Remember Brent Rahim?

[The Cadaver]

Isn't that the guy LA drafted but couldn't get signed? Well, he just got put on loan to West Ham (yes, that West Ham)

http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/0816/20020816whufcrahim.html

[rokstedy]

How do we let diamonds in the rough get away like this? Of course, he must've thought he was so good to play for Europe that he opted for them instead of us. What a gamble, but it eventually paid off for him, for now. Wonder how long he'll last.

[PZ]

yeah, he turned down an MLS contract to play for Joe Public I think.

[kyledane]

Originally posted by PZ
yeah, he turned down an MLS contract to play for Joe Public I think.
In other words, MLS offered him a dreadfully lowball contract, and he said "screw you" and went home to wait for a club to make him a reasonable offer. Obviously one did and he's making the most of the move.

So you ask why MLS and the Galaxy keep letting these gems pass us by? It's all about money. MLS is cheap and sometimes it costs the league players.

[Emile]

A bit over the top I think. Rahim didn't go to West Ham from Joe Public, but from Levski Sofia. I can't say if money was the reason he decided to go to Joe Public first and wait for a better offer (and if anyone else can, let's see the evidence). It certainly seemd reasonable to think that he wanted European ball and was willing to go anywhere in Europe to facilitate that more quickly.

When Robbie Russell was not signed by MLS, he made a statement that the money he was offered was okay, but he didn't want to have to sign such a long contract.

You can certainly make the argument that MLS should have done more to entice Rahim to sign here, but I think, given the number of quality signings of young foreign and domestic players the last few years, the forecasted talent drain just hasn't happened.

[kyledane]

Originally posted by Emile
A bit over the top I think. Rahim didn't go to West Ham from Joe Public, but from Levski Sofia. I can't say if money was the reason he decided to go to Joe Public first and wait for a better offer (and if anyone else can, let's see the evidence).
His people stated that it was about money in an article that ran at the time (might have been at soccer365.com, I'm not sure). I don't have the energy to go find it, but I'm sure a few folks on here read it and can at least back me up that it exists.

[Emile]

Thanks for the article suggestion. I couldn't find it. Did it say anything about whether salary was the only sticking point (or in combination with length or other terms) and what salary he wanted vs. what MLS was willing to pay?

Given his ascent the WHam, I'm willing to buy that MLS missed an opportunity with Rahim - but I still think your earlier comment was a bit over-generalized. The Galaxy miss out on a lot of players because they like to draft high-risk signees with their mid-draft picks (a wise move, IMO). I think the league has done pretty well lately, despite being so 'cheap'.

[profiled]

It's like any player, it's a gamble over how much you're willing to spend on an unproven entity; he might have ended up like the countless other "prospects" in the leage (read: chris albright), or he could have been a gem (read: Carlos Ruiz). So it really is pointless to second guess.