I think for some NT stars they may opt for a million or 2 to remain at MLS. though for average players who may be earning 100 or 200 K when they could easily earn 500 K -800 K in a top league (though way more competition and perhaps they don't have work permit) it could be tempting still even for the next decade or 2
Yea I guess it all depends on where the numbers come down. 500-800K may actually equate to 300k or less in the US when you factor in total US and foreign taxes, cost of living, driving (yes that is also very expensive), cost to visit family in US etc. And Glasgow just isn't Portland. Edinburgh is fun and so is London but travel and visiting isn't cheap there either.
the money celtic was paying and the money mls is paying are not the same. MLS was paying 2 million for nagbe for the 4 year deal. 500k x 4. celtic was offering slightly more per season...wasnt it like 700k? plus the 3 million....thats an overall outlay of close to 6 million...so, in essence...3 times more than MLS was paying for Nagbe's service....A HUGE DIFFERENCE. (even if it was not a slight raise...500k x 4 + 3 million = 5 million or 2.5 times what MLS was paying for nagbe's services. If nagbe was willing to wait 2016 season out...those 8 months and be free of MLS....wouldnt he have made at least twice as much with celtic as he is with MLS? would celtic still offer nagbe the same salary they did with the transfer fee as they wouldve without it?? they were willing to spend 5-6 million on the guy.....gotta think they wouldve given him at least 1 million+ per season a huge raise. So its kinda not true that the money wouldve been the same if he didnt sign the extension. all im saying, and maybe it is harsh, is that he too the safe route and got less money as a result even if the salaries offered were comparable....if he wanted to leave MLS...he never shuldve signed that extension. signing that 4 year extension made leaving MLS a lot less likely. im biased against MLS in these deals because ive seen how they act....i remember what they did to shalrie joseph etc....it used to be the NORM that players would play out their deals to leave MLS...and that signing the extension was basically waving the white flag on leaving the league...and it still is to some extent.
I know many people who picked up and moved overseas with children in hand, for various reasons. Where did this idea come about that once you have children you're essentially anchored to your current location?
Geoff Cameron transfered to Stoke about 18 months after signing a new extension with MLS. Jermain Defoe still had 3 years left on his contract. If the offer is right and the player wants to move, MLS will sell a player with a few years still left on their contract. If I were Portland, I'd turn down $3 million for Nagbe.
Uh 700K in Glasgow would not come close to 500K in Portland. MLS would have made money but Nagbe would have lost money. If I were him with the numbers you said, it would have been a no brainer to turn it down. The financially smart route would be to take the MLS deal. This is why staying in MLS may be better than going to a mid table club in Europe. It also should explain to folks why some older players are headed to China. Financial security.
Your argument is convoluted. I've never heard anyone make the argument that "X club paid X money for X player's transfer so that player will get less money in their contract." While it's true in a sense, because money isn't an endless resource, that's the way the transfer market tends to work. The transfer fee is a market value that is attached to a given player which gives the right to then sign that player to a contract. The transfer fee and contract salary are separate negotiations. If some club wants Messi, for example, and he's still under contract they'd likely have to pay a f-ckton of money for the right to sign him to a contract. But his contract value is still going to be really frickin' high. $15M a year, maybe, but certainly among the highest in the world (even including China). Yes, if no one paid transfer fees then maybe the Messi in this scenario would get $25M instead. But then there would be no contracts and players could go play one game in a Barcelona jersey and the next in a ManU one.
If you're moving to a stable job where you won't be fighting to keep it, risking to be shipped somewhere else time and again, yeah. But that was not the case here.
dude...i generally like your posts and have noticed I usually agree with what you say. but not in this. i understand how transfer fees work and why they exist. my whole point comes down to .....if the player isnt under contract to anyone...no transfer fee will be paid and they can thus make a lot more money....they can cut out the middle man! i suppose celtic would onyl pay nagbe 700-800k salary if they didnt have to pay 3 million for the transfer...but to me...from a negotiating standpoint a player on a free transfer can command a larg part of that 6 million that the club was willing to put out to get nagbe. imagine the conversation celtic management had about getting nagbe: "well we need a good midfielder...we got 6 million to spend on someone...who can we get ..? lets get nagbe....." they were willing to put out 6 million...if MLS didnt have to take 50%....dont you think they would still be willing to spend that money directly to the player himself??? nagbe was mere months of escaping the serfdom of MLS owning his rights....but he took 250k to give up his long-term contractual freedom through 2019....that and only that is why he wont play for celtic. bottomline. the crucial mistake nagbe made was signing that extension 9 months before he wanted to transfer. how do you not understand this?
duuuude....it wouldve been a no-brainer to not sign taht contract extension 8 months ago!!!! in fact, it is exactly the opposite of what you are saying. the smart thing for mls players who have interest from champions league teams is to play out their rookie deals in MLS and NOT SIGN AN EXTENSION. then he woulda been getting a lot more than 700k as his salary....how do you not see that?????? do you think the 3 million celtic wouldve given to MLS is some separate money that wouldnt be there at least in part for the player if they werent owned by anyone??
Some absolutely bizarre statements in here regarding Nagbe to Celtic. From thinking that the natives have never seen a black man before to stabbing anything that moves. Glasgow is a multicultural place, third largest in the UK, not some backwater like a lot of you are making out. Do a little bit of research on a place before denegrating it. Glasgow is a brilliant place, vibrant, arty, beautiful.
I am not disagreeing about his extension and the timing and that decision. Based on where he is today and his wage demands now and the cost of living delta, tax liability etc. the decision makes sense. Champions league or not the finances need to add up for him, not just MLS and Celtic.
Ever been to Portland or the Pacific NW? Compared to Glasgow it is a stark contrast. And I am not talking about stabbing rates or skin color or what not.
And yes I have been to Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Highlands recently. I have also been to Portland. Pacific NW is just great.
have you been to Portland and/or the Pacific NW? weather - plus to Portland - yes can be grey and rainy - but can be wonderful - geography - very nice city in and of itself - but the Pacific coast, the mountains, skiing, hiking, the evergreens, the Columbia River, fishing, hunting, camping, fitness/athletics on and on and on. Yes the Highlands has some of that as well - but sorry the Pacific NW is just better. art, jobs, technology, food, vibe ... - my vote again goes to Portland ... if in Scotland I would rather be in Edinburgh ... education - yes Glasgow has strong credentials there ... golf - no brainer there ... taxes and economics - Europe is what it is - dense, urban, connected, historical - and damn expensive ..
I'm Cascadian, and I approve this message. No detriment to Glasgow. Been there, could have stayed there for good in a top job. But after the PNW, anything else seems a downgrade.
So the stark contrasts you're talking about are actual personal prefences about which place offers the best hunting and camping etc. I'm out.
I thought it was no matter what, you pay US taxes? I didn't know there was a lower limit. IMO very dumb that we do that. I know that it's designed to keep CEO Ex-Pats paying taxes, or something like that, but we're like the only country that makes people abroad pay twice...
You do but you get a deduction based on what you paid overseas (as Bob has linked). Keep in mind there is a deductible limit. So yes Darlington would pay taxes to US and the U.K. This is part of the reason the signing may not have made sense to him. You need to make quite a bit more than you would in the States to make it financially worth it, and I don't know that he would make a lot from sponsorship deals.
In countries that have a treaty with the USA, there's this Foreign Earned Income Exclusion where you only pay the tax of whatever you'd pay for over ~$100K in taxes were you in the USA.
Yep, when you make a juicy salary overseas, once you're past the FEIE limit, you pay taxes there and here, which means if you get into the top earning class in the USA , you pay the 25% for everything over that limit, and about 15% for everything between 100K and that limit. The short of it is if you're making over $300,000K and living in a Western Euro country, you end up paying about 20% locally plus 15% for anything over 100K and under 190K, and 25% above that, to Uncle Sam (keep in mind I'm already using all the possible exceptions, and I'm assuming you're savvy enough to hire a tax expert to minimize things, otherwise you may end up paying 30% locally plus 25% until 190K and 35% above that). After you hit a certain limit, though, no matter what trick your tax guy pulls, you're going to be paying through your nose. And back in the day that limit was around 350K. Anything above that, you'll be giving half of it to the two governments.
Aren't taxes just wonderful? What a privilege he thought it was going to be to live in Glasgow - till somebody told how much he would really make there.