Whose out of contract at the end of the year? According to various published reports, Dema's and Benny's contracts end after this season and MLS doesn't have any options on them. Who else, if anyone, on United do we know is out of contract at the end of the year? And, do we think the team should try to re-sign Dema and Benny and what amount of salary - and cap room - do we think they should get?
they shouldnt try to resign them.... THEY MUST RESIGN THEM........those 2 have been 2 of our better players this year, many games would have been lost if it wasnt for them
First, shouldn't the thread title be Who's, a contraction for "Who is" not a possessive of who as in whose cheese is this? Second, This is all I've been able to gleam from various reports... https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=54602
I think you can add Etcheverry and Stoichkov to the list of expiring contracts. But what about Prideaux? I seem to remember that his contract is up too but I can't remember where I saw it. Nelsen's contract is up in 2004, which partly fuels the speculation that MLS will sell him this offseason (so they can get some ROI).
I don't disagree with this, but the question is how much should they be paid and is what the club can afford, cap wise, be enough to placate them? Both Benny and Dema are 26. If they sign with MLS, it will likely be four years and this will be the last contract they'll be able to sign in their primes. In otherwords, Benny and Dema need to get a good score out of this contract. So, what is a fair amount for them, from United's perspective, and will it be enough to keep them from going abroad?
Re: FYI Touche! .........Or, should I say, Massengil? (Sorry, I couldn't resist an old "In Living Color" reference.)
the question is... The other question would be what real options either player has as leverage? Is going abroad for more money a real option? These are not franchise players or household names even in this country.
All these spelling and grammar corrections and revelation is not around!?! On topic-Ben should get the maximum (I am biased). But he may actually try to text the transfer market. Nottingham Forest still interested? Manchester City would be wise to take a look at Ben. I also think it would be wise to resign Dema. He has been consitent this season.
MNT Ben has to move back into the national team picture before any EPL teams would/could be interested. I assume Ben doesn't have a Euro pass so he has to meet the work permit requirements which he hasn't done at this time. So again, if we don't meet his salary demands what are his real options? Max salary is obviously out of the question for a player of his stature.
how much are they making now? i think that would have major bearing on how much they make next year...
I'd be curious to know what they are earning right now. I don't think that either player has major leverage in going overseas - though both players have had overseas loans / training stints - but as free trasnfers they might be able to land with contending second division teams (a la Nottingham forest) and make more than MLS would offer. Still, I'd guess that neither Olsen or Kovalenko could be thought to be among the top 10-15 MLS prospects to go overseas right now. Might contracts of 150 - 175K be enough? Ben might well be making that already. Perhaps Dema could be had for a little less, since he has no national team experience / exposure to help his cause for going international.
Sandon- I'm pretty sure that Olsen's making 175K now. I don't remember what The Demanator is making but it's probably less than 100K. Without thinking about DCU's cap situation for next year, it's hard to imagine Olsen gettting much more, but Kovalenko could be in for a healthy raise, up to Benny's area. But United will have to think real hard about the cap next season. Dollars to doughnuts if everyobody comes back nect year, DCU will be way over the cap. So that fact will necessarily impact what raises we give our players- or if we have to trade them or, in Etcheverry's case, if we offer them a job at all. If Etch does retire then that of course will help us, will probably get us below the cap, but even if that happens then 1) we'll be barely below the cap, and 2) even if we get an allocation for him we will have very little money under the cap to spend on it. So if we want to get further under the cap we'll need to get rid of some mid to high salaried guys. Maybe Convey makes it to Tottenham. Maybe Nellie goes to England. Either/both would help, if that's what we want to do and either/both would impact what we do with Dema and Benny. For instance if Convey leaves than one would guess that Olsen's resigning becomes a very high priority, but if not maybe we trade Benny, who makes more than Convey. Kovalenko of course becomes a BIG priority to resign if any combo of Etch, Convey, or Nellie leave. Dema seems to be indicating that he wants to stay in MLS, but Benny might well go to Forest if offered a job there, and he can do that since it's not Division 1 ball. Regardless, DCU will have to keep in mind the salary cap all offseason.
DC will certainly be in some cap trouble if Marco doesn't retire, or Nelson doesn't bolt to Europe. Earnie will count fully against the cap and Nelson will certainly get a huge raise, if he can even be kept at all. Next year's starters w/Marco and Nelsen Stewart 275K Cerritos 150K Olsen 150K Marco 200K (conservatively, as he has to re-sign, but it won't be easy to reign his salary back in to less than 250K) Convey 150K (Bobby can't go to England until next summer, and it's a shot in the dark if he goes somewhere else in Europe this winter) Dema 150K (deserves this much) Nelsen 200K (it will take this much to even have a hope of keeping him) Petke 120K Ivanov 100K Prideaux 90K Rimando 100K (minimum, could easily be more) That'll be the whole salary cap at around 1.75 million, which obviously can't happen as a bench is needed. So, w/out Marco and Nelsen: Stewart 275K Cerritos 150K Olsen 150K Convey 150K Dema 150K Q2 100K Petke 120K Ivanov 100K Prideaux 90K Namoff 50K Rimando 100K That's 1.45 million, leaving enough for a decent bench. Money's a lot less tight if we get an allocation for Marco's retirement, but I'll believe that when I see it. Obviously, MLS salries are obscure to say the least, but I think these numbers are reasonably accurate. Regardless, MLS makes it tough to keep teams together for years, so even if this team wins MLS Cup, expect some serious changes.
I think you forgot about Reyes. Isn't he under contract for next season? If so, I think it's a safe bet that Prideaux, Petke and Namoff will back, as they are the best bargains in the backline. Nelsen is a big question mark... I would doubt they can afford to keep him. If he stays, then surely Ivanov goes... no need to spend money on him if we already have Reyes, Namoff, Prideaux, Petke and Nelsen back there. In light of the depth at defense, I also wouldn't be surprised if Reyes becomes a winger if Olsen or Convey depart. I think in light of his low salary, Q2 is a probably a good bet to be back, and start on the outside. I therefore would be surprised if both Convey and Olsen are back... I think only one or the other at most. In fact, I think it's very conceivable both leave. I think the team will make Dema a priority... and probably let Etch go. We still do not have a true holding mid, so it wouldn't shock me if perhaps all but one of Nelsen, Convey, Etch and Olsen depart to make space for one. We would still have a potential backline of Ivanov/Prideaux/Petke/Namoff in that case, with Reyes and Q2 on the wings (Q1 also could fit in there too), and Dema in the center with a new holding mid. Stewart and Cerritos will be back up front. Q1 if he's not traded as well gives further depth there, as well as Martins.
Thanks for the figures/estimates Mark. (I though Olsen makes 175K?) As bofahey states, we need to include Reyes too. He's what- 150K? which would put us at 1.6K, needing 6 more roster spaces to fill (remembering that Carroll, Stokes, and Barclay will be P-40 next year and thus cap exempt.) 1. Eskandarian will go off P-40 and make....60K? (I think it may be more.) Then we have: 2. Quaranta- 100K? 3. Alegria- 35K? 4. Martins- 50K? So these four players alone put us over the cap and we'd still have two regular roster slots open...we'll need to cut more just to find two minimum wage guys much less some medium salaried guy or an allocation that gets a higher priced guy down to medium price for next year. So in this scenerio that we are pursuing above (where Etch and Nelsen and Stoichkov go) we'll have to lose at least one more to get cap space for a couple of lower priced players: Ivanov, Convey, Quaranta, Olsen, Eskandarian all seem to be candidates.
Esky hasn't done enough to justify paying him 60k. Considering his output we'd be better off finding a different striker who is P-40 and can contribute very little but would be salary exempt. I'm a big Stewart fan, but from a cap standpoint I would think twice about keeping him at full price unless we're completely stuck with him. Hopefully the needs-two-seasons-with-a-new-team theory is correct and is output increases. Namoff is an incredible bargain at $50k. Incredible bargain. Will Warren be cap exempt (hell, is he this year?) and if not how much would he earn? That said, the salary cap is really really low. Boosting it 300k per team, which is $3mil total ($3.3mil if there's a SD Chivas team), is not a ridiculous boost, me thinks. MLS cannot realistically expect attendance to rise without continuing to try and raise the level of play in the league, which, unfortunately for them, means raising the cap so teams can keep the Nelsens and the Demas.
I was only looking at possible starters, not the whole team. But, you do raise a good point that no MLS team can afford too many highly paid bench-warmers. Some are necessary, but not as many as we're likely to have. So, I'd have to agree that even if Marco, Nelsen, and Stoitchkov leave, we'll still be doing some dealing, but it shouldn't be too severe. Probably one big name gets moved for a cap exempt player, but that I think that's all that will be needed. Now, if Marco or Nelsen, or both come back, then things will get a bit dicey for more than a few name players. It'll be an interesting off season, that's for sure. I too wish the salary cap would be raised, but I seriously doubt it will be. Payne recently said that MLS will be focussing on stadia first and salaries later.