From Luis Arroyave at The Red Card: "I heard that Pat Noonan could be on his way to the Colorado Rapids and Pablo Mastroeni could join the San Jose Earthquakes. " http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/soccer_redcard/2008/01/pickens-rejects.html Paul.
From Covering the Crew: http://blog.dispatch.com/crew/ "The Crew traded the rights to Costa Rican forward Andy Herron back to the Chicago Fire for a fourth-round pick in the 2010 SuperDraft.... Herron is currently out of contract and might wind up at Saprissa of the Costa Rican first division." & "As heard during the SuperDraft telecast on ESPN2, the Crew has its eye on a Romanian midfielder. Schmid wouldn’t name him, of course, but did say that the player would likely command designated-player status, does not play professionally in Romania and is not at the top of the Crew’s DP wish list. His downside, at least as far as the Crew is concerned, is that he would not be available until the summer. Schmid also said he is not a “huge name.” Really, how many Romanian players are?"
Here's more from Cardozo on Fox en Espanol: http://msn.foxsports.com/fsi/fse/story/futbol?contentId=7694626 He says he's negotiating with Chivas USA. "I'm a few kilos overweight but I'm working with a personal trainer and I will be ready!" "I never lost hope I'd play again. The discussions I had with the club directors on Thursday left me feeling optimistic." If he's out of contract he might be worth a look. But Preki and company better get a real good feel for his level of motivation before offering him a contract. At his peak he might have been a better scorer than anyone MLS has seen. But his peak went thataway and it's probably not coming back.
Romania has actually had some quality soccer players over the years. Most Europeans would likely give Romanian players more credit than American players. Of course, they had a "Golden Generation" in the 80's and early 90's with Gheorge Hagi (the Maradona of the Carpathians) as the most popular of the group. Currently Adrian Mutu and Christian Chivu are world class players. Mutu looked set to be a star at Chelsea but had a drug problem, and Chivu was recently transfered to Inter Milan for arround $20M. In addition, Benfica has just signed a wonderkid defender, Laszlo Sepsi, who is supposed to be exceptional. Of the Romanian midfielders not currently playing in Romania, Adrian Drida, Paul Codrea, Florentin Petre, Laurentiu Rosu, Razvan Cocis, and Sorin Paraschiv are probably potential candidates but I don't know anything about their current situations. From what I've seen Codrea and Cocis are both quite good. I suppose they could demand DP money. I have alot of Romanian friends who are avid followers of Steau Bucharest and I will ask around to see if they have any insight into who this could be. I'm curious as to his statement that he isn't high on their list. Why sign him as a DP then?
romania has a great group of players right now. they rebuilt their youth system in the 90's, and are starting to produce some very top class players. There are many in Europe who believe that they will become the next to country to rise in Europe.
According to this: http://www.sport1.at/429+M560a80a403e.html there is a provision in Altidore's contract with NYRB that has him going to Red Bull Salzburg in the Summer of 2009.
I don't get why you would even point that out? Doesn't that make a player feel unwanted? But if we get Zurawski for less then DP and this Romanian midfielder for DP. Then this Romanian midfielder must be helluva good because in actuality I'm alot more excited about getting Zurawski. I mean our top goalscorer over the last four years nets like 5 goals. And I'm pretty surprised we can still get Zurawski for a contract of $400,000 dollars or less. I mean he's still the Polish captain. But if both of those deals work out and we don't overmanage by letting guys like Gaven and Gonzalez go for pennies and worthless trades then I think we will be in good shape. I like the additions yesterday of Iro, Pierre St. Louis, and Miller. Add to that players like Zurawski and a Romanian like Petre and we are a definite contender. --------------------Hesmer-------------------- Hejduk--Gonzalez---Marshall/Iro---Miller/O'Rourke --------------Carroll/Oughton/Migs------------- Gaven/Petre---------------------Rogers/Virtuoso ------------------Scheletto-------------------- -----Moreno/Pierre St. Louis-------Zurawski----- Still wish we would have kept ahold of Ned Grabavoy instead of deciding to protect Bob Evans son Brad Evans. wth? If you don't like Grabs anymore Sigi you could at least hold onto him for actual trade bait because people will actually trade u good things for Ned, not for Brad Evans. hmm, Anyways I hope we don't do any more boneheaded moves to remove a quality base by letting Gaven or Gonzalez go.
Out of the ones you named Razvan Cocis, Florentin Petre and Paul Codrea are regulars on the national team and would all be huge fish in MLS. Codrea has been rumoured to be leaving Siena soon, especially if they are relegated from Serie A. The problem is that none of these 3 would jeopardize their national team spots to come to MLS where they would probably fall off the radar somewhat. Victor Piturca (Romania manager) is very picky about where his players play. Out of the other ones you name only Rosu should be of DP value. He's 32, he's still in the national team pool but at this stage of his career he's not going to get many more caps so maybe coming to the US is something he'd consider. IMO though an MLS team could get more for that kind of money ... In addition to the ones you name, there are a few other Romanian midfielders abroad worth DP money... Mihai Tararache @ Duisburg in Bundesliga - 30 yrs. old, has been playing well in Bundesliga and has always been snubbed by national team so he could just say f it and leave Europe ... I think he's under contract and would cost over 1 mil euros though unless MLS is willing to wait him out till 2009. Iulian Filipescu also @ Duisburg - 33 yrs. old - about the right age for MLS. He's a bruising center back/defensive midfielder that could totally go for a few more years in the US. He's also way past his national team days ... At his age he could come for free maybe in the summer. Nicolae Mitea @ Ajax Amsterdam - This guy would be interesting ... he's only 22 and has been at Ajax for 5 years. He's played about 60 times in Ajax first team, but because of injuries has been out of favor last 1 - 2 years. Would be a gamble because of injuries but huge upside. Could be had cheap or for free ... maybe. Rumours are that Ajax is ready to part with him ASAP. Vlad Munteanu @ Wolfsburg in Bundesliga - He's 26 and is not highly valued by Romanians because he was a very late bloomer who had no big reputation before he somehow got picked up in Bundesliga and scored 11 goals for Energie Cottbus last year from midfield. The big obstacle here is that he is under contract and might cost close to 1 mil euros. Adrian Pit @ Roma - He's only 24 and also unknown ... Before Roma picked him up he had only experience in Romania's 2nd division and Switzerland's 2nd division. Honestly he was probably only picked up by Roma as a body for practice ... but he must have some quality to earn a wage in Serie A. Yet another guy with no call ups and could be had probably very cheap Florin Soava @ Spartak Moskva - He's 29 and he's had about 80 appearances in Russian Premier League since '04 ... and has been capped 22 times. Don't know his contract situation though. And that's about it. Anyone else out there is probably not worth DP. Honestly I wish they'd look inside Romania for midfield talent. There they're not as overpriced yet and may be younger and hungrier. Someone like Banel Nicolita from Steaua who is a regular on the NT and is just oozing with quality. Big Euro clubs have just started monitoring him so maybe someone from MLS could swoop in and steal him away. The only problem with getting a midfielder from Romanian league is that you have to negotiate with Romanian chairmen which is usually an absurd, frustrating and nonsensical undertaking.
"The downside is that he would not be available until the summer." That quote is pretty significant for a couple reasons: 1) It's a cover in case you do sign the guy for why you allegedly didn't want him as much as the forward (who is presumably MZ). 2) It probably narrows the field of possible signings to guys whose contracts expire at the end of this season.
That's retarded. Altidore would be with a better team in NY, and just as soon as NY is trying to get Zidane their young star leaves?
Red Bulls ready to swoop for South American Midfielders: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/01/red-bulls-set-t.html#comments Paul.
The papers are saying Guzan is going to Celtic for $2 million (plus inevitable percentage of next sale price, which could be reasonably high). Not sure why he'd choose Celtic when Boruc just signed a long deal.
A reasonable possibility is that AC Milan are incredibly high on Boruc. If AC wants him next year they will get him and Celtic will get a larger transfer fee. Boruc was able to leverage a better deal for himself at Celtic, a place I assume he must like, which is why he had no problem extending. He has the security of that deal if the Milan deal doesn't come through. He wins either way then. This would also allow Celtic to have Brad in the system for a half year and in a full camp so he has time to acclimate. If he does and performs then he steps right in. Seems reasonable. We'll find out soon enough. Of course Brad could find himself on the bench for a year and half if the transfer to Milan doesn't go through. We will see.
Yes, having lived in Osterreich, it is a step down. Maybe not that team specifically, but the league is.
Fox Soccer reports that Nigerian leftback Celestine Babayaro, formerly with Newcastle and Chelsea, has signed a 3 year deal with the Galaxy.
I understand he was released from Newcastle because of lack of form and injuries. Sounds like a good fit for the Galaxy. I thought the team was maxed out salary cap-wise? He obviously wouldn't be a DP guy, but I assume he's $100K+. Are they releasing anyone to fit him in, or is this the reason behind the draft day trade for allocation dollars?
After the draft, Paul Bravo was quoted as saying LAG had $800K in allocation dollars, so the salary cap is not really an issue. And I assume there is money left for yet another addition if they can find the right guy.
The problem with using allocation money to pay down salaries is that it's still a zero sum game. LA had to give something up, and they're just buying time. If they spend the 800k this year paying down salaries (and allocations now expire), they may find themselves in even worse trouble next season when the 800k is gone and they've got players with contracts that put them over the cap.
Reports that Marcello Gallardo of Argentina is headed to MLS, could be related to above. http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2008/01/21/um/01590355.html
And here's the latest DC set of rumors from Goff...DC United FO isn't talking. Since the team is gathering next week, hopefully we'll soon move from rumors to announcements.