As usual smartest man in the room? Arsene Wenger. Correctly concludes Bale is gone, next best challenger is Liverpool. Who does he go after? Suarez. 'Pool look capable with Aspes in particular looking awesome early. Throw in Suarez 22 goals or so and you have a real contender for #4. Clint did some quick calculations. Still man, go to Schalke, get ONE year of CL before you nail yourself to the mls cross.
It's only 50 goals but I honestly doubt Dempsey's record will be broken anytime soon. Strikers never seem to score at Fulham and if they do, they don't stay very long.
We'll ignore the whole Higuain debacle and the fact that Suarez is, as of yet, still in Liverpool, or the past few years of futility. Arsene is a genius.
So...it's official. Lets go haywire shall we? Me first. Dkeneofnwjd wuciwbdowhwubbdkwnw what the duck Clint Dempsey!!!?!!??
It really hurts. I'm glad Dempsey is getting loads of money, but never figured he'd return to MLS. He was our flag bearer. Our flagship. I really expected him to find a way to play CL football before he retired.
So MLS is as good as the French/Portuguese/Russian/Dutch league? MLS will grow step by step. Throwing 32 million dollars 1 player is good, but why not try throwing at a guy like Drogba or Raul. Our NT players should be playing at the highest level, encouraging the next generation of players to achieve even higher.
Yeah, and there's another aspect to this. This deal with Clint in no way means top Americans should be staying in MLS. Not at all. What is it that makes bringing Clint back in his prime such a big coup for MLS? Well, it's that he's scored 57 goals in the EPL, had the best EPL career of any American ever and was starting for a UCL contender last year. All of that contributed to him being the player he is today, which led him to being captain of the NT. Point being, what makes Clint so attractive to MLS is that HE LEFT AND SUCCEEDED. If you don't leave and don't prove yourself at such a level, you won't be a coup for MLS and you won't budge ratings. There won't be a marketing storm around you. It's the success you have at the top in Europe which then makes it a coup for MLS upon return. Landon doesn't move the needle that much. He's been here so long(LAG MLS Cup tv ratings prove that). Best Americans who haven't gone abroad, Zusi, Besler, Omar, Pontius, don't do much of a damn thing for ratings or media attention outside MLS diehards. But, if Jozy does well in the EPL and continues his trajectory, then comes back in his early 30's, he'd also be a huge coup for MLS, BECAUSE HE LEFT. Same with Bradley who I don't think returns until mid 30's. And outside of Americans, who's moved the needle the most? Former EPL stars, Becks, Keane and Henry. If anything, this whole ordeal shows the most talented Americans should leave and leave earlier. Gives them the best chance of having big Euro careers, which then makes them a great signing upon return for MLS. And people bring up Landon as an exception, but that's just it, he's an exception for just about everything. He was an accident. And one, I highly doubt the next Landon will stay in MLS most of his career and two, if Landon had success in the Bund early on or if Garber/LAG had been willing to sell to Everton he likely would have been gone a while ago.
To leave. Clint doesn't get near that if he didn't bolt the league years ago and continue his development in the EPL.
Exactly. Now if MLS gave McInerney or Agudelo several million, perhaps that might convince younger guys. But watching a guy like Dempsey, I can imagine that definitely will encourage them to go abroad to emulate his success.
It means his internet penis shrank. Quality post. However, it remains to be seen if CD affects ratings after his first match or two. I'll tell ya this, the first LA-Seattle game is now must see TV.
It means it's hard to imagine considering he was our front man in Europe. An American succeeding at a big club.
How much does Clint's agent get from this transfer? Cause gotta admit he did 1 heck of a job securing such a payday
This isn't true at all. I'm going to go from watching about 75% of Dempsey's club matches to about 20%.
Okay folks, we will shut this down tomorrow night. 24 hours to give the Texan his due. Hey Clint, thanks for some great YA threads. The ones that weren't so great? That's on us. I'm looking forward to watching your next gig. Friedel'sAccent