OK I'm going to pile in now. The fourth highest paid player in MLS plays for New York Red Bulls. The fifth highest plays for Houston. The sixth highest plays for Austin. The seven highest plays for DC United. The eighth highest plays for New England. If a team that's pulled in over 40,000 a game for most of its history can't compete with the current Austin or DC owners, something is very wrong.
Especially considering that the current owner of Austin was notoriously cheap AF when he was in Columbus....... he wouldn't even pay for basic stadium maintenance and upkeep. I think it's safe to say that the days of Seattle having the Freddie Ljungberg's, Obafemi Martins', and Clint Dempsey's of MLS may very well be gone (for now). When/if Pulisic decides to finish his career in MLS, he's probably not going to be playing for Seattle (unless that's where he wants to play and the league decides to pay the transfer fee)..
➡️ We have loaned midfielder Noel Buck to @SouthamptonFC through January 31, 2025, with an option to purchase. Good luck, Noel! 🦌 pic.twitter.com/oIXamCL9Jq— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 31, 2024
I don't see why they couldn't sign a player on $3 or $4 million. It's exactly what would bring 10k STHs back. Ruidiaz and Rusnak are both on $2M+.
It's the big transfer fees. It's not just the "big name players" either. It's finding those higher quality players in the $600K-$1.2M range (TAM/GAM players) that solidify the roster, are quality starters and depth. That's difference Chris Henderson was making, can the Sounders continue what he started? The Philadelphia Union were really good at this for a while (past 6-7 years) of finding overlooked, yet high quality players (Jose Martinez, Kai Wagner, Jamiro Monteiro, Medunjanin, Glesnes, Baribo, etc. Contrast that with FC Cincinnati, who are basically throwing money at players (high quality no doubt). They're attempting to add jet fuel to the Philly model (Chris Albright and Pat Noonan coming over from the Union). They spent $8M (?) to get Boupendza. The league just terminated that contract...they're not recouping that spend. There were rumors of them throwing big money transfer offers out there for Sargent and McKennie. Seattle (also the majority of teams in MLS) cannot afford to make that kind of mistake, nor spend $15M-$20M on one transfer fee. The fans expectations are still based on the years the team was winning MLS Cups. The reality of today and going forward is different. The league has grown and transformed exponentially since 2013. Ten years ago Seattle was one of the BIG teams in MLS (spending and performance wise). Today? Yes they are still performing on the field, however, they are far from being in the conversation of big spenders.
Sure, however, just because a player is available on a free doesn't mean that they'll be willing to sign for just any team. We all should realize that outside of New York, Miami and Los Angeles, many players around the world have never heard of Kansas City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Colorado, San Jose, Austin, etc. It's also to safe to say that a European Club wasn't going to be willing to pay Obafemi $4M...... Seattle had to pay a premium to get him to the Pacific Northwest.
Christian Benteke came to DC for the Rooney, stayed for the… losing? And now has reupped. I swear with his output we could have transferred him to a Saudi club for a more than significant fee. Thx, Jay!
Yeah. Sounders ownership group isn’t that rich, but they do seem more interested in turning a profit than truly going for trophies.
Interestingly enough.. this just proves my point about the Sounders being frugal and relying on Henderson to find them good, but inexpensive players. Ljungberg was damaged goods when the Sounders signed him and they got him on a free transfer. They did pay him $5m a season tho, but a chunk of that was the expansion money Seattle got when they joined the league. Oba was a $4m transfer, but the sounders only paid him $1.6m initially, then $3m for his final season. The league paid a chunk of Dempsey’s $9m transfer fee and $8m salary. The Sounders paid a $7m transfer fee for Ruidiaz in 2018..
Yeah, I didn’t intend for the kist to be exhaustive, just that the Sounders have been efficient with their purchases and that the issue isn’t the money, but the drop off from Henderson to the current scouting team.
If I remember right, the Sounders were offered $4 million for Leo Chu last summer but they declined because they wanted $5 million. They'll be lucky to get anywhere close to what was offered now. At the time I thought it was a mistake not to accept the offer. I'm even more solidified in that belief now.
And that is the other problem. They are really bad about selling players because they seem to have unrealistic valuations.
Source: San Diego FC is getting close to signing Milan Iloski from Nordsjaelland. IIoski was the 2022 USL Championship Golden Boot winner for Orange County SC. pic.twitter.com/yPfMpp64HQ— MLS Transfers (@MLSTransfers) September 2, 2024
According to this post Vancouver is buying out Martins (already made official by Vancouver) so they can make room for a free agent This is going to sting a little bit: The Whitecaps, normally one of the more frugal teams in MLS, are buying out veteran Luis Martins. That’s presumably to make room for Scottish free agent Stuart Armstrong…— Jeremiah Oshan (@JeremiahOshan) September 2, 2024
St. Louis CITY SC loans Njabulo Blom back to Kaizer Chiefs FC. The loan is through June 2025, with a purchase option.
Interesting because Alex Mighten (English forward) was signed and then loaned to Nordsjaelland through 1 January, and two Danish players for Nordsjaelland are also coming to San Diego on 1 January. Four players from the same Danish Superliga team seems like a lot for a single MLS team (especially three forwards).
Michael Essien is player coach at Nordsjaelland. Michael Essien is also part of The Right to Dream Academy. The Right to Dream Academy's owners own San Diego FC. https://www.righttodream.com/post/video-michael-essien-champions-league-glory-nurturing-next-gen
The rumor is Bezbachenko left Columbus because he wanted the Haslams to buy a European club or two. He saw the writing on the wall that is being leveraged by other MLS teams. If Man City or even Bournemouth can be conglomerates what can’t Columbus or San Diego?