Tea Light in the Dark Universe: Bobby Wood at Hamburg

Yeah, good point. What I should have said is that I think the money will still be there from MLS at 28. His stock can’t really fall much further in the next 12 months.

 

MLS has changed. They don't spend for anyone who comes from Europe. They may give him a trial or a small contract but there is no way he gets big $$ from MLS at this point.

 

Big cash as in something like his current deal? Yeah, no way. But I can see him getting more than Wooten did coming from the same league and as a former nat regular (rightly or wrongly). Wooten was 600k guaranteed last year. Not bad.

EDIT: Cincinnati was reportedly offering $1 million.

 

Philly has got to be regretting that $600k. That's a lot for a guy who has barely paid.

If I'm an MLS GM, I'm not looking at 2. Bundesliga for attacking talent at all.

 

MLS pays real money for guys who'll move the needle, at the gate, on social media or with sponsorship. That isn't Bobby any more.

If it ever was Bobby, that is.

Wooten hasn't been much good in MLS, but 31 appearances in 34 league games, with 28 starts and 17 goals meant he'd proven himself to be fully recovered - and in form - after his hamstring and muscle problems. He may come good later on this season. If there is a season

When has Bobby played 31 out of 34 league games? Does anybody really think he's 100% fit after his knee injuries? How many people 100% recover from his injuries? If I'm an owner and the GM tells me he's offered Bobby $1 million a year guaranteed, I'll have a new GM by the end of the week.

 

i can def see Bobby near a million to play in MLS

 

It could be both that Bobby isn’t worth near $1 million guaranteed right now , and that he has a good chance to find a team who will offer it. There are 26 teams (soon to be 28). It only takes one GM.

 

Here's a quick list of guys who've recently made the move back from Bundislia/2/near abouts there to the MLS, their impact, and their most recent salary

Fafa Picault - 1 goal in 4 ratio with the Union, now with FCD - $173,666.63
Terrance Boyd - did next to nothing with TFC - $213,833
Joe Gyau - TBD with a crap Cincy team - $168,640.00
Jerome Kieswetter - with El Paso last year, now with expansion Miami - $102,500
Andrew Wooten - came to MLS off a big year, yet to score with the Union - $595,833.33
Khirey Shelton - got a cup of coffee with Paderborn, actually played in the Bundisliga this year (4% of available minutes, but who's counting) - was on $119,745 with SKC before he left for Germany, will be interesting to see what kinda pay bump he got off of his little adventure.

Obviously situations are different as the above represent different mixes of history, form, caps, and injuries but Bobby would be roughly amongst them, maybe at or slightly above Wooten given his slightly larger impact and history with the USMNT. Probably in the maturing MLS market, both players are given relatively equal weight and merit despite recent successes. Can't see anyone paying him $1 million bucks, unless it's a low base with highly incentivized bonuses. If he does get a million though he has one of the best agents in the world.

 

If a team takes Bobby for real money without putting him through a weeks-long fitness camp, they're fools. He has played some full friendlies and gotten a few minutes here or there, but something has to be really going on with him.

It's very perplexing how little he has been able to impact. I can only guess it's related to his knees and/or how they affect his approach to the game.

 

FYP

Booby's problem is either something physical that keeps him at 95% of what he was when he needs to be 100% to be effective, or it's psychological.

Either way, you'd have to take this particular vehicle for a veeery extended test drive. Kicking the tires won't do it IMO.

 

if nothing else, he had a far better european career than loads of US strikers (looking at Mathis and EJ and Wolff)

 

Good post and comparables. But unlike four of those guys, Wood actually has significant USMNT caps. Wood has 45 caps, and 13 goals, nothing to sneeze at. Closest on that list is Boyd, with 14 caps and 0 goals (sad, but true, never scored in an American uniform).

So I'm thinking Bobby deserves around 300-500k, if not more. Wooten got a really good deal, but had been performing consistently for years.

 

Bobby with his 23 goals in the 2.BuLi and 10 goals in the Bundesliga has had one of the better careers for a YA in Europe, once all is said.

How many of our strikers in Europe have scored more than 10 in a Top 5 league? I think I can count them in one hand.

 

Hmm....not counting midfielders/wingers?

Dempsey - 57 (not all as a striker, but at least more than 10)
McBride - 36

um....that's all I got. Then:

Wood - 10
Wynalda - 9
Moore - 8
Mathis - 5
Sargent - 5
Casey - 4
Jóhannsson - 4
Altidore - 3
Kirovski - 3
Wegerle scored a bunch in England before joining the USMNT, but if we're going by UEFA coefficients I'm not sure they were a top 5 league back then.

 

Definitely not - that 1990-91 season where he scored 18 was the first season in which English clubs qualified for the European Cup after Heysel, and just the second for Europe generally.

Edit for source: England was 21st in Europe after the 1990-91 season. Unranked before.

 

Yeah I never really know how to think about England from that period because the lack of European football makes it hard to compare it to other leagues. Even after England was back in Europe, the league was only in the UEFA Coefficient top 5 once in the 90's (they were 5th in 1995).

In any event, if you want to count Wegerle, he scored 55 top flight goals in England, 13 of them after his first USMNT cap.

 

No European competition meant no UEFA coefficients, true. OTOH, no serious person at the time doubted that England was one of Europe's top leagues, even during their "quarantine" period. That's why the ban was lifted. If Wegerle was playing in tho top division, his scoring stats should be included.

 

i wish we had the clips of goals by Wynalda and Moore.
damn shame Mathis didn't go further. Same with . Even if you flop in England or Germany there's always a Turkey or Netherlands to star in

 

Again, I've never really been certain, but maybe those who closely followed the league at the time would be able to shed some light on this.

I think it's pretty clear that England was a top league directly prior to the European ban. UEFA coefficients had it ranked top 2 alongside the Bundesliga for most of the first half of the 80s, even topping the list right before the ban. And England had an impressive single season points total in its first year back (owing I think entirely to Manchester United's Cup Winners' Cup run in 1991).

However, lots of top players in the league moved abroad after the ban, either short term or sometimes for a longer period, and I have to imagine that had some effect on the quality of play during that time, and maybe for at least a few years after.

Also, UEFA rankings are based on a 5-year points total, so the first year that you could properly compare England to the rest of Europe in terms of UEFA coefficients was in 1995, and England's ranking between 1995-1999 was 5th, 7th, 7th, 6th, and 6th. This was also after the Premier League money started to flow into the league, so I do wonder if even those rankings reflected some improvement in quality over the preceding 5-10 years.

Bit of a threadjack I suppose, but the quality of the English top flight during the early 90's is something I've always been curious about, especially since there were a couple other USMNT players like John Harkes and Preki who were there around that time.

 

While obvs not a "striker" it's "striking" that MB scored 16 at 'Veen and 10 at BMG (even with his part-time benching...)

 

goalscoring MB is my fav MB

 

has Bobby agreed to a paycut?

 

As of two days ago he "continues to tie up funds..." I did not attempt to stumble through the article I leave it to one of our quarantined German-speakers...

1248489453158449152 is not a valid tweet id

 

All along he's been unusually determined/stubborn about a) making it as a pro and b) getting what he thinks is due to him from teams, be it appreciation or $$$.

Why would he change now?

 

Because of pressure from everywhere to players taking paycuts to help the staff st their clubs. I'd imagine some would be highly critical if he would not