AS per the ledger http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1028279455170563.xml Offering him about 150k now.....article said he is looking for the league max.....as good as he is...I don't think we could afford to pay him, Mathis, and mama.....too much salary only the three guys...
Howard would be crazy to leave. He has the best chance at developing with the Metros where he faces 50-60 shots a game.
The other day, there was a sports business show on MSG. They interviewed Timmy & his agent and they said that his services were worth $500K a year. He also said he would love to play in Europe if he couldn't get that kind of money here.
I will preface this with I am expecting to get flamed.... I hope they don't max Howard....if he wants the metros to break the bank, I say we try and sell him off.....There are too many good keepers in this country to lose that much cap space on him....
ToodP25: Considered yourself flammed. SHMUCK! We traded away DJ Countess to Dallas. You tell me right now who can replace Timmy. Paul Grafer is capeable, but we need someone for the long term. Now tell me who you want to come over here.
Personally I would have kept Countess......but, since Nick and Co. have foresight for sh!t and dropped the ball with that one, we would be stuck....We all saw this coming....Howards contract would come up and this would happen. With all of the other holes we have, I think tying up the max plus on the keeper position is nuts.... Answer me this though.......We pay Tim, Clint, and Mama...league max...... 828 grand.....plus Celo's salary....do we have room to pay for another 14 quality players? I don't think so.....
as much as i would personally prefer to keep tim in the MLS, there is nothing i can do...he has had a life-long dream of playing in Europe and if he can get on a good team w/ sufficient salary and all the playing time he wants then why should we stop him in the end i would love to see tim play in the mls but if he can become a better player in europe and in the future help the us nats then so be it thats what we want and need...wherever tim goes i will support him as a player/person and wish him all the luck on and off the field
I can't believe that he would be dumb enough to re-sign with MLS. Think about it, if he re-signs, then MLS has to broker a deal to get him to Europe. He has only to look 7 feet down the bench to Mathis to see how well that works. Why not let the contract run out, and try to go to Europe on a free. Maybe he has to sign a year or two contract with someone like Bolton or West Brom before he gets a decent starting job, but if he excells then he is years closer to his goal (plus, no transfer fee means more money to the player in salary (ask Steve McManaman)). If he goes to Europe and can't land a job, he comes back to MLS and signs for basically the same money. I don't think MLS will kill themselves to sign him (guessing they will offer about $150k at most), so I don't think he will lose much if anything by giving Europe a shot. Does he really think if Europe doesn't pay off that MLS will only offer $ 60k? I'm sure they are threatening, but good young keepers are valuable. He could land a job in Germany D2 or England D1 (even the SPL) and get a chance to compete for the starter's spot.
Gio17 How about we bring back Ammann, a better keeper than Near Post Timmy, any day (Am I ever going to get flamed for that one - Ha, Ha). Ammann I think is injured plus Ray Hudson likes his boy Rimando anyway so this is the obvious solution.