Adu to Benfica: $550,000/yr salary for 5 years (+housing,car and goal bonuses)

1. See the previous post that points out that only non-UEFA is counted as foreign in the Netherlands.

2. The minimum foreigner salary for the Eredivisie is the average players salary in the Eredivisie so what actually doesn't make sense is for the Eerstedivisie to have the same minimum non-EU salary as the Eredivisie.

 

I think 4 mill is too low. the salary cap should be lifted to $6mill minimum to allow MLS to move to the next level.

MLS is slowly becoming a feeder league. They are just now starting to get noticed.

 

http://www.soccerstats.com/2khcrowd.asp?league=portugal&rankby=5

First of all, Benfica averaged 39,000+ last year, not 60,000 and as recently as 2002/2003 averaged a LA Galaxy like 22,540. But hey, you were only 1/3 to 2/3 off the total.

And of course, it's hard to play to 20,000 away crowds in Nacional's massive 2,800 seat stadium or Amadora's and Maritimo's 9,000 seat stadiums. In fact, only 9/16 teams in the Portugese league last year have stadiums with 20,000 or greater capacity. Furthermore, 12 out of 16 teams in the Portugese league averaged less than 10,000 fans per game. But of course, I'm the one who doesn't know what I'm talking about

Then there is this little problem with Portugal's attendance: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a0n8q5qVl4tg&refer=europe

If you want to say going there will be good for Adu's development, then go ahead. Save the other crap, though.

Portugal is Scotland with one more major team.

 

I think most players, and even coaches, look at the Portuguese league as a stepping stone. Look at Deco and Jose Mourinho, for example.

My take is that Adu has wanted to go to Europe for a long time. In fact, he has made it known for over a couple years now. The thing is, he's not ready to go to a dream club like Manchester United or AC Milan, but he sure as hell wants to ge out of MLS, where he struggled at both DCU and RSL. Plus, who really wants to play for RSL anyways? So... I'm fairly certain he's joining Benfica with the intention of hopefully playing well in order to move to a stronger club/league within a year or two. And I'm sure Benfica knows this, too.

Even though this seems to be a good decision for MLS financially, as wel as RSL, I REALLY wish MLS would start bringing home the top American talent, or at least keep them, as in Adu's case.

With the arrival of Beckham, Blanco and Angel, the idea behind MLS now is to truly make it world class. MLS ought to be one of the premier leagues in the world within a decade or two at this current rate. But Blanco, Beckham, et al aside, the only way it's going to really work in the eyes of the American fans is if the homegrown players return to play for MLS sides. I REALLY want to see Beasley and Boca in a Fire jersey again, along with Tim Howard suiting up for NYRB and Gabriel Ferrari at some other MLS side.

I don' want to sound like a Eurosnob, but look at England. For the 1998 WC, and most of the '02 squad, there team was all playing domestically. And regardless of results at those WC's, they made the right decision to stay at home and ply their trade in the Premiership.

Obviously this is a very small facet of MLS I have no control over, but I personally believe that if MLS wants to become the premier sporting league in the USA, and a top-notch league throughout the rest of the soccer world, we need our Yanks to stay here.

 

There is only one problem with this proposal, most MLS teams are losing money with the salary cap at $2.4 million. If you raise it to $4 million or, as someone else suggested, $6 million you'll be sure to see the league fold in a few years.
You can't spend money you aren't making.

 

The SuperLiga averages 10,xxx people per game because most of the other teams in the table that aren't the big 3 have roughy 15,000 stadiums...

It's easy to look at numbers and go "Oh MLS is better because they average more people, when you fail to look at:

- How small Portugal is
- How the majority of the country likes Benfica, Porto, or Sporting, and the rest are harcore fans of a local team.
- How the team he's actually going to is one of the most known teams world wide. It has history, a huge fanbase, and sells out mostly everygame, with numbers MLS wishes it had.

Hell, if they paid me half of what he made I'd still go. More exposure, top of the line training, facilities, great opposition from creative talented INTERNATIONALLY known players.

ps: congradulations on the hard-on for the EPL, everyone knows Benfica isn't in the EPL. Go watch your Man U re-runs.

 

portugal has 10 million ppl...yes thats enough to fill every teams stadium..considering the population and the finances in the country 10000 a game is good attendence.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAHA

you are the biggest ********ing dumbass i have ever witnessed speak on these boards.

Wow go back and actually learn something about proper futebol before you come and spew bullshit over things you have no ********ing clue about.

 

Leave it, we should have expected some american dumbasses to think they are experts on portuguese football and our clubs and its players and history of the league.

The near past portuguese results vs english teams over the past 3 years


Porto
-beat and tied man united
-beat and tied chelsea
-tied arsenal

Benfica
- beat manchester
-beat liverpool twice

Sporting
-Beat newcastle twice when it was still a power
-smashed middlesborough
-tottenham was annihilated

even Bolton tied against a portuguese team wich got relegated, and all these englsih teams have the best paid players on world, budgets 300% higher at least than Portuguese ones.

Not to mention Braga ..a team where berbatov would pay for their whole squad made it to the quarter finals of the uefa cup only losing 3-2 3-2 in both games, with Andrade, andres madrid, and maciel all hitting the post in the away leg, unluckhy not to advance.


Semi finalists of euro2000
finalists of euro2004
Boavista semi finals of the uefa cup 2003 and last 16 of the cl in 2002
semi finalists of wc 2006
porto champions of CL and Uefa Cup and Intercontinental cup
Sporting finalists of Uefa cup
call us what u want but facts can't be denied

Where the ******** do you think our players come from? not portugal?

I guess we suck and mls could beat our national team since most our ntl team players started out playing at clubs like Uniao Leira( who just smashed one of eastern europes best teams 4-1 even though they were lucky to be even 7th in our league) maritimo, nacional, Giumaraes and Boavista

 

For housing, that's probably temporary, rather than buying him a house, and it could be an apartment in the Alfama or something. Not that it's not better compensation than the RSL deal, but the value may not be equal to buying a house or renting an apartment in D.C.

 

yes, temporary in the sense that Benfica will pay for him to live in Lisbon until he is transfered to another team in Europe.

but i see no indication to think that the housing portion of his deal is not for the duration of his first deal in Europe.

 

No one is saying that the "big three" Portuguese clubs don't have great records of European competition. Nevertheless, it's silly to think that all of the clubs in the SuperLiga are going to provide better competition than all of MLS.

Freddy Adu will benefit most from the European experience, especially Champions League competition, rather than, say, Leixões S.C.

As for the national team remark, exactly how many Portuguese players in the 2006 World Cup played for a SuperLiga team other than Sporting, Porto, or Benfica? One, Paulo Santos. 2002? Two, Ricardo and Nuno Frechaut.

Major League Soccer players on the 2002 USA team that beat Portugal? 11, or just under half the squad.

Obviously that's an imperfect comparison, but it's just as silly to claim that all Portuguese SuperLiga teams will provide the same high level of competitive experience to Freddy Adu as Benfica's European competition.

 

is this a Yanks Abroad thread or a Benfica thread?

I am pleased that Adu gets to go abroad - which he has been vocal about for some time ..... he had "issues" at DCU and at RSL ... but he still has all the elements of talent and potential ....

putting money and total compensation aside ... I think this is a good move for him from the development aspect .... IF he consistently does well (which is always a question mark given his track record in the MLS) then certainly in 2 - 3 years he will go somewhere else in Europe and the work permit issue should dwindle away. Certainly La Liga, Erde Divisie, and Portugal were all good leagues for his current style and his physical size .... I always worried he would get hammered in the EPL.

good luck Freddy.

 

Have you ever read through a thread before posting?

 

My comment was not directed to that post. What are you proving here hi(e)spanholito ?

 

Leixoes who qualified for the UEFA cup a few years ago.

 

Great. Good for them. That doesn't negate the fact that their stadium only fits 8,100 people. How can a club claim to be top-tier when its stadium fits fewer than 10,000 people? That's my point.

 

That was woodland's response to the many body slams he received for the post you were referring to. When you took your shot at him it amounted to nothing more then piling on.

Anyway, take good care of Freddie and teach him well; so Real Madrid or Sevilla can make good use of him in a few years.

 

Ah yes, the magic of Europractice. That's what made Jovan Kirovski the trandscendent player he is today.

 

A few of our Portuguese visitors just got pwned.

Like bitches.

 

Wow, Portuguese SuperLiga fans are touchy!

And I love all this talk of "people" thinking/saying that MLS is the best league in the world, when in fact it's just MLS fans (and players, and coaches) lauding the league's successes against proven traditional opponents.

Please take note: if I congratulate the MLS All-Stars on a job well done vs. Celtic, I am NOT criticizing all of Scottish football. If I think that Freddy Adu winning MLS Cup with DC United at 14 years old is a better experience than sitting on the bench all season long at Benfica at age 18, I am NOT saying that Benfica sucks.

 

1. I don't think it matters much if this is a salary increase or not for Adu. What's important is that he has dreamed of playing for Europe since before he was a pro. Whether that was a step up or not, that's a huge motivator for him. That can be a good thing (b/c given a clear target and motivation, he really pushes himself).

2. It's nonsense to say he isn't improving. Adu has improved a lot every season in MLS. It's just that A-mid is a tough position to master b/c so much of it is mental AND he had a lot of holes in his game when he turned pro.

3. My understanding is that RSL doesn't get the $2 million. Instead, they get $250k and DCU gets $150k and the rest goes to the league. What makes a huge difference for RSL is that Adu would have had to have been their DP if he'd have stayed for 2008. Now this frees up their DP slot for 2008.

 

Could you please quote someone who has said MLS is the best league in the world?

 

His point is that no one has said this, but the Portuguese community here is implying that people have. Read better.