Seattle lost, but they hardly got smashed. And they smashed a few people on the way. Loosening the roster rules a little bit wouldn't have done much for Seattle in this game, and loosening them a lot isn't really on the table (or have much of a point). This had nothing to do with payroll.
Seattle are only 12th in MLS payroll. It's not like they are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the current system. I like the timing and format next year's Leagues Cup. From season to season, the group of top MLS teams can be pretty volatile compared to other leagues. Getting every team in the competition guarantees that season's top clubs will be in it.
You make a good point about the two weeks statement. That is specific and will be a good test of the article's accuracy. When I was in J school and working for newspapers (years ago) I definitely would not have been permitted to run an article based on unnamed sources. Things clearly are different now. Pardon my fossilesque perspective. Not sure why the blue check is important, I'm going by the article on 90 Minutes. The bit about him being able to train with the new team in the interim before the transfer window opens - is that allowed? The winter window transfers I've seen still have the player beginning training with his new club after Jan 1. We should want him to get a month's break from the end of the MLS season before he starts actually training. Four weeks seems to be the agreed on time for a seasonal break by the sports science people (there will be enough time for both from where Dallas' season will end). Exciting times for Ricardo.
Unfortunately, a not so great game by Slonina. I was hoping he would do well enough to lock down Chicago’s #1 spot. But don’t be shocked if Shuttleworth is back in.
He looked weak and ineffective on the Gil goal. But the Fire aren't going anywhere this season, there is no reason not to play Slonina for the remainder. I don't go for the 'ruining confidence' issue, if that's in play forget him anyway. In my opinion, no one had it worse than Guzan with Chivas USA, if anyone had an excuse to get down on themselves it would've been him, but he never let that derail him. I'd rather see what I believe is a character flaw reveal itself than try and protect a player from something he shouldn't need to be protected from. Not that you said or implied any of that, just adding to the conversation, hopefully.
I agree that adversity should build character. I also think though there is something to be gained from reps. The more and more exposure and tries that you get... the more likely you are to learn from your mistakes than either avoiding or missing those golden chances to become a better player. For Chicago, I see a financial benefit to playing Slonina in raising his stock value and increasing their reputation as a club that develops players. If all things are equal, it would make sense to play Slonina over Shuttleworth.
THis is a really interesting topic that we've talked about a lot on these boards. I'm even hesitant to reintroduce it. NYRB supporter groups vocally joining FCD supporter groups in frustration over just selling every good player that comes along. Its no way to build a fan base. If you're an @MLS team, like @FCDallas & @NewYorkRedBulls, hanging your hat on youth development that benefits other teams, you can't just expect your customers to share your excitement and pride. That's not what they are paying for or have been promised...they deserve more. https://t.co/aq9HQGd2qx— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) September 24, 2021
I agree with the supporter groups. It's a struggle between the fans' desire to support teams that have a goal of winning, and the players' desire to get out of MLS and get to Europe. Imo, part of the solution is paying the club developed players more. Make it worth it to stay with the MLS team another couple of years.
Who are the really great players that NYRB have sold? Adams was two years ago and never going to stay ... and are we talking about fullbacks? I'm confused as to who these "good" players that have been sold by NYRB. Because Kaku was an overrated, mediocre player who left on his own (not sold), and Long got hurt (not sold), and they let Bradley Wright-Phillips go (not sold as a development item). I find this far weirder than the FC Dallas complaints -- which are overstated but have some basis. The answer to this as always is that you can't keep players hostage. You take the sales revenue and invest in quality, longer term players while continuing to develop. The fanbases weirdly keep focusing on the sales rather than the abject failure of their clubs to purchase players of any quality.
I get the frustration as a fan group but I'm not sure what else these teams are supposed to do. Let's take Cannon as an example. He was making less than $200k, before his contract extension took him to $600k. Paying $600k for a fullback in MLS is a bad decision but everybody knew Reggie wanted out. BLM and the kerfuffle at the end probably hasten the decision and led to agreeing to Boavista. Which in hindsight was bad, but again Reggie probably got more than $600k, cause paid in Euros, and got to test himself in Europe. FCD didn't stand in his way cause they had Bryan. Regardless Reggie wasn't staying period so FCD sold him. Then Bryan comes along and is amazing for FCD and MLS level. He's so good and has so much potential Juve and Roma are willing to pay over $8m. Bryan gets life changing money, Dallas has Twumasi, Mujoma, and Che. So of course they sold him. Quite frankly FCD wasn't going to turn down $8m cash upfront. In what bizarro world does anyone think that FCD was going to keep Bryan in that circumstance? Selling Pepi is going to follow the same pattern. Now you want to argue about FCD reinvesting that into a vet striker who's better than Jara, go ahead, but FCD isn't going to pay $10m for anyone. Neither will about half of MLS. So keeping Pepi, paying him peanuts and scuttering his European dream just isn't going to happen. Hell that alone will turn off every prospect in the academy from signing with FCD. Pepi is too good for MLS. Do fan groups not realize this or do they just want to ignore the economic realities that these kids want to play in the best leagues and get paid the most money possible? MLS is not the NFL, MLB, or NBA. Kids want to go to Europe and get paid. FCD isn't going to take the chance that their big money signing fails. They're rather bring young, cheap foreign players and hope it works out. More Schon's less Vargas, but every signing is a crapshoot.
I get this argument but the flip side is every player has a running clock on their body. Staying an extra year may not be in their best interest for several reasons. One, they get injured and never regain their form, missing on the big contract the sale would have gotten them. Two, the don't develop as much because they're comfortable, a starter and not pushed like they would be elsewhere. Three, there's no guarantee in a year's time just as good or a better offer will come along. Covid has ruined the finances of well over half the clubs in the world. In a closed system with a salary cap clubs can't afford to pay their domestic players more because that means there's less money for foreign signings and it blocks new homegrowns from getting playing time. Sullivan for Philly isn't getting as many minutes if Aaronson is still there. Asking teams to be competitive isn't wrong, but some team is always going to be last in the league. FCD wouldn't be half as bad if their defense hadn't been injured and fallen apart. No team plans for that or they wouldn't have re-signed Hedges in the first place and they'd have been attacked for being too cheap to keep their Captain had they done that.
What these posts seem to be saying in regards to not selling players is functionally impossible. (Not to mention I'm not even sure who RBNY fans are talking about). But Dallas is going to have $30M in player sales over the last couple of years once they sell Pepi. Go out, acquire stars in MLS looking for big salary paydays at the DP level. Use players from your academy to round out the roster. And you'll win. If Hunt doesn't spend the sale money, they have a complaint on the business model. If Zanotta doesn't spend it well, they have a complaint on the GM execution. But there's no world where McKennie and Richards are playing for FC Dallas today. And as much as it sucks to get a year of Pepi ... welcome to the rest of the world. Incidentally, that last point is why MLS will never really become a fully selling league. Why they have aspirations to actually get good enough to keep players longer. Because they know American fans are used to players coming to the US, not leaving. It's also why we should be happy about a lot of MLS rules -- because American fans are not beaten down with the idea that 1 or 2 teams in a country should buy all the players. An American league will never be popular here if we have a Bayern-and-everyone-else structure. It only works in Germany because of 100 years of history. But here people will just go to other sports or other leagues.
You are partially right, but it is worth noting FC Dallas is paying certain players more. Pomykal and Ferreira make over $500k. It's worth it for them to stay longer. To your point, they need to pick and choose. And some players will leave regardless because MLS can't compete either with salary or potential. The question is, if FC Dallas offered Pepi Jara's contract, would he take it? It's almost certainly more than he will offered by the European team offering it ... but his financial upside in MLS is probably capped right now at $5-6M. That will grow, but his financial upside in Europe is higher. His status upside in Europe is obviously much higher.
Pepi has 24 MLS games under his belt. Everyone believes he'll explode and be a top class striker but I don't think anyone, FCD or teams in Europe is going to offer him a deal where he makes $3m in salary. Jara got that because he's a 10+ year vet with a history of scoring in a good league. $1m sure. I have no doubt but for Pepi again $1m in Dallas or €1m for a foreign club with the chance to make way more in the future. Why would he take that MLS deal?
Perhaps not. But let's run through the thought experiment. If I am the GM of Dallas, I put that out there. Unlike some other players like Reynolds, I am all in on Pepi being the real deal (>90%) and think he's going to hold enough value that I can fund $3M/year for a few years with his sale. I also think it's the best use of my money -- far better than taking $3M/year and trying to get another striker. I could get Ruidiaz. I could get Jara. It's a risk, but it isn't huge. I don't care what precedent says; it's a proper ROI for me. If you are Pepi do you take it over a higher status, but lower pay European offer? Knowing that you are probably moving in 2-3 years at the latest anyway (let's say it's 3year at $3M/year). It's an interesting angle. I think there are playing making $3M or less in MLS that are more valuable players. But for $3M a year, I don't think Dallas can acquire someone who, once you factor in risk, is a likely player to outproduce Ricardo Pepi. Of course, I'm bought in. I understand they may not feel that way. I understand they also don't want to create precedent with other young players, which is probably the bigger barrier. But in a vacuum, man, isn't that the right move for Dallas? I'm not sure what Pepi would do. Conversely, if Dallas used his sale to acquire 3 $3M/year player and roll over their DPs, that's probably better if they hit on at least 2 of them. But if they aren't spending like that from their sales, man...
Selling players isn't the problem for teams like NYRB or FCD. Lack of investment or poor choices of investment in the senior team is the bigger issue.
Exactly. If they used the money from selling young players to boost their roster they'd be a lot better team. Of course some of these deals will take a while to pay off because of their add-on clauses.
[QUOTE="Yowza, post: 39952859, member: 342101"]He looked weak and ineffective on the Gil goal. But the Fire aren't going anywhere this season, there is no reason not to play Slonina for the remainder. I don't go for the 'ruining confidence' issue, if that's in play forget him anyway. In my opinion, no one had it worse than Guzan with Chivas USA, if anyone had an excuse to get down on themselves it would've been him, but he never let that derail him. I'd rather see what I believe is a character flaw reveal itself than try and protect a player from something he shouldn't need to be protected from. Not that you said or implied any of that, just adding to the conversation, hopefully.[/QUOTE] That was a great shot. Similar to Donovan's versus Slovenia. If you watch condensed game you see that Slonina was surprisingly good.
Yes, it is time to take the next step in MLS because we are not all that far behind the big 5. Boost the coaching, psychology, effort. The players are coming and on their way, as far as US nationals are concerned and we've already put in place a "designated player" scheme vis a vis foreign players. Look at the players "coming back" to USA as well (think Morales, Polster, Parks e.g.) who have a competitive view of the game from their time in Europe and are ready to step up the MLS product. If FCD are playing better soccer, it will not matter all that much that Pepi was sold. I was watching a LaLiga game and the commentator said that the play was too slow and the league was concerned about it. At least I think that is what he said. Maybe @Suyuntuy has some idea what was meant because I think he follows LaLiga more than the rest of us. My sense is that they worry they will fall behind the Germany's and England's of the world? Fine, step aside and let the big dog eat.
More than half of the league can spend more money now but they choose not to. Pretty sure those teams won't care about results in Leagues Cup either and continue their ways. IMO, salary cap affects only those few selected clubs that actually want to win and want to move the league to the next level. I would prefer a simple "cap" without all these designations such as DPs, U22 DP etc. just a simple "you have xx amount of money to spend just make sure you don't go over that cap". But that's just me.
I think you can't offer Pepi Jara money because that's going to piss off Ferreira. He's going to want a huge pay raise too. Then Schon who's been an effective attacker. Jara got so much money because he was on a free and had a pedigree. The others don't have that and FCD isn't going to start giving youngsters 30x pay raises. They're not going to make the gamble to keep him and potentially lose the sale due to something bad happening beyond their control. They're also not going to start giving out huge outlier pay raises because every other HG is going to demand more money. Hell you see that already in guys turning down NTSC contracts because they're not MLS deals. And then kids turn down MLS deals because they don't pay as well as they believe they should. Now some of that is self-defeating that they don't spend that money but that's the way the Hunts' operate so again we come back to a reasonable raise to $1m. Problem is even if you pay that there's no guarantee they're SS contenders or MLS Cup champions and waiting a year to sell Pepi probably won't net them a ton more money on the transfer fee. But I'll point out even the year they won the Supporters Shield they didn't sell out Toyota Stadium regularly. Frisco has shown repeatedly that even if they build it they won't come so why pay Pepi when the attendance figures won't change?
I agree, but with a caveat. MLS can't compete with the top teams in the top leagues in the world....either monetarily or quality of play. For a top prospect, I think it will be very rare for them to be able to successfully complete. IMO, the path to MLS cup for a developmental team is to keep the top "tweeners"....the players that will likely spend multiple years in leagues similar to MLS. Those are the players that will become the "next" Christian Roldans, Walker Zimmermans, Brooks Lennons etc. Guys that may not be the stars of the team but can sometimes be the heart of the team, will provide continuity, leadership and quality. Those are the guys that MLS can compete with Europe. Some may still want to try Europe and that is fine, but those that stay can be vital. With those players, and one or two DP's, they should be able to maintain a perennial playoff team that is waiting for one or two young players to breakout and give a realistic one to two year window for a championship. FCD has two players right now that should be the catalyst needed for a very good season but the team as a whole isn't up to par. As it is, it looks like this year will be a lost opportunity for FCD. Next year could be Philly's year.... I know there is more than just the roster that has been an issue at FCD, but the point still stands: If you can create and maintain a good but not spectacular team, adding one or two difference makers can push the team over the top.