Go listen to the Kasey Keller interview on ussoccer.com. http://podcast.ussoccer.com/03-22-2007_Keller.mp3 At the end of the interview, the questioner asks Kasey what club he thinks he will be at next year. Kasey says he was in talks with MLS in January and February to move back to the States come the summer transfer window. But he goes on to say that talks with MLS have since gone sour and he believes that they don't really want him anymore. He's going to play the season out with Borussia and then decide whether or not to stay with them. My take: If Borussia manage to stay in the Bundesliga, I think Keller stays another year with them. But in the more likely event they go down, Kasey will look to jump ship to a different Bundesliga team, or possibly go to the Premiership to compete for a starting position with one of the promoted teams. I'm guessing the disagreements between Kasey and the league are all about salary. I'm sure MLS would love to have him back, but I don't think any team in the league would be willing to pay more than $200,000 for him, and certainly wouldn't use a DP slot for him. Even Ronald Watterus, a former Dutch National Team Keeper, (who's also a year younger than Kasey) is only making about 150,000 for the Redbulls. With the abundance of American goalkeeping talent, teams just aren't going to pay Kasey what he thinks he deserves. Hopefully they will be able to reach a compromise, I could see him going to Toronto, Chicago, Colorado, Houston or Dallas.
Once again, no players play for MLS. Players play for teams. If no teams really want Keller at a salary that Keller is willing to play for then it won't happen. I really don't think any team want's to use a DP spot on a goalkeeper. It's not like we grow keepers on trees here. Short of Seattle being in the league, Keller is going to have to be willing to play for around $300k or less if he wants a job in MLS - and then a team will have to be both willing to pay that, and have the salary cap room. But the main point of my post is that players don't sign with and play for MLS. MLS owns player contracts, and puts the stamp of approval on them, but the teams themselves are responsible for player acquisition. In the case that more than one team wants a high profile allocation/discovery type player, the league will get involved, but the question is what team would be willing to pay Keller what Keller wants?
To which team? Sure, he'd be an upgrade to any keeper in the league - but which team wants to spend that kind of cap space on a keeper? That's the question. I don't see any team willing to use a DP for a keeper. And seriously, what salary would Keller realistically be willing to settle for? Keller was negotiating with MLS during an era when there were players earning more than the max salary on a case by case basis. But now that those players are going "on the books", I think you'll see teams being far more careful about approving salaries in the DP range.
You KNOW Keller wants Reyna money ($1m a year). Unfortunately, I don't see why any team should give him that either. So, side me with MLS. $300,000 Kasey or try your hand in Europe, I'm afraid.
QUOTE SCARYICE: He's well worth the maximum salary. Why? in a league where you only have so much salary to go around would you spend $300k on a keeper when you can spend $60k on a keeper that gives you 95% of what keller does and has the upside of youth...
Absolutely right. I never understood all the hype about Keller... I don't think he should've been the keeper in the last World Cup... it's time to focus on youth again... Hahnemann is the #1 rated keeper in the EPL and Howard isn't far behind. I'm not saying Keller didn't play well... I'm just saying that I don't think he offers anything to MLS at this point in his career. Why he was called up for the upcoming matches is beyond me. We have guys like Perkins in MLS who deserve a shot too.
Did Kasey ever play in MLS? I'm pretty sure he didnt. I could be wrong and I dont feel like researching it.
Off the mark by a wide margin. The problem is that Keller is too good, and thus too expensive for MLS teams. He would probably be the best keeper in MLS for a number of years were he to come, but he can almost surely get two or three times as much somewhere in Europe. I wish him luck. He's certainly earned our support over the years.
They have no need for him. Pickens has earned his #1 spot and they just brought Busch into camp. As much as I'd like to see Kasey inbetween the pipes for Chicago, they don't need him.
Keller is still in great form. He probably would be a top 3 keeper in MLS for the next 3 years. Still, with the salary structure and the quality of keepers I do not think Keller for 325k or more on the cap is as good of a value as say a Perkins, Zach Wells, or well how much does Reis make? In this sense I also think that Cannon costs too much, but anyway. Its about impact per dollar and for that Keller wouldn't lead MLS.
keller is our best keeper ever, no doubt. but MLS doesn't need him, nor should any teams spend their DP on him. We have a noveau rich heritage of gking, even in mls. the one position we never will have to worry about fulfilling. so why take one who needs a max salary at the end of his career, when what sell tickets are attacking players? this is coming by a gk himself btw
Remember also, that Kasey is also probably asking to play in specific places. Maybe the teams he'd like to play for aren't willing to use their DP slot on him.
Joe Cannon's the only keeper worth really big money in MLS. There are just way too many good netminders from America. No reflection on Kasey, but we just plain don't need him, and he's getting older so his skills will diminish anyway.
From the looks of things the Rapids need a keeper. Fat Zach looked horrible verus Valencia. They should have picked up Busch. KK is not worth the big $$$. My thought from KK's statement. He asked for a lot and a few cities. They all said no and KK says MLS doesn't want me. Makes sense.
Good call on Cannon, the highest paid keeper (at one point anyway). Using the washington post database, I grabed the highest paid GK for each team before last season. It seems foolish for a team to go over 200,000 for a keeper with the salary cap. Code: Pos Player Base Salary Guaranteed Salary GK Cannon, Joe $172,000 $172,000 GK Onstad, Pat $160,000 $160,000 GK Hartman, Kevin $150,000 $158,000 GK Meola, Tony $125,000 $125,000 GK Thornton, Zach $120,000 $120,000 GK Walker, Jonny $110,000 $110,000 GK Garlick, Scott $100,000 $106,667 GK Rimando, Nick $96,800 $102,800 GK Reis, Matt $100,000 $100,000 GK Sala, Dario $90,000 $90,000 GK Guzan, Brad $47,250 $62,250 GK Oshoniyi, Bo $60,000 $60,625
FWIW the idea of Keller not coming back to MLS because he wants more money than anyone is willing to spend on him is speculation, unless anyone has hard facts. I havent seen that. It does seem logical though.