I think the main point is that both Kljestan and Alvarez are deficient as starting CAMs. If we have to lean on either of these guys, we are not going to be troubling too many teams.
Sure , all employees of the league, rigghhht you are... Amazing legal soft shoe and toe tappin by the league on this matter. And this flies in court? I wonder if the other sports like football, baseball, basketball, hockey etc. use or used this labor-screen scam?
That part is the easiest part legally and it's the most truly single-entity thing left in MLS. All players sign a standard player agreement with MLS, MLS signs their paychecks with money collected from team gate receipts and national TV/sponsorship money, and they are specified the employer under the CBA signed with the union. It was originally approved in the Fraser case years ago, but after they formed a union and signed a CBA, the league was recognized as the employer under federal labor law. The only employees of the Galaxy are the front office, business, and technical staff. It's not really much of a labor scam since the players still can negotiate their deals through their union. Biggest issue is free agency and the players could negotiate a better deal on that if they had real market power. For many years, though, the majority of players had no other place where they could go and get paid like they do in MLS, so they focused on raising salaries rather than securing better free agency rights. Other leagues in the US aren't single-entity, but they have plenty of collectively bargained restrictions on free agency that would seem bizarre in the relatively recent football world in Europe and elsewhere. During the 1970s and 1980s, though, the reason NASL was attractive to big names is that European leagues didn't pay much at all because they had very restrictive limits on free agency that players could only avoid by leaving Europe altogether.
I feel like I just took a web seminar of MLS labor practices from BD. Now I have more question but I'll let it go at this point. Thanks for breaking it down @BD. I really don't feel its a scam, just questionable a this point in time. It may have been a good idea at inception but I guess it has to run its course and I am sure at some point it will come up again to be adjusted or abolished. When players complain and their market value/power grows to a point.
Interestingly, details about the plans for MLS Next Pro are starting to trickle out and they suggest MLS is doing exactly what you suggest - a pretty darn open market system with no min or max salaries, only cash (no TAM/GAM etc), and players are employees of the team, not the league. There is some risk it could hurt the players (i.e., they could lowball them), but I think they expect the ambitious clubs will use their freedom to acquire top prospects. Could be a dry run for moving MLS itself in this direction and seeing where they need rules and where they don't. MLS Next Pro…• no salary cap, minimum or maximum wages• contracts owned by clubs, no MLS-style trades• 7 international slots• and more here 👇 via @TheAthleticSCCR https://t.co/3nksomtiY7— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) January 14, 2022
Mex news reporting that Cruz Azul talks with Boca for Cristian Pavon have stalled. Boca wants more 3+ million for Pavon while Cruz Azul offer has a ceiling of 2.5 mil. On top of that Boca wants to retain 20% of Pavon and Cruz wants his rights 100%. Pavon has about six months left on his contract at which time he is free and good to go. There is talk of Cristian going to brazilian league before Boca loses his rights by summer. Remember when they wanted 20 mil for him? Could Galaxy be waiting for this opportunity in the summer?
Well, we're talking about them as alternatives to Vasquez. Frankly all the options we have are imperfect, but Alvarez is literally the only one that can play a full 90.
True. It's no secret, the biggest need is a best-11 caliber playmaker. It's troubling that we've been linked to a few names, only to hear they've signed somewhere else. We have to hope there's something big brewing an there well could be. Even in these bad years we've managed to sign the likes of Chicharito, Zlatan, Pavon, and Alessandrini (the last two being guys most of us never heard of that tore up the league). So it's still possible to land the kind of name that would turn this window around. I think we also have to go in hard for Arriola, who has legit interest from within and without the league.
I'm guessing these xG stats aren't incorporating player specific finishing skills (some xG stats do). They are likely just based on shot distance, angle, nearest defender, etc. If that is the case they will continue to overestimate xG for Cabral because his finishing techniques are well below the average of first division professionals playing his psition. And if they are skill adjusted they probably aren't very precise because his finishing skill rating would be based on a small sample size. IOW statistical xG #'s are suspect on players who are much better or worse finishers than average, unless that finishing ability is available AND is factored into computing the xG stat.
Really disappointing to see LAFC get Kellyn Acosta, while we appear to not even have known he was on the market. At 26, with his work rate, he is exactly what we need in the midfield. Does Arriola fit with what we need? Do we really need another winger? I think we need a CAM in the worst possible way. Someone who plays every minute and covers a ton of ground. Teams literally ran right up the middle against us last year.
Mike Magee @magee18 Replying to @stuholden If you own a team and you want to know if you have the right guys running your team. Ask them is they knew Kellyn Acosta was available. If they didn’t fire them on the spot. Magee tweeted this out the other day - it's pretty clearly aimed at Chris Klein. COG re-tweeted it.
I agree that it is unimaginable that the GO didn't know, especially since the players association published two lists of players on November 11, 2021. The first was for players on team options and which included Acosta. The second was for our of contract players.
The easy answer is that they have other ideas of who they want or are pursuing and they passed on Acosta. Time will tell.
Not sure I understand why LAFC paid so much (up to $1.5m in GAM) for a guy who’s contract ends in Dec ‘22, who was unwilling to agree to an extension with Colorado, and appears to really want to move abroad (and claims there was an offer on the table this year). Maybe they think they’ll make it back in transfer fees post-World Cup, but they allowed Colorado to retain some % of the fee in any future sale and they would have to sell him in the summer window to get any transfer fee at all, which can’t be that high for a 26-27 year-old player with less than 6 months left on his deal. One possibility is they think he'll really stabilize things in the first half, paving the way for another player they are developing to take over. That's pretty speculative, though. Plus, he's likely to miss time for qualifiers and the World Cup bounce won't happen, if it happens at all, until late December, when Acosta can just wait them out a week or so and sign in the January transfer window as a an out-of-contract player. The other possibility is they think he'll want to stay or there won't be much of a market for them. That's not the way Acosta sounded in his tweets right after the trade. He might prefer to stay when all is said and done, but that scenario is more likely if he is strictly average and either he doesn't make the WC squad or doesn't perform well. In that case, it would just be a really expensive deal for a player who was strictly average. I suppose if you think he's underpaid right now and the approx $500-750K per year extra of GAM (since the trade compensation is spread out over two years) would just bring the overall cost to market value, then the one year rental can make sense, but that's really the only way I can reconcile it.
Interesting points. Maybe all they want is plug the hole Atuesta left when he split. Maybe they see Galaxy and our boulevard des rêves brisés and they don't want to go through that. Maybe they have plans to do something this year and keep the herd happy. Avoid any exodus stampede. Different FO. Different philosophy. Different priorities.
My understanding with Acosta is there is a club option for 2023. Still a lot for a short term midfielder, but at least they have addressed the glaring hole in midfield for two years.
I didn't realize that, but you're right it changes things. Realistically, though, they would have to sell in next January's transfer window to get maximum value, which still makes him a pretty expensive one-year rental. And if they refuse and keep him until the end of the deal, that usually doesn't help your rep as a club with future players.
In short. LAFC are doing things to best address their coming season playerwise. Galaxy, apparently, behaving like a small market team. At least, that's my takeaway. I could be wrong.
Always nice when your 33 year-old DP and your first round draft pick come to camp ready to go and win the beep test on Day 1 of training The winners of the Beep Test 🚦🔥 @FaraiMutatu & @CH14_ 🔥 https://t.co/LaHNZVUQkh— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) January 18, 2022
It's getting pretty nasty on Twitter. This post by AEG had something like 70 replies with #Kleinout, then AEG started blocking folks right and left. I'm not saying they have to fire Klein, but at this point I'm not sure it's sustainable for the matter to go completely unaddressed. No place like home. 6 weeks to #LAGalaxy home opener ✨See you soon!#VamosGalaxy pic.twitter.com/175qTn99ru— AEG (@AEGworldwide) January 16, 2022