fee €3.3m)
Chris Katongo, Zambia 41 caps, Brøndby --> Arminia Bielefeld (fee €1.75m)
Martin Retov, den 3 caps, Brøndby --> Hansa Rostock (fee €1m)
Nikola Saric, Den U18 NT. Herfølge --> Liverpool (fee £900k)
Alexander Farnerud, Sweden 4 caps, VfB Stuttgart --> Brøndby (fee €800k)
Emil Lyng AGF Aarhus --> Lille, (fee €550k + more later if he is successful)
Marek Saganowski Poland 26 caps, Southampton --> AaB Aalborg (loan, fee €540k)
Nando Rafael, Germany, Borussia Mönchengladbach --> AGF Aarhus (fee €500k)
Magnus Troest Den U21 NT, FC Midtjylland --> Parma (release clause, €500k)
Jon Jönsson, Sweden, Toulouse FC --> Brøndby (fee €500k)
Jakob Poulsen, Heerenveen --> AGF Aarhus (fee €300k)
Gunnar Heiðar Torvaldsson, Iceland, Hannover 96 --> Esbjerg (fee €200k)


Top Unknown :
Michael Beauchamp, Australia, 17 caps, FC Nürnberg --> AaB Aalborg (fee ?)
Georges Ndoum Cameroon U23 NT, MSV Duisburg--> AC Horsens (fee ?)
Patrice Bernier, Canada 31 caps , Kaiserslautern --> FC Nordsjælland (fee ?)
Brian Priske, Den 24 caps Club Brugge --> Vejle BK (fee ?)
Hélder Henrique Silva Cabral, Portugal, Estrela da Amadora --> Vejle BK (fee ?)
Timmi Johansen, Den U21 NT, Heerenveen --> OB Odense (fee ?)
John Mosquera, Colombia U20 NT, Werder Bremen --> SønderjyskE (fee ?)
Maros Klimpl, Slovakia, 19 caps, FC Midtjylland --> Motherwell (loan, fee €?)
Peter Utaka,Nigeria, Royal Antwerp --> OB Odense (fee ?)

Free transfers :
Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon 20 caps, Qatar SC --> OB Odense (free)
Jan Kristiansen, Den 11 caps, FC Nürnberg --> Brøndby (free)
Michael Silberbauer, FC København --> FC Utrecht (free)
Michael Krohn-Dehli, Den 1 cap, Ajax Amsterdam --> Brøndby (free)
Kasper Bøgelund, Den 15 caps, Borussia Mönchengladbach --> AaB Aalborg (free)
Benny Feilhaber USA, 16 caps, Derby County --> AGF Aarhus (free)
Björn Sandro Runström, Sweden, Fulham --> OB Odense (free)
Alexander Östlund, Sweden 22 caps, Southampton FC --> Esbjerg (free)
Dennis Cagara, Hertha Berlin --> FC Nordsjælland (free)
Michaël Murcy, France, Esbjerg --> Clermont Foot (free)
Kim Christensen, Barnsley --> FC Midtjylland (free)
Steven Pressley, Scotland 32 caps, Celtic --> Randers FC (free)
Fernando Derveld, Netherlands, Esbjerg --> Dordrecht (free)
Ousman Jallow, Gambia 3 caps, 1 goal, Al-Ain --> Brøndby (free)
Gustavo Cabrera, Guatemala, 80 caps, Comunicaciones --> AGF Aarhus (free)

...so as you can see above, then quite alot of players move to and from the bigger leagues in each transfer window...

Since Michael Parkhurst is a defender, it should be interesting to notice that ther is a good export of centre backs from Denmark to the bigger leagues..

I could mention Norwegian/American Brede Hangeland who moved from FC København to Fulham last year and btw quickly became their team captain... Very young Simon Kjær moved from FC Midtjylland to Palermo in the last transfer window and has been an instant success in Italy so far...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2008/11/04/948529/go-easy-on-kjaer-ballardini
http://www.goal.com/en/Match-Report.aspx?IdPartita=21118

..a less successful centre back move this season was Michael Gravgaard, but in general centre backs from the Danish league do well when they move abroad... If we look at the English PL then Daniel Agger got almost instant succes when he moved from Brøndby to Liverpool some years ago, unfortunately he then later got long-term injured...but Martin Laursen was picked for Sky Sports English 'Premier League team of the season' last year...
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Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

That may not sit very well with his wife

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Except Parkhurst is married. Hopefully his wife won't see this thread

FCN is a nice club in Denmark. Personally I think Parkhurst is better than the Danish league, but that's just my opinion. FCN plays in a nice little 10k seat stadium, and the last several years they've been firmly entrenched in 9th position in a 12 team league. What I'm saying is we're talking about a mediocre team in a league I consider on roughly the same level as MLS (perhaps....a...little....better. But who knows). How much of an increase in his salary are we looking at here? My guess is that his size scares off some potential suitors in "bigger" leagues........which is understandable.


If he goes to Denmark and plays well, more opportunities will come his way. He's only 24.........

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

If Parkhurst goes to a Danish team, what I find most interesting is that...

he was due to to be paid very well (by MLS standards) should he stay stateside. I would think he would command at least $250K per year. Some other players who have left for non-top tier Euro leagues were not going to command that kind of money from MLS(Goodson, Noonan, Jaqua, Perkins, Califf and others). This would seem a very intermediate step for him money- and league-wise. This might be the type of situation where he makes more than a probable MLS offer, plus he might have a built in transfer-kicker should there be interest from other leagues (perhaps a $1 Million fee trigger).

As a Revs fan, I like Parkhurst as a player and believe he brings a lot of talent and saveyness, but I have always wondered if he would be attractive to higher-caliber teams due to his relative percieved lack of athleticism and strength. It might take succeeding with either the US national team or in a Euro-league to convince some higher-caliber teams to rate him as a big time player.

 

Re: Michael Parkhurst to Denmark?

Not a bad move. Parkhurst isn't that physical and that will be apparent in the bigger leagues. He can hone his skills in Denmark for a couple of years and if he impresses then he can move up the footballing ladder.