The play in MLS would only suffer if the transfer fee wasn't used properly. I don't see how getting a good price would be a bad thing.
I'm all for players getting a chance in Europe, but who is to say that EJ would even play for PSV? Sure looks like sitting #1 in the league that they are short on quality strikers. I worry that he would go and have the quality playing time of players such as Mathis, McBride, Convey, and JMM. He would not go to PSV as an intented 1st option, no matter how great we consider a 12 goal season and goals against powers such as Panama and Jamaica. horse then cart
Don't forget the reserve league, which everyone seems to want to. This will help stabilize teams during call ups, injuries, trades and transfers. As a former player I can't stress how important a reserve team was. It allowed more prospects, the prospects learned your teams system, which in turn allowe dthem to step in with less disruption. The competetive play is "significantly" better than practice play, and it allowed players to actually shine and prove their worth. Think of all the young draft picks and borderline guys who just have to sit and rot right now. It is not the first team, but you can at least force you're wat into it now and we will find many more diamonds in the rough. Don't dismiss the impact of this so quickly. We will find many more players. They are here. We need to give them more opportunities to prove themselves and shine. The reserve system is very important. It is going to help the quality of the league, our individual player and our "unknown" players shine. Very, very, very, very important step here guys.
I know MLS is single entity, but if EJ is sold, does Dallas get any of that cash to its own franchise, or does it all just go to MLS HQ and Dallas is given an "allocation"?
Perhaps i wan't clear. The fact they went to Europe is not what made them better, the analogy i was trying to draw was that because their top players are snached up by Eurpoe every year it allows more players to step into first team vacancies. There are so many talanted players that when one leaves one arrives and hence it gives them incredible depth and allows them to field a very dynamic squad..
Then we agree that national team priorities differ from that of the domestic league. But MLS means more to me than the national team. I wouldn't mind if the latter wins a World Cup, but unless they change it so we have a World Cup every year, I think I'm going to need some more soccer to watch, pretty please. At least someone has acknowledged that player evacuation is bad for MLS.
Who will then leave before making any sort of impact on MLS, at this rate. It's bad enough to have many of our best players in Europe, now it's the prospects who are leaving. Is MLS left with the scrubs that no one wants in order to build the domestic game? Or shall we start shipping them overseas too?
I don't have any problem acknowledging the reality of economics in American soccer, the problem I have is with people who think that talent export is all good and no bad, or thinks that because of the WC quarterfinals, we've achieved some sort of equilibrium with Europe. If this is how things are, that's fine, I can live with that. But anyone who heaps praise onto MLS for selling out our avenues of development and ultimately settling for less is no fan of MLS, or would rather sacrifice MLS to achieve other ends. That is the way things are.
May want to delete this... its probably just in the wrong thread... but there is obviously a result here that should go away
its relevance to EJ's situation is obvious. because arsenal, they just tied PSV and LIverpool are in need of strikers but they scored a goal
What would be the point of Eddie going to Man. U? He wouldn't play....he would just have to be loaned out to some 'smaller' club. Why not just sign with the 'smaller' club to begin with. I like Holland too....let's go Eindhoven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
At the moment, you might raise the ire of PSV fans to suggest they are a small club (yes I know you said "smaller" not "small"). They're looking pretty darn good in the Champions League right now. Granted they are smaller than ManU - but they are still pretty much a force in European Soccer these days and haven't been scored on in what 11 games now? Would it be better for him to aim for a PSV or Feyenoord size club or maybe an FC Twente size?
ManU is a much bigger club ofcourse but sometimes you wonder "what if" PSV had been in a big competition in sunny country with lots of money... We probably could've kept most players: _________________Gomes__________________ Ooijer________Alex________Stam_________Bouma Park_____Van Bommel_______Cocu________Robben _______Van Nistelrooy________Ronaldo________ Subs: Kezman, Romario, Zenden, Waterreus, Rommedahl.
I think that MLS is doing well for itself with regards to either keeping or selling players abroad. They obviously are very keen on signing the top American youth whenever possible, see Szetela and Adu. That is a very smart move. These players will surely play at least a couple years in MLS, and with Donovan's lead perhaps they will play an upwards or six or more years until their early-mid twenties. If the league can maintain that I think it will have a steady supply of exciting talent for people to watch for maybe the next 5-10 years. By that time the league will be able to mature into a more stable entity, and then it can really afford to make competitive offers to keep its best players around. MLS has an upperhand on signing top American youth players because it can firstly, allow them first team action whereas they need to wait until they are 18 in England, and perhaps similar age restrictions apply in Holland and elsewhere though I'm not sure. Secondly, the players can be allocated, like Adu,and like the Szetala attempts, to the team nearest their home so they don't even really have to be living on their own at 15 or 16 years old, which is somthing parents are very big on. So if MLS can be a place where the very very elite youth players get blooded against older, seasoned pros, I think that will provide plenty of excitement for people to watch. I certainly enjoy watching a Danny Szetela play or Freddy Adu more than Clint Mathis or Kerry Zavagnin. I think most people would agree that as long as the league is what it is now, they will have to really carefully pick and choose who they can afford to keep around, and that includes both stars and prospects. But one thing it appears it will always have is great new young players coming out of the woodwork as the US youth system is among the best in the world and snatching up 16 years olds might just be what both MLS and US youth soccer really needed all along. This helps avoid the problem of great youth players going to college and then coming out basically 4 years behind those that go to Europe. MLS is the ultimate place for top youth players to earn their wings, and I think that has a lot of potential to excite fans.