Not that I understand Norwegian or anything, but this piece seems to suggest that Odd Grenland is giving him a look. http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=316311
There's certainly a good history of college players going straight from campus to the Norwegian league. In recent years, Robbie Russell and Canadians Rob Friend and Olivier Occean have done it. All of those players are big, athletic types and King definitely fits the bill. So, this would seem to make sense as a likely destination for a kid looking to make a little more jack than MLS is offering.
Basically, the article says that on Monday Aaron King arrived for a trial at the same club as Olivier Occean and it seems to have been arranged by the agent Patrick McCribe. It then quotes Patrick but my limited Norwegian fails me here. And it ends saying that Aaron is 21 and scored 37 goals for NC State. As for pay, in Norway it largely depends on what club you're playing for particularly in the 1st Division. Odd is in the Tippaliguen and I believe minimum wage is 220,000 kr. I believe its 6.5kr:1 USD. So he'd be making about 33,900 dollars (I think I remember it being 220,000 while I was in Norway maybe its 120,000). If you divide that by 12 then you get 2,820 USD per month. Norway is an unbelievably expensive place to live, my 2 months spent training there this last summer cost me a ton! In Oslo you really couldn't live off anything less then 6,000kr per month and that might even be low. He'll be making almost twice that so I he shouldn't be living that badly. Especially since he'll be living in Skien which I'd imagine is a bit cheaper then Oslo
If it didn't pay more than MLS, why would Russell, Friend and Occean play there instead of staying here? Yeah, Norway has some hot babes, but it ain't like they're aren't hot chicks here, either? I gotta think these guys are making more there than here.
Yes but If you've been pimpin American chicks all your life it gets old. I mean trust me for a young male, you get used to American chicks and then they get old. You gotta try out the other parts of the world you know, learn the culture and the women. Besides, soccer stars prob get more booty in Europe than America.
He was assuming a guy would get the minimum, which may not be the case. Remember Occean was with the Metros and was outbid by Odd Greenland, so I suspect guys in this class make more than the minimum. And there are other reasons to go to Norway besides money -- new experience (Barrett), career tanking (West), perceived better path to bigger leagues in Europe (??? not happened for any American yet out of a Scandanvian league?).
Wow! This is surprising, but great news. AK is damn fast and a proven goalscorer. Not sure he can create goals for himself. I was hoping he'd get drafted by DC United. MLS draft is in 2 weeks (1/20/06). I don't know where he stood in terms of getting drafted.
If he accepts a job at Company A, here's guessing he'll skip the interview with Company B... Otherwise, gotta keep those options open! That said, MLS (and MLS teams) generally don't like it when seniors try out overseas. Unless some teams are really hot on him, this could definitely hurt his chances at much better than a supplemental pick -- not that I'm convinced the designation really means anything. Still, MLS usually offers a few seniors deals pre-draft (like Garey this year and Adin Brown in the past). Wonder if King was a candidate for such an offer.
To extend what Dave said, certain agents are much more prone to take clients overseas than others. Patrick McCabe is one of them. So is Lyle Yorks. Richard Motzkin and Dan Segal not so much. It's one of the reasons Bocanegra and Beasley left Motzkin/Segal. I'm not saying King won't be in the draft, but McCabe has a track record of getting guys deals in Europe - he is Occean's rep, too - so it could be that this is just an attempt to leverage more money for King out of MLS. If there's a team that really wants King, they'll pressure MLS to get the kid signed. This is what happened with Ryan Nelsen, a Yorks client, in 2001. He was on trial in Belgium and didn't even go to the combine and he was only signed by MLS hours before the draft started because DCU really lobbied for him. It's a gamble by King and McCabe because if he doesn't get a Euro offer and MLS doesn't offer more money, he may have to come back with his tail between his legs and at that point MLS is damn sure gonna make him take as little as possible to serve as an example.
Thanks for the insight. It's always a mystery to me on how these things work (agents, signings, mls in general). I'm hoping the best for the boy, not his agent.
That is about the best, and honest, description I've ever seen. That should be stickied somewhere. Well done Sandon.