He wanted to bring his family to Utah, really can not blame him for not wanting to pack up last summer. I also hold out some hope that if he stays he could have a decent year next season.
As most of you know, I was a big fan of Yura coming back, and I can honestly say he really did nothing to make me want to see his time here extended. My question was and still is? if we cannot unload Yura, what will we do with him and what can we expect if he stays next season.
If he stays, we expect nothing, try to keep our bad attitudes to a minimum because he's still RSL family and that isn't totally nothing despite the Javi thing, and then we delight in anything he does to prove us wrong. I think that's really the only option.
So much this. Finding a trade for Yura is going to be incredibly costly for RSL. Who is going to trade for him AND pay a high salary, given his recent form? Nobody. And Yura is not going to take much of a pay cut when he's got a contract in place already. So, RSL is going to have to pay some of his salary next year almost for sure, even if we move him. In fact, I can even imagine a scenario where it is better for RSL not to move him, and just eat his salary and have him as nice option off the bench. Obviously, we don't want to pay $2M for a back-up...but that ship sailed when we signed him to a contract and things didn't pan out. This is going to be a steep task for CW, and my hopes are not high.
In the trib article yesterday about Kyle's going the way of the dodo there was a blurb about Yura, he explicitly stated he will not come back here and sit on the bench. It's going to be extremely difficult to get rid of him, especially with his shit attitude.
they didn't because Yura blocked it. CW then spun this to be Yura being good to the team instead of, you know, pointing out that he, as GM, agreed to Yura having that kind of ability in trade negotiations.
1. You don't take the cap hit if you do it in the off season. Buyout of Guaranteed Contract A club may buy out one player who has a Guaranteed Contract (including a DP's) during the offseason and free up the corresponding budget space. Such a buyout is at the MLS club's expense. A club may not free up room in the salary budget with a buyout of a player's contract during the season. In the case a team buys out a player's contract during the season, the buyout amount will be charged against the club's salary budget. 2. ha ha ha ha ha ha, you said Yura and run/chase. That's funny.
I don't get why Yura is so pissed. I get paid about 5% of what he makes and I actually have to do work. Who can I complain to?
This is why I got a kick out of Waibel's comment that he and Yura have a great relationship. Of course they do; CW signed him to a $2m annual contract. It's the relationship with the rest of the team that really matters.
At around your income level, maybe just a little less, more money stops adding happiness. If someone with your income or greater is unhappy about money, it means there's a spending problem, not an earning one. (This could be somewhat warped in fields like entertainment where the earning years are compressed so making and saving extra during one's prime might still add a bit of contentment, but the basics would still hold. I haven't seen literature on this though, so it's just speculation.) Income and wealth at his level and beyond connect to happiness solely through their symbolic values: it's a sign of importance. Yura is supposed to be on the field whenever healthy. He's supposed to be the biggest contributor to the team. That's what it means to make more than twice any of his teammates. He's clearly not getting the time and isn't the focus when he is playing, so he's unhappy, and so is everyone else. Now, there are several hypotheses about what his problems are: lack of effort, wrong system, and personality conflicts with coaching staff and/or teammates, seem to be the ones heard most often about his situation. The system isn't changing, and the coach definitely isn't. Whether he thinks it's fair or not, there are only two variables subject to change: attitude and place of employment. One may depend on finding an interested third party, if his contract has provisions preventing him from being waived. The other is internal. Even if he feels wronged, he can get to work and do his best within what the team is trying to accomplish. It's easy to say that, though. As a young player, he was probably used to being the best, and having his team built around him, not having to adjust his play to others (Rusnak and Savarino, in this case).
So, as I see it we have a few realistic options here: 1. Trade - It'll be difficult to find a trade. Remember Yura can block the trade if he prefers to sit on the bench here in SLC. I don't expect that he wants to ride the pine in SLC vs going somewhere else. But, I don't know that there are a lot of MLS teams that would want him. I guess he has scored almost 10 goals a season in the last two years... but at $2 million and a DP spot? If anyone wanted him, it may be Orlando. I mean, they just shed a DP spot with Kaka and it looks like they may get paid by the Larin to Europe rumors. Kreis and Yura reunion? Yura could play well up top off of Dum Dwyer. I could sell it on their forums... If we gave him up for a 73rd round draft pick I would say that's a win. Orlando's next leading scorers behind Larin and Kaka scored 5, 4, and 3 goals respectively. As desperate as we are to get rid of a guy who scored 18 goals in the last 2 years, they will be needing one. 2. Loan - This is much more plausible. There are teams around the globe that have seen Yura play well for a while. He was a hot commodity at one point. He is 30, but hasn't stopped scoring goals. There are teams that are desperate for a goal scorer up front. It was rumored that the deal to get him out was a loan option to a team in Europe where we would pay $1,000,000 of his remaining salary and they would pay the other $1,000,000. That has to look attractive to some teams given his pedigree. Pay $1,000,000 for Yura on loan? I could see it happening. My question is: does that mean we get our DP spot back? I don't think so. I also think that his $450,000 DP money hits the cap. 3. Buyout - Barring some amazing trade... buying out Yura seems the next best option if we want to clear his salary from our books, sign Savorino ($1,000,000 price tag), and to have enough $$$ to sign another DP (Joquera?). A buyout can be done in the offseason without hitting the cap. A buyout means that RSL would negotiate a release price tag with Yura. DLH would pay $0.50, $0.65, or $0.80 cents on the dollar to Yura depending on how bad Yura wanted to leave vs. riding the pine. At $1.9 million owed this year and $1.9 next year, he would be asking probably around $2 - $3 million to get released and then he would be free to sign with another team for whatever he can get on the open market. He would likely make more this year than he would playing for RSL and we would get out from his contract. We may find him serviceable enough and playing from the bench may drive him crazy enough that we could get a little more of a discount... especially seeing how we had a deal for $1,000,000 back for a loan. Good negotiation should be a possibility to find a number that works for everyone in the case there is no interest in a trade. 4. Keep him - Keeping him is more of a bargaining chip. I think Waibel is crazy enough to do it if Yura doesn't blink in negotiations. It would screw our ability to add another piece, but Petke was able to turn the ship around in spite of the Yura situation so this just means that Yura would sit on the bench and Petke would use him situationally if at all. The fact that that's a possibility should be enough motivation for both parties to find accord or a trade that works.
If I'm a betting man, I would say a buyout is on the horizon. It makes too much sense if Yura wants to stay in the MLS. Especially given MLS doesn't do many trades. Waibel... if you haven't called Orlando... you should!
If Yura is still at RSL, he should not be riding the bench - (barring some miracle turnaround) he shouldn't be making the 18. He just needs to go.
Yura's family (along with a sizable Armenian population) are from SoCal. LAFC and the Galaxy are who we would likely have the best loan options with. I doubt Yura wants to move to the other side of the country given his move here was partly family related.
I can imagine one of the two LA teams taking a risk on Yura. He has family connections in LA and it is the city with the largest urban concentration of Armenians outside of Armenia at over 200,000 by census (some estimates as high as 500,000). It could be a solid match.
In case anybody hasn't already seen this, here is the exit interview referenced previously: https://www.rsl.com/post/2017/11/02/2017-exit-interview-yura-movsisyan?autoplay=true
It is difficult to reconcile Lizzie's exit interview video with what we have seen on the pitch this season. Yura wonders why, has no idea, why he didnt get more playing time? I mean... come on now. Living in a different world.