Not to turn this into the Videira thread, but you are contradicting yourself a little here. Mike is an excellent player, but he is not the greatest player in US right now - otherwise he would be in National team or U23 pool. So, EPL teams and Bundeslegia teams are probably not banging down the door for him. But, what's wrong with going to a mid-table team in a decent league and getting the playing time that you say you would hope they would get (and getting 4-5x the salary that MLS would be paying him out of the gate - not to mention potential exposure to the bigger teams). My guess is that what will happen wit Mike. Maybe even in Portugal where he has family?
They're probably hoping they can change his mind! They've drafted 2 of his college teammates and already have another on the team, and they've drafted one of his h.s. teammates now. Looks like a full-court press to me. I think there are a couple of potential problems with that scenario. He basically has no professional resume - and a college resume isn't going to impress anyone in Europe (they view U.S. college as a place where their domestic players go when they aren't good (or big or fast) enough for the pros). A good agent will get him some trials, but he'll be judged against other 22/23 year olds, most of whom have been pros or in professional organizations for several years. He'll be a quite a long time away from any real competition, so being in *game* shape will be a major problem. And, rehabbing his injury may leave him in the European midseason, when teams and coaches are more focused on winning games, promotion and/or avoiding relegation than trying out relatively unknown players. He may end up waiting till the summer break for his trials, hoping to win a job. Then, assuming he impresses someone, I'm not sure I see teams offering $100K+ contracts to someone who's never done it for a paycheck. Having a passport opens him up to more opportunities, but it's not going to change the basic challenges he'll face in getting a significantly better offer than MLS.
Agreed, resume means nothing. Hmmm, Charlie Davies didn't have a profesional resume either. Agreed, this is the one risk that Mike is taking, and it really is a big risk. But an athlete that is committed to their dreams would not let this stand in their way. Do not agree at all - way off base. Probably need to get this thread back on track. Maybe Videira needs his own thread.
FWIW, are we so sure that Mansally and Nyassi are Developmental Roster players and not Senior Roster players? I can't find anything that says they're on the Developmental Roster.
If my memory serves me well (at my age thats not always true ) I think one is and one isn't. There was a lot of confusion about the roster late in the season when they were signed. I think it's Mansally who is on the regular roster.
I don't think signing Videira would qualify as "significant" any more than signing Wells Thompson would be significant. And hometown or not, if we're counting on a college draft guy to be your positive PR & ticket selling machine, well, we're in trouble.
I am fairly certain that neither were added to the senior roster although one or both may very well be added for this year. By my count the Rev's have five spots open (four if John se-signs). Valentino won't count on the senior roster, Videira most likely won't sign until he gives Europe a shot and the other three draft picks may either not make the team or make it as developmental players. Nicol may want one or two "cheap" players on the senior roster so that he can go after one or two impact players (stay postive I say to myself, forget past disapointment and stay positive).
Actually, he was right. One of them was brought up to the senior roster, as was Cristman. This is how the Revs decided to fill their senior roster last year.