Mastroeni Comments on Playing Abroad

[Scrandal]

The Charlotte Eagles play Colorado tonight in an exhibition in Charlotte and the Charlotte Observer wrote an interesting article with comments from Pablo. Unfortunately, there is no link to the article on the internet but here are the quotes from the article titled "Mastroeni says MLS is good training ground".

"with the success of the national team, mls will continue to breed quality players (for the USMNT?)if they get them abroad"

"when you keep them here , you tend to suffocate the younger talent"

"the next LD and the next DMB , they might be a guy on the bench who's 18 years old. If Landon would go abroad, it may give him a chance to play"

"you (MLS) have to start releasing players"

"of course, the american public wants to see the young players but you never know how much talent is here because you (MLS) keep suffocating the talent"

"everybody's goal is to go play in Europe. This country you have to fight for a 30 minute spot on tv, but there, that's what they live for. To live for that environment day in and day out would be just phenomenal"

"It's great to promote these players, and they've done a good job of it (MLS) but it's best for the country and best for the individual player for them to go abroad"

The article states that when his two year contract is up, he's going to Europe.

Any thoughts?

Randy

[BuffloSoldier]

Link:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/other_sports/3768554.htm

FYI--Mastro signed the two year deal April 4, 2001. So he's signed through 2003.

[mschofield]

Stunned we haven't seen teams come in for Pablo. He can't earn much, he cna't have too higha transfer value, (surely less than $15 m, maybe half that) and he showed int he cup he can play at a very high level.
He seems the perfect target for this summer of no love.

[mikesterw]

I don't see Pablo going for 15 mill or half that, not with the current transfer market. I would like to see more players abraod, but only if they are playing or have a reasonable chance at it.

[jmeissen0]

Originally posted by mikesterw
I don't see Pablo going for 15 mill or half that, not with the current transfer market. I would like to see more players abraod, but only if they are playing or have a reasonable chance at it.

i'm quite confident that he meant to put a decimal in there

[eric515]

Pablo is the man! He is a guy I think deserves more attention from Europe, a rock in the defensive midfield. He made us all forget about Armas.

[mikesterw]

Originally posted by jmeissen0


i'm quite confident that he meant to put a decimal in there

Quite right, missed that one thanks!

[chayes]

MLS turned down a bid from Burnley before the WC for somewhere between $600k and $750k.

[The Wanderer]

Some lucky team in Europe will get him on a free and probably only have to pay him like $600-700K with WC experience. He might be in for an EU passport also if his ancestors immigrated to Argentina recent enough.

[CrazyF.C.]

interesting, sounds like the players might not be too pleased about how MLS is "negotiating"

[jmeissen0]

Originally posted by CrazyF.C.
interesting, sounds like the players might not be too pleased about how MLS is "negotiating"

if mls is only trying to keep players here, than they should be... it's called inbreeding and a horrible idea

[empennage]

The players signed the contracts, and now their not happy. Too damn bad.

[Ringo]

Originally posted by The Wanderer
Some lucky team in Europe will get him on a free and probably only have to pay him like $600-700K with WC experience. He might be in for an EU passport also if his ancestors immigrated to Argentina recent enough.

how is this? where are his parents/grandparents/ancestors originally from? I hope Pablo gets to do what makes him happy. It was great watching him at the World Cup ... would've liked to see him on the field a bit more, but we made the quarters so who's complaining?

[BuffloSoldier]

Pablo was born in Argentina, with Italian ancestry. He should be able to get an EU passport through his grandparents.

[jmeissen0]

Originally posted by empennage
The players signed the contracts, and now their not happy. Too damn bad.

if mls builds a rep for not working with the players, the players will not sign long term contracts, do everything to get to europe instead of playing in mls

[DAKCrew]

Originally posted by CrazyF.C.
interesting, sounds like the players might not be too pleased about how MLS is "negotiating"

MLS and negotiating do not belong in the same sentence.

[Eisern Union]

Originally posted by empennage
The players signed the contracts, and now their not happy. Too damn bad.

Yea, too damn bad when all the star players leave on free transfers and MLS is left with nothing.

[schmuckatelli]

Originally posted by Eisern Union
Yea, too damn bad when all the star players leave on free transfers and MLS is left with nothing.
Yes, that would be too bad, but on the other hand, MLS can't settle for low-ball offers when Europe comes calling, either. The figures being kicked around in this thread so far are in the mid 6-figure range, which seem a little low for a central midfielder/defender coming off a moderately successful WC campaign. It doesn't surprise me that MLS would like to see more coming in for a player of Pablo's quality.

Unfortunately, the timing is poor for MLS. Europe's transfer market is going through a dry period (or maybe financial reality has set in). Even the biggest clubs are being careful bargain hunters right now. MLS must steer a middle course between letting players go for next-to-nothing and holding on too long and getting absolutely nothing.

[NYfutbolfan]

Not 1 transfer fee!!!

Not a one.

The US play in the 2002 WC was way beyond expectations and there is not one transfer fee received by MLS. This is very dissappointing.

Sure, you could say that Sanneh, Reyna, JOB, LD, Stewart, Heydude and Freidel were already playing abroad, but we still have Mastro, Mathis, Wolff, DMB, Pope and McBride playing in MLS. It's hard to fathom that not one semi-respectable offer has come in for any of these 6 players. I'm sure that there could be reasons that fans are not privy to that cloud the picture, but again I say, NOT ONE TRANSFER FEE! It boggles the mind.

[Martin Fischer]

Originally posted by NYfutbolfan
Not 1 transfer fee!!!

Not a one.

The US play in the 2002 WC was way beyond expectations and there is not one transfer fee received by MLS. This is very dissappointing.

Sure, you could say that Sanneh, Reyna, JOB, LD, Stewart, Heydude and Freidel were already playing abroad, but we still have Mastro, Mathis, Wolff, DMB, Pope and McBride playing in MLS. It's hard to fathom that not one semi-respectable offer has come in for any of these 6 players. I'm sure that there could be reasons that fans are not privy to that cloud the picture, but again I say, NOT ONE TRANSFER FEE! It boggles the mind.

When you consider that Rivaldo was allowed to walk away on a free transfer with a year remaining on his contract, maybe it is not so hard to understand?