Maybe, but if you really have a chance at a player of Mo's status, can you not grab it? I know, he's slipped. Still had 12 goals between Prem and CL this past season, still had 10 assists. Yann is a nice prospect, but he's never approached that. not even close, Crikey, he's in the French Ligue 2 isn't he? OTOH, while you save on the transfer fee as he's out of contract, the rumor is Saudi is offering CRon money, $200 m a year for up to five years (so $1 billion).
Nah, Toulouse is top half Ligue 1 I think. Not European spot, but still pretty respectable. I just compared their wikis, transfermarkt, and Fifa pages haha. The holy trinity of guessing how good a player is.
Well pointed out. Even so, I'd think the point stands. Mo Salah finished 4th in the Balon D'or voting in 2025, 5th twice before that. He turned 34 during this world cup. True, his transfer value is way down, but he's still a huge get. Even as a retirement move, he actually puts SKC on the world football map. That said, I cannot believe we would actually win this signature. What would we give him, half of the club? the stadium?
Mo would be fun. Depends on how much he cares, though. He seemed disinterested in Liverpool and even Egypt on the pitch throughout a lot of this last year. I think there is a project that sparks the old Salah but I'm not positive it's us. Though I've heard tell he is more interested in maintaining a Western lifestyle than landing in a Muslim country. My dumbass opinion is I'd love to see him, as possibly the greatest African player of all time, leverage his ability and influence to continue raising the level of African club and academy structures. I really loved watching countries like Senegal and Egypt and Cabo Verde competing in this World Cup. In some ways, I'd rather these superstars use their career twilights to boost the African confederation rather than just the American media complex haha. Also I've heard that there were shared-ownership shenanigans involving the transfer of Andre Luiz, and that they rejected offers over $14MM to move him to Olympiacos. If that's true, it might clarify a fair bit why we'd be putting up closer to $20MM.
Hopefully they are spending $ and time buildout out the analytics and recruiting back office too so we can fill out the middle and bottom of the roster with quality as well.
ESPN take on Salah to SKC. From that piece, a clause that makes me wonder if there might not be quite a bit of "there" to this rumor: "Sporting Kansas City -- with a majority owner who is the son of Egyptian immigrants..." Did not know this, and I can see how this might be bigger deal than simply star player for our (absolutely brilliant if all these rumors are true) new owner.
I admit, I hadn't read the NYT piece. This kicker on the Salah piece is also interesting:"The club currently has two DPs: Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia. It can add a third this summer if it chooses and seems intent on doing so." Tom and Tenario are pretty well sourced, I think, in MLS, so the "seems intent" bit adds quite a lot of fuel.
Well there are 3 well sourced rumors for players that they're chasing. All 3 would require a DP slot, whichever one they get.
He's the least plug-n-play of the three for our current starting lineup, but man does Gboho feel like the most impressive player we've ever been rumor-tied to... I mean, specifically considering his age and the position of his career compared to the couple of bigger names that have been KC linked.
He does sound like a very good player for us, TM says plays left wing, where Capita is best, but also on the right, which is the same for Capita. However: https://225foot.com/?s=Yann+Gboho "Yann Gboho's move to the United States remains uncertain. According to exclusive information reported by 225foot , the 25-year-old recently declined an offer from Turkish club Trabzonspor, preferring to play in one of Europe's top five leagues to further his development." And TM apparently is also quoting 225foot, but I didn't see that one: "Freshly promoted to the Premier League, English club Coventry City has made the Ivorian attacking midfielder one of its top priorities to strengthen its squad this summer, 225foot has learned." Though they note: "At Toulouse, the former Rennes player has returned to his best form. His dynamic style, capable of breaking through defenses with his dribbling and driving runs, has made him one of the most spectacular players in Ligue 1."
The rumors are interesting and confirmation that the best thing to happen to SKC in a long time is Mallouk becoming majority owner. I think there's a strong chance we'll be more than competitive next year. My personal take on all the rumors, I'd love to see Yann Gboho above all. He's someone I didn't need to google to know would be an excellent player for us. As for the Sallah rummor....I think we're much more likely to sign Mo Salas from Baker University than Mo Sallah.
I clearly had slept on Toulouse and Gboho. I do follow Lille, but Gboho, going back and watching a couple is incredible. He floats, can easily play on the right for us. Or in the middle. Or left, or up top. Probably goalkeeper. his control is unreal, a level above even in Ligue 1. Amazing passing eye. One match, v Nantes, was funny because the whole thing was angry Nantes fans storming the field, burning stuff, assualting the manager, etc. But he has a wicked passing game, finding space that you didn't think existed. Fantastic speed, in total control, thinks two steps ahead. He'd rip MLS to shreds (I believe MLS is a good league, but the money is generally going to attackers, and defensively is where the MLS lags furthest behind the big 5, IMO). He makes better defenses than can be found in MLS look silly. However, he's Coventry's top target, and they have at least $150m in new TV money for the coming season burning a hole in their pocket. And he's said he would prefer to stay in Europe with the big 5. He is not an easy get.
Yeah I don't know if we could turn his head, but if we can, we probably still need to drop $35MM or more to lock him down, I'd guess. Plus gnarly wages. Would be a bigger statement than landing Salah, in my opinion. If we get any of the three, it's Andre Luiz. Who would be awesome still. But man Gboho is probably my favorite rumor we've had, maybe ever? I'm trying real hard to keep my expectations rational.
Luiz is by far the lowest imo. Especially at the reported price for him. Just doesn't seem worth that much. Gboho? Absolutely. Salah? Probably for visibility. But Luiz just doesn't do it for me. Salah is going to be tough. Saudi Arabia has scaled back their spending on players, but to get Salah would be huge for them. They'll pay a ton.
Salah would be the biggest MLS get since Messi. However, as the Saudi league is looking at their primary weakness being a failure to dominate Arab language nation television, and he'd seen a key to turning that around, it's serious competition. I do believe that this last season was a flop because of things in addition to football. He and slot were at each other from day one. I agree that Gboho is probably a better get for SKC fans and for serious US/Canada football fans. Young, exciting as hell, etc, but while he makes the team better, he doens't raise the bar for the club, does he? Also, of those three, Luiz does seem the most possible. I don't get the fee, but Mallouk's net worth climbed $5 billion in the last year, from the Forbes reported $11 billion (which made him one of the richest owners in sports) last year to $16 billion (same status) now he might be willing to overpay to make a statement.
Are you just talking club exposure and media clout? He certainly wouldn't do for us what Salah could, but he's a really good player who could help elevate us to a truly dangerous, competitive team. He's also Desire Doue's cousin, which is a very light brush with superstardom, but it's not nothing haha.
It's club exposure plus. Over here, walk around Berlin and you see a lot of pink Inter Miami jerseys, which is cool for sales, etc. But you also hear about the club. It becomes a legitimate destination for a lot of players. Maybe that's just for a chance to play with Messi, but it's a profile that will in part last beyond his stay. Players see Messi play in the world cup, coming straight outta MLS, and it becomes a thought in the mind of all players, maybe Miami is a goal, an option. Zlatan chose the LA Galaxy because he knew about the place. Remember his early interviews? The club history mattered to him, maybe not as much as it being LA, but still. If we'd signed Salah a year ago ( I know, wasn't a choice) Gboho and Luiz look at SKC through different eyes right now. Right now, one of the big things stopping Gboho and Luiz from signing is this thing in the back of their minds, their agent's minds, WTF is a Sporting Kansas City. With Salah, and post Salah, that isn't a question. Salah himself is a short term answer as a player. But he has a massive global profile, massive respect. Sign him and you also get a legacy that will last quite a while, esp with a rich owner with the desire to win. I do believe that doing a very nice job of hosting four nations for the WCup also creates this sort of take KC seriously vibe. I get that Gboho is really good. If we get him and win back to back MLS doubles, there will be words spoken internationally about SKC. but not as many as if we sign Salah, which will lead to every game having international coverage, legitimizing us, and that leads to future versions of Gboho.
I dunno, maybe. I kind of think Salah coming here would just be another step in the narrative of "MLS as a place for older superstars to stretch out their careers" and not very specifically raise SKC's profile internationally. Maybe. Maybe I'm overthinking it and Salah is that guy. But I think sometimes about Thierry Henry. He was, what, 32 when RBNY signed him from Barcelona? One of the greatest forwards of his generation. And if he really moved the needle for NY beyond a year or two, I'd be surprised. Off the top of my head, the only two world stars who came to MLS and made a real dent for the international viability of their club were Beckham (the world's most marketable player) and Messi (the world's greatest player, ever?). Otherwise, I think MLS is a graveyard of greats who people know came to play here during the twilight of their careers, but didn't really change the trajectory of their team. Maybe Zlatan as a dark horse, but as fun as he was, I don't think he really played here or left here giving off the impression to folks that MLS is better than they thought... Pirlo? Lampard? Schweinsteiger? Motthaus? Gerrard? Giroud? Reus? Rooney? The fact that I know there's a bunch more that I can't think of at the moment has to factor too. I just think the individual teams for the above really get lost in the shuffle. I guess I could be wrong, but I don't recall that Rooney garnered DC United millions of fans, even though he was legit great on the field for them. Ultimately, chasing international eyeballs and quick blasts of notice due to a marketable star signing might be reasonably successful, but putting together a winning squad that proves itself a pathway to large Euro teams is probably actually much better for player acquisition in the medium and long term.
Inca, it's kind of eye-opening to see how much cash comes in to leagues that do successfully capture internation eyeballs. The giant TV revenue to the Premiership is mostly international, about $100 million per cllub. the domestic rights are half that. And that is per season. In that light, Messi, who has added an enormous number of eyeballs, has been an incredible and very smart investment . I would add that there is a difference between Salah and the players you mentioned above. while all great players, Salah is the biggest sporting star in Northern Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world.
Tom Bogert, on Soccerwise, (right around 31 minutes) suggests that SKC are after both Luis and Gboho, together. His quote, "SKC could well spend $40 million on transfers this summer." Right after that, he said that would be farewell to Manu. He also notes that while Salah is incredibly unlikely, the pursuit it very real and serious and possible, and would replace one of the two above.
Well I mean we've looked better with Manu as a late game sub before the break. I'm still unsure of both of them considering I'm pretty sure Capita wasn't cheap to acquire. But then I'm also probably still thinking "old school MLS" and "Peter Vermes roster building". I also think we need a better "destroyer" to play next to LBJ.