Rumor: Cruz Azul interested in Jose Villarreal and Michael Farfan?

Who is "mid-career"? Farfan?

 

I meant mid-career in the sense that they've all (I was including Baca, generally, though I know he's not a YA) shown they can contribute at the MLS (first-team, first-division) level but hadn't broken through as stars/MNT players. I suppose there was a better term, but I was too lazy to think of it.

 

This is so bizarrely unprecedented. I wonder if Villareal will get most of his minutes in Hidalgo. Farfan is the really interesting one here.

I hope it works out. It very much broadens the possibilities for American players of a more technical skillset. I'd guess players with Mexican passports also restrict Mexican clubs less as well.

I really wonder how this came about. Do the players share an agent or did Cruz Azul dial up mls and say "hey we're looking for inexpensive, skillful players with Mexican passports, can we get a bundle deal?"

 

Farfan has the look of a real nice player whenever I've watched him, but his numbers make it appear he's all sizzle and no steak. He's only got like 4 goals and 8 assists in 3 seasons. That could just be because the Union haven't been very good.

Maybe Liga MX will fit his playing style better.

 

Baca has played matches in Canada and returned, so he's good. For him to "work" for MLS, he has to have some legal status. If he wasn't on a visa that allowed him to work in the US, then the league got him a P-1 visa (just like Diego Fagundez) though it's not always guaranteed they can get someone through the approval process.

If someone is in a paid position with any of the US professional leagues, then you can be 97% sure he has legal status (some mistakes/oversights do happen).

 

When you look at Cruz Azul's forwards, they're not particularly deep. They've got the "OK" Argentine Mariano Pavone, the recent Mexico U23 Amione (on loan from Atlante)..................and then a group of reserve/youth players. Jesus Lara is a good prospect I guess.

When I look at their lineup I see an opportunity there for Villarreal to win playing time. He'll have to earn it, though. It can easily be argued that Villarreal might get more playing time at Cruz Azul right now than the Galaxy (who have Donovan, Kean, Zardes, McBean, Hoffman, Rugg, etc.)

 

Each player should have his own, IMO, since their paths at the club are obviously going to be different from each other.

 

On front page of mlssoccer.com finally, but buried on LA Galaxy blog and nowhere to be found on Philadelphia Union and San Jose Earthquakes' websites.

Thinking Villarreal has best chance at playing time with their senior team. Farfan not so much.

 

The clubs are being ridicolous in not communicating anything about the players moving to Cruz Azul. What's the point of denying everything while they must have been informed about the presentation.

 

It's called MLS rules. They can only have two HGP that make competitive contracts (what I think they still call Generation Addidas contracts). So they already have Zardes(175k) and McBean (100k). Villareal is on 48k and he cannot be offered much more than that.

 

I'm more curious what this (the Villarreal loan mostly) says about the league and it's view of him. It's the league that owns his contract and the voice of the league (Garber) has stated one of it's main goals is to hang on to American talent.

A loan with an option to buy (reportedly @ $1M) to a club outside the league surely implies something about their views of him going forward.....in the context of Garber's previous statements anyway.

It certainly seems odd that they couldn't find a team within the league to work a trade with in order to keep him at home, so to speak.

 

even though the league owns the contract, for the most part LA Galaxy still decide what to do with the player. It's not 100% control, since the league can still veto any player movement (just ask Toronto FC when the league said no when they wanted to sign a player).

If its a $1 mil transfer fee then that's not that bad a deal for LA when you consider with MLS rules they won't be able to keep Villarreal anyway. Ideally you would want to transfer a player of Villarreal's talent at the age 23-24 to get maximum value. I don't think that this loan with an option to buy says anything about LA's views of Villarreal. They see the $1milliom offer is the best option available considering the stringent rules they must operate under when it comes to signing HGP.

 

While I don't dispute what you're saying regarding the rules and Galaxy's point of view, my understanding (from Mr Garber) is that the league would prefer to find ways to keep American talent in the league and not let it be siphoned off to foreign leagues.

For instance, if Villarreal were to become a national team regular in the future, he'd be far more valuable to MLS if he's still playing in MLS rather than at Cruz Azul......more than $1M anyway.

So, from where I'm sitting, I wonder what it says about the league's view of his future potential that they'd let him go to another league rather than manufacture some rule bending trade to keep him.

 

Tom Marshall with some analysis on the moves (most of it on Villarreal).

Ives also called the Farfan move a full transfer.

MLS Soccer translation of the Cruz Azul sporting director's comments

The sporting director says he discussed the players with Curt Onalfo.

 

The Union announce Farfan's move as a full transfer.

Galaxy announce Villarreal loan.

Cruz Azul start the Liga MX Clausura 1/4.

They were drawn against Sporting Kansas City in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.

 

This is false. We can offer Villarreal $350k if we want, he just would count against our cap like any other player. Same for Zardes or McBean. We could just consider them full roster players to bring in another off budget, above league minimum HG signing (which isn't actually GA). Whether the Galaxy FO sees any value in doing so is a completely different story.

I can't speak for all Galaxy fans, but I'm slightly disappointed. Villarreal has not progressed as much as most Galaxy fans hoped following the past two seasons, but he's shown glimpses. I don't really see a "best case scenario" for the Galaxy. If he plays well, Cruz Azul buys him for a relatively low price (though the allocation money would certainly be helpful). I don't think he's ready for a full time roll for Cruz Azul, and I don't think him playing for the reserves is better for his development than playing significant minutes for the Galaxy and our USL Pro squad.

 

I don't think its false. But if I'm wrong then I'm willing to admit it. MLS rules are confusing.

Also, I don't think Villarreal's status is the same as Zardes and McBean. Both Zardes and McBean are on Generation Addidas contracts. Also, if you remember the case of Paul Arriola, LAG could not give him a competitive offer because of MLS rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homegrown_Player_Rule_(Major_League_Soccer)
MLS roster rules allow a team to sign up to two player per year to contracts similar to Generation adidas contracts,[2] which do not count against the MLS salary budget and may earn a much higher salary than the league minimum. While only two of these contracts are available, there is no limit to the number of Home Grown Players a club may sign in a given year.[3]

 

I'll provide an example, but we should probably as on topic as possible.

DC United in 2012:
Najar -$180k
Hamid - $85k
White - $86k
Shanosky - $84k

All four of them acquired via the HG method and at some point someone had to come off the off budget HG roster spot.

Neither Zardes nor McBean are on GA contracts. MLS rules (http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/roster-rules-and-regulations), state "Club may sign up to two Homegrown Players contracts above the minimum salary and similar to Generation adidas contract amounts". It isn't a GA contract (where Adidas pays their salary), but rather similar to GA amounts. There may be (and likely are) contract stipulations and other quirks that make the contracts different, but they haven't been released to the public.

We lost Arriola for a multitude of reasons, but it's entirely possible we could have moved McBean to a full roster spot and signed Arriola to a off budget HG contract (or vise versa). It's entirely possible we may made Arriola a very good offer and he chose to sign for TJ anyway. He is likely making more with TJ than the $100-200k we could have offered him anyway. This is not really the place to discuss it, however.

 

Villarreal never got to play his preferred position with the Galaxy most of the time. Obviously, that is not the Galaxy's fault, but young players need games.

I just thought the Galaxy would give him an extended run out at his preferred position with all of the absences this season.

 

I'm surprised the league couldn't find a way to bend the rules to benefit the Galaxy this time.

 

LoL! Suckers!

That is disappointing about Arriola. Now he'll be just another Arriola in a sea of arriolas down in Tijuana.

 

Well now that this is confirmed by LAG (Villarreal, 12 month loan) and Philly (Farfan, full transfer) shouldn't someone start separate threads for Jose V and M Farfan?