I like Almiron. I also think it isnt a good look for a team to pay over $25M for a guy that tears up MLS and has ZERO production after almost a full year. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Is that what they are asking now for Long? They supposedly put a price of $15M on him this summer. Now he supposedly has a release clause for $6M. I guess all of them, one of them, or none of them could be true. I dont think Long has played well for the USMNT this year and find it odd that offers in the summer were reportedly in the $3M range and they are now going to get double that in the winter transfer window. I dont think Long is anything close to being worth $6M. He is a 27yo, athletic CB with only 3 season of experience and is terrible on the ball. I see there is a rumor that Southampton is interested in him. That must just be for cover unless they plan on selling guys they have. They have 5 CBs have a value of $8M or higher. The three with the highest values are under contract for 2.5 more years, including the two top choice guys who are valued at ~$17M and ~$23M. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...red-bulls-turn-down-transfer-offer-aaron-long
I didn't say he deserves anything. He is where he is. Your question was "Where would Almiron be a better fit". My answer is "On a better, more open attacking team". He'd definitely have to get his stats way up to make such a move happen.
European clubs low-balling MLS clubs on American players is standard (Jozy being the exception). I've seen repeated a number of times that the release clause is $6m. I don't know if that's all people regurgitating some number that one guy heard, or if it's been cross-referenced. I can't remember ever coming across that $15m figure you saw somewhere. In any case, $6m is chump change for most EPL clubs. At $15m, you're right, extremely unlikely that anyone would even have a sniff. Long is a very good athlete and a solid and capable CB. His passing is not great, for sure, but he's not "terrible on the ball" either. He was a CM prior to conversion, after all. Yes, I understand that part of the reason for the conversion was likely that he didn't have the ball/passing skills to play there. That doesn't mean he sucks at those things. My eye test doesn't conclude what yours does.
What recent purchase of an MLS player could be easily viewed as a success? Adams for sure but I'd be interested to see how one could argue that MLS talents are under-valued by major league clubs. Hopefully we won't have to go much farther back than 5 years or so to get a fulsome list.
European clubs are in the most competitve, most dense professional environment without cartel like closed shop leagues to protect them. That environment is also the most transparent market for players. What you are suggesting is that those clubs act against their own interests by ignoring top quality available they need to survive in a real competitive environment. Yup, sounds very plausible.
Let's get some data before we make judgments Good Adams ($3m) Steffen ($10m) Davies ($13m) Bad Almiron ($32m) Miazga ($6m)
There are so few players sold by MLS that it would be impossible to make a list. We will see next month, but MLS basically sold nobody over the Summer. They sold a handful last January. I don't think they sold many in the windows before that. Horta, Adams, Davies and Steffan would be the entire list. But if you exclude moves to the auxilliary South American leagues or China/Korea, that is almost all the players sold. In 2018, they sold almost nobody from the entire league. Torres was sold and has certainly not been successful. Tabla has not been a success. That is it. MLS doesn't sell. They talk about it endlessly, but never do it. If you take out the two teams owned by European clubs, you have the odd journeyman Mexican moving from MLS to LigaMX every couple of years. A couple of kids who were never starters have also been sold.
There haven't been to many to this point have there? Off the top of my head I can think of Adams Davies Almiron Durkin (loan) Steffan Of the group, Durkin (as far as I know) has barely played but he wasn't really playing in DC eitehr (except due to injuries). Is that a wash or a failure? Almiron, as far as I know was effective upon joining the team last season but has been far less effective this year under a new coach. So far not a resounding success. Adams: check. Davies seems to be alright. Steffan seems to be alright. Almiron: Jury is still out. Durkin: Jury still out.
I'm not making judgement about players, but on the assertion Euro clubs ignore quality, while they need it to survive. Feyenoord has shit to spend, so if there's a source with undervalued top quality players, they would be on the plane already, beggars we are.
looking at these numbers, it’s hard to say that MLS players get lowballed unless we’re taking about really young players or a GK. I’d guess that Long’s value is around $6m. He’s a lot older than Miazga was and doesn’t have the upside that everyone was hoping Matt potentially had. On the flip side, values have inflated since Matt left.
The low-balling I refer to usually ended up in a given player not getting a transfer, so they wouldn't appear on any list we could discuss. I don't have the ability to go back through time to compile all of the miserable low-ball offers for players x, y and z--offers which MLS clubs invariably scoffed at.
can you pls name a couple off the top of your head? im guessing that these numbers were way below those listed above.
I suspect they were players in the missing generation that we all thought highly of when they were young and before we knew they weren't nearly as good as previous players. We may have overvalued them but professional scouts didn't.
I wish I could remember any, but I can't. I remember them mostly being finished products (23-26 roughly) in or near their prime.
Ok - I don't think there's any US players in MLS who I think should have transferred to the major leagues in the past five years but didn't - maybe Nagbe? Even there, I think he got an offer and turned it down.
Almost all the MLS players from the 2014 World Cup team had the opportunity to go to Europe. Only Yedlin chose to do so. Besler, Zusi, Davis, etc. were given large contracts by MLS to stay in MLS and they did. Morris was offered a contract and then was given a large contract (relatively) to stay in Seattle. Pretty infamous example. Celtic had a deal with MLS for Nagbe, but in the end, he didn't really care to go. Most of the guys called in now, Roldan, Lovitz, Trapp, Zardes are the ones that nobody has really been interested in. One person's lowball in another's fair value. MLS clubs typically need more over market price to sell since the league gets a large cut of the transfer. If Long is worth $8MM, NYRB really needs to sell him for $12MM to get $8MM. So, MLS teams high ball their players and this is why they tend to sell to teams where $5 MM here or there is nothing (Miazga to Chelsea, Steffan to Man City) when they sell at all; which is very rarely.
I would just say this. We really have no idea that "nobody has really been interested" in those current MLS players you list. I remember talking to an FCD front office member who said they receive "interest" about their players on a constant basis. Almost none of that is made public. An agent makes it public if it serves their interests. Of note, most clubs/leagues in this hemisphere sell their players in order to stay financially sound and afloat. Its a crucial part of their business plan. Many MLS clubs DO NOT need to sell players in order to stay in business. The protection of the single entity system provides that as well. Does NYRB need to sell Aaron Long? No. He's under contract. Of course "the next Aaron Long" may not sign for NYRB if they think the club doesn't do what's in the best interests of its players.
Right, there is no formal process. Probably 80% of what we hear is stuff made up by agents to increase interest. While that 20% that is real, that we hear about, is probably 10% of the total activity, maybe less. Much of the communication is not even between clubs. It is agents for players and agents for clubs.
So here it is again. Props to FC Dallas for sending their kids to Bayern for training and especially posting this clip. If only MLS fans could accept what just about every american player says about the differences between MLS and Euro clubs. Here are the key differences that 7 MLS DA players had to say about the differences between MLS and Bayern/Bundesliga... Higher technical level Higher intensity Faster speed of play Stronger mentality/more focused Everyone is trying to be the best they can be (not true in MLS) All opponents are competitive (not true in the DA) Watch the boys talk about their experience at @FCBayernUS.Stay to hear the German phrases they've learned. 😂ft. @eastmamba 👀 #DTID | #MisSanMia pic.twitter.com/opP3UYKQue— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) December 8, 2019
I'm hoping that with the kids continuing to go to Bayern that they start pushing for FCD to replicate that environment. They need to come back and train the way they did there and push everyone else by doing so. With four plus doing it they could easily force the rest to match them or get blown away.
1) Who doesn't think FCB is a higher level than MLS and DA? 2). These are pretty standard athlete platitudes. Richards said it took him a few games to get up to speed, wow.
Richards never played a minute in MLS. Sure Bayern is way ahead of FC Dallas but he would have had to adjust to MLS from DA also.
First of all, it isnt just Bayern, but pretty much all Bundesliga sides. No idea, but being called a Euro snob for wanting American players to move to "a higher level" raises a lot of questions. These arent platitudes. It isnt magic pixie dust either. They are the exact things that force players to raise their game. How do you think these players are going to compete at the international level down the road? Do think MLS is really onto something by having our players playing a less technical level, at slower speed of play, in uncompetitive environment that allows players to coast when they feel like it? So the teams that are the absolute best at this in MLS by a wide margin are a ways off the level of the Bundesliga. MLS isnt anywhere close to reaching its potential in player development but there are fans that are just so excited that they've made some progress. I guess FCD deserves a participation trophy.
This could help with all the items listed except the last one. They still need opponents to compete with at a higher level. All teams should be doing this. It is probably the simplest way to improve the culture in the shortest amount of time.