https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...ncinnati-acquire-us-international-kenny-saief Done. FCC have acquired Kenny on loan from Anderlecht.
I've heard the loan only runs up to the summer but the buyout fee on the loan is really high. I doubt it will be excercised. To keep Saief with Cincinnati beyond the loan will require negotiations to lower the amoung.
The problem is that I've heard the buyout is north of $2.5 million (near $3 mil). For that kind of $$, you can probably buy a player better than Kenny. But to be clear, when he's 100%, I like Kenny.
Agreed, but let's say he comes in and just kills it. Negotiating down from a figure close to $3M is not a bad place to start. If he comes in and is meh, nothing really is lost. I just hope the kid is finally healthy and gets a chance to show what he can do.
WHAT A BALL. 😍Saief to Lamah for the #FCCincy equalizer! #ATLvCIN https://t.co/Ylu6vrs1Xs— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 10, 2019 Very solid move and pass on the assist.
Unsure what comes after his FCC loan ends: https://sbisoccer.com/2019/05/mls-spotlight-kenny-saief-unsure-if-he-will-stay-with-fc-cincinnati-past-this-summer European teams are already expressing interest in the 25-year-old midfielder, according to Saief, but he believes discussions will not ramp up until after their respective season’s end and the summer transfer window comes into full focus in a few weeks’ time. He certainly is not ruling out a return back to the old continent, however, especially since he considers it to be a higher level, particularly tactically, than MLS.
That also sums up Cincinnati, more or less. They have 1 goal in their last 6 games, and have gone 431 minutes without a goal.
His loan is ending: Some breaking #FCCincy news from @samstejskal and myself: Kenny Saief's time in the Queen City is up. Sources telling @TheAthleticSCCR that the team is in the process of terminating the U.S. international's loan. https://t.co/qmDjJX8tLH— Jeff Rueter (@jeffrueter) June 11, 2019
His first game was really good and then I stopped paying attention and didn't hear anything. Was he good? FWIW, bshredder informed us this was the most likely outcome when the loan began. Anderlecht wants too much money for him.
Ahhhh, according to The Athletic his loan is ending early because he injured his hamstring and is already in Belgium going through rehab. FCC thinks he won't be ready to play before July 1st and all parties agreed to the mutual termination.
He looked good considering who he has around him. You can tell he has a lot of talent, but he tried doing too much too often because he didn’t have great options to connect with. Ended up losing the ball often.
My take was he started bright early, then faded quickly. I saw the game after his "breakout" MLS game (2nd or 3rd one, don't remember) and he didn't look fully fit, didn't look fully committed even then. He had some nice moments going forward for sure but seemed to quickly get found out or lose a step due to physical limitations. Then he mouthed off in the press about how he was only there a short time any way and wanted to show well enough to land somewhere else in Europe. But if you're not gonna play defense and not be good enough to win only going forward you can go ahead and leave. Kinda distasteful comments imo and I think he needs to make a serious commitment to fitness. Either injuries have really taken their toll or he wasn't very athletic to begin with, but he looked gassed and slow before his "hamstring injury". Can't imagine he'll have too many-- if any-- clubs in a top first division after him
This reporting by Lauren Pfahler for the Athletic is behind a paywall, but since it's a few weeks out of date I'll post more than usual. Anderlecht's price tag probably doomed any Saief transfer to begin with, but the relationship with Cincinnati fell apart by the middle of May: Kenny Saief didn’t understand. Going into FCC’s game at Orlando City [on May 19], the team was without midfielders Roland Lamah, Allan Cruz, Leonardo Bertone and Fatai Alashe because of injuries or, in Lamah’s case, a family issue. The Anderlecht loanee had been dealing with some tightness in his hamstring that he attributed to not being used to so many flights, particularly during a three-game road trip earlier this month. However, Saief trained the entire week leading up to that Orlando match and said he feels fit enough to be contributing more regularly. Yet still, Saief was on the bench to open the game. FC Cincinnati ended up crashing to a 5-1 loss, and Saief believes he could have done more to help. He entered the game in the 65th minute, by which time the team was already down three goals. It wasn’t an isolated incident; Saief hasn’t played more than those 25 minutes over the past two games since interim coach Yoann Damet replaced Alan Koch. “I felt the past week I trained every day, which (some of) the other guys didn’t train the full days, and it’s not fair,” Saief said. “I think the staff should have let me start above them, but I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Whoever plays we should support them.” ... Asked specifically why Saief didn’t start Sunday, Damet indicated he’s just not seeing what he needs to out of the player. “We are managing the team,” Damet said. “ I have some priorities too in terms of the way I want to play in terms of the mentality of the team, in terms of what I’m looking for in and out of possession. So that’s part of the reason he didn’t start last week.” Saief started off his MLS tenure well despite joining FCC the week after the season opener. He assisted Lamah’s late equalizer to secure a 1-1 draw at Atlanta in his debut off the bench the week he joined, and also had a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win at New England on March 24. But since then, FCC has struggled while going 1-7-1 and Saief has obviously grown frustrated with the results, displaying negative body language on the field and all but confirming his feelings in comments to the media. He didn’t play at all in Damet’s first game as acting manager, a 2-1 win over Montreal on May 11. “That’s the coaches’ decision,” Saief said when asked if there are other reasons besides fitness as to why he isn’t playing as much. “I will try to work hard and hopefully I will play the next game.” https://theathletic.com/994600/2019...ted-by-lack-of-starts-amid-cincinnatis-slide/
seems like they know he's leaving so don't want to invest minutes in him. I like the openness, though...refreshing for a change.
According to the MLS Salary Guide, Saief is making a pretty penny. $1,511,767.00/year on a prorated basis from MLS. That's a lot higher than I expected, shows how much Belgian teams are willing to pay. At that rate, I would expect more Americans to head to Belgium (assuming they can obtain EU citizenship somehow).
Anderlecht, internally, has been a mess for a while. I don't know all the details of the mess but it stems from the disdain for the ownership group. Violent protests, crowd trouble, and everything in-between has gone on for the better part of year at Anderlecht. Missing out on Europe for the first time in 56 years - you read that right 56 years - there will be some turnover in players. Kenny might have a chance to regain his place or at the very least start from scratch. Not to mention Mr. Vincent Kompany will be player-manager and that already has the faithful buzzing. Anderlecht is going to be an interesting follow with Kompany at the helm. I hope it's a positive and not a negative. Who knows......maybe Kenny can help the rebuild at Anderlecht. I don't know what to think of his time at FCC. It was a botched attempt by both parties. Wash you hands of it and move on.
Nope. Belgium's method for restricting foreigners is that same as Holland's: a minimum salary for non-EUs. A player worth $1.5M has no issues.
Yup, there is no cap on non-EU players in Belgium and if they have a minimum salary floor, it's likely much lower than in the Netherlands. Case in point: Sint-Truiden in the top division was purchased by a Japanese internet company (ok, basically an online porn company) and subsequently signed 6 Japanese players.
It's an old figure (has to be like 10 years now) but I think at one point in the early 2000's it was 60k Euro. There was talk of changing it because at that point there were so many non-Belgian players, but I dunno if anything happened. Probs a few of the real Belgians that post in the Horvath thread know better.
Yes Belgium has no minimum salary rules. That's why the Belgian league has one of the highest percentage of foreigners in Europe.