Why No Offers for WC Players?

[Mississippi Flash]

During the WC there was lots of talk about U.S. players moving overseas or to a better club. Has anybody actually been signed by a new club?

[Mississippi Flash]

Originally posted by Mississippi Flash
During the WC there was lots of talk about U.S. players moving overseas or to a better club. Has anybody actually been signed by a new club?

Whoops! I left the "No" out of the subject.

[Jacen McCullough]

Originally posted by Mississippi Flash


Whoops! I left the "No" out of the subject.


Not a problem, I tossed one in there for you. As for the question, finances in Euro leagues aren't in the best of states right now, and not many players are getting big money transfers. MLS brass has obviously seen this, and realized that players like Mathis, Beasley, Wolff etc, are worth more playing in the league than they would be at current transfer rates.

JMac

[russ]

Well ,the deadline is August 31,so movement is still possible.

Berhalter did have a deal to go to Greece,but apparently hosed himself.There was a long thread on this in YA ,and Buff had a column on this on CSN.

There have been offers for the MLSers,but as Jacen noted,not enough to be worthwhile for the league.

[Topo]

Not "no" offers.

The word you should have put in was "low."

"Why low offers for WC players."

[Maczebus]

Dare I say it but... perhaps no-one wants them?

A flippant opening sentence but with reasons:

Those that are already overseas (Friedel, Reyna etc) are well, already overseas.

I saw on a previous post that the state of European football coffers weren't great. At Lazio and a few other big teams this may be the case. However this is in regard to the $40-50 million transfer fees and astonishing wages demanded by top European and South American players. It's these players that are messing the clubs up in Europe. Spending $10 million on a good MLS player and honouring him with a bigger wage than he recieved in the US (though still relatively small), would make more sense. What I'm trying to say is that money problems (I believe) aren't the reason why US players aren't being snatched up.

Linked to that is the fact that European clubs may well be biding their time. Always, post WC there is the race for new talent from the top leagues in the world. They might simply be waiting for the prices put on US players to come down after the glow of the WC has faded. Of course the prices might not come down because US players are trying to be encouraged to stay in MLS (but thats a seperate issue, or at least something that has been mentioned quite a lot on other threads).
Foriegn teams and their management may simply not see the great players the US fans do. They are reluctant to spend a huge amount on any talent MLS has. Again they'll see players as over-priced and know they can find much cheaper players from smaller European based teams. Much like Liverpool have done signing a few Senegal players.

Whatever the reason is, you're right, there is no exodus of US players going on, but then again, I get the general gist that this isn't such a bad thing anyway.

[Mississippi Flash]

Originally posted by maczebus
Dare I say it but... perhaps no-one wants them?

<snip>
Whatever the reason is, you're right, there is no exodus of US players going on, but then again, I get the general gist that this isn't such a bad thing anyway.

I agree, but I do feel sorry for a guy who is 30 and has done a lot for MLS (McBride) not being let go. He's near the end of his career, and this is probably his last chance to play for a name team in a major league. Treating him generously might be the best for all concerned in the long run.

[TeamUSA]

I wish that other companies would treat me nice at 30 and pay me more money too. -personal note off


It does seem kind of strange, but maybe it's a waiting game by both players and clubs. I would bet that as the European season gets underway and some clubs begin to struggle they will be calling on MLS players that are match fit from the summer here to help them out.

On the other side, we did see a few countries that really surprised us too, such as Turkey, Korea(spit), Senegal, and Japan. Maybe these guys are cheaper? I haven't searched or read about what kind of activities the clubs are doing presently.

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by Mississippi Flash


I agree, but I do feel sorry for a guy who is 30 and has done a lot for MLS (McBride) not being let go. He's near the end of his career, and this is probably his last chance to play for a name team in a major league. Treating him generously might be the best for all concerned in the long run.

He used to play for Preston in Eng Div1 also remember something about him getting a blood clot in his armpit or something. Rather an odd place, but still did for his chances ..

I don't know what sort of money they are asking for McBride but unless it's pretty low, I can't see many top league teams wanting to stump up a large sum of money for a 30 year old who hasn't played top level club football. I don't know what you consider a 'name team' or a 'major league' to be, but I'm afraid he may have to settle for the level he has been used to while playing in Europe.
Again, it might be realistically more of a case of major clubs not wanting him to a significant degree, rather than his chances being stifled by the US system.

[Mississippi Flash]

An article in today's USA Today suggests that financial problems with European clubs coupled with MLS's awareness of the value of various players to the league has slowed any transfers. The MLS spokesman did say they were willing to work with any player who really wanted to move. He sounded sincere FWIW.