Re: Alejandro Guido on trial in the Netherlands I apologize I should have added aface to indicate my internet sarcasm. We will call that one my bad.
Tijuana is basically becoming a US team. They're on the border, they have fans that come to games from the US, they get covered by a US newspaper, they have a bunch of US players, some of whom live in the US (Guido may join this list) and they play exhibitions in the US. Yes, they still have mostly Mexican players, but they have about as many Americans as the New York Red Bulls.
MLS should move Chivas USA to San Diego and rebranded them as Xolos USA. That would be an amazing rivalry game if they played every year, kind of like a derby. Does anyone else think this is a good idea or are the markets of Tijuana and SD too close together?
Tijuana considers San Diego part of its market. IT doesn't have any sort of official rights to it by any means but they market themselves to American fans in San Diego heavily. Moving Chivas anywhere would be nice but right now they just serve as a cost free advertisement for the parent club and I doubt they are going to do anything about them.
Agree, how many guys want to play for $40K (if you are lucky), play reserve and no guaranteed of being there next year. Tijuana gave him a three year deal. Just ask Dynamo's Navas Cobo what happens if you are no longer needed, bye bye. Rarely do you get a sniff of playing if you are young specially with a coach like Dominic Kinnear. Another coach, maybe.
Hmmm, I'm not an expert on MLS rules, it's all very complicated. But why wouldn't Guido not be offered a Generation Adidas contract for low six figures 100k-200k with a five year contract?
MLS does not value Guido as $100k-$200k. I'm not sure how many ended with this contract this year, but they were not many (maybe 5-8). MLS sees everybody else as MLS doing them a favor by paying them $40k and should just be happy to be playing "professionally". I guess if you make $1 out of it you should be happy and wait you also can make more money by coaching youth, going to events, and so on and if you get a roommate to help you pay your rent and bills then you are set! Stuart Holden I believe was making $24K-$32K. That was his value when he started and also when it was over.
I know guys like Holden and Ream weren't making more money than me until they moved to Bolton. I guess I assumed Guido was higher on the list for MLS.
We have no idea what Tijuana signed him for. Until we know that everything is wild speculation. Yes MLS can sign young prospects for more than $40K and you know it. All the GA and a few HGs signed for significantly more than 40K. And also yes you are right in the inference that there is more money in Mexico to make speculative talent signings. To use Stuart Holden who signed his contract after coming back from Sunderland and could have easily resigned for much more than 6 figures is not accurate. He chose not to. At the time he signed that first contract he was exactly worth that amount. His talent proved to make the deal in hindsight less than it may should have been. I do agree with your overall tone despite my concerns with your specifics. MLS has to address how they indicate that the long term growth of the sport in the US is signing young talented American players while at the same time not making any attempt to change rules or recruit and pay those young talented players like Stevie Rodrequez and Ale Guido. Actions speak louder than words. Tijuana is becoming what Chivas USA only dreams of.. Being the Mexican-American connection to soccer loving fans in Southern California.
I don't think any non-college player was offered a GA contract, which is weird. Well except Junior Flores, so why wouldn't Guido be on the MLS list. Maybe he was offered and it never leaked.
To be honest, it is pretty sweet business for MLS owners. You have very small team salary cap which you can use as an excuse not to pay more. Some teams are willing to spend more to win (LA, Seattle, NY..), while others just get by. If you can sign a young talent for $40k-$60K for three years with 2nd and 3rd year being "Team Option" years, which means they can cut you after the first year with no problems, but if you do great then sorry I still have you locked for two more years and there isn't a thing you can do. Maybe they offer a little more and renew contract, but contract is going to have to change to a 5 year contract with 4th and 5th year "Team Option". Well as a kid, you are getting a raise so you take it, but later you really want to go somewhere else, too bad. Oh yeah when your contract expires if another team wants you guess what, they need to give something to your old team (draft picks, allocation $)or you can't have him eventhough the team is paying you $0 and contract has expired. Geniuses and guess what the Players Union approved this, awesome!!!!! All for the Love of the game (players) and Money(owners)!
This is for another thread but... this shows the need for a competent Reserve League in MLS, and a greater effort to sign young American talent. Really should not low-ball young American talent.
This isn't some regular foreign team though... Tijuana has a unique situation which makes them more local for some of the players than MLS.
They are still going to be limited to Mexican-American players because of the foreign player limit in Mexico.
True. Guido and Corona are from the San Diego area. I won't be surprised if they start signing more and more kids from the greater SD area. Despite the border crossing, a lot easier to get to TJ than to drive up I5 to get to Carson. Also, when the likes or Eric Avila and the Farfans, who grew up outside San Diego in Chula Vista, are out of contract, I imagine they'll look to line up trials at Los Xolos.
Esteban Rodriguez also a San Diego product. With a SENTRI pass crossing the border makes it waaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier than driving to LA. It's basically like driving from parts of LA to Carson.
Xolos are heavily recruiting players in San Diego. They recently had open tryouts. good for Guido, he is going to a good team
Unless like every American that the Xolos have signed, they have at least one Mexican Parent so they don't count against the foreign player limit.