"I'll definitely want to stay if Chris (Armas), Carlos (Bocanegra), Zach (Thornton) and C.J. (Brown) re-sign," Beasley says. "I want to try to win another championship." kinda hard for all of them to resign under the league's salary cap structure.
What do you mean "Would you stay ?" He's not the one who decides that, European clubs have to sign him, and up to now no one seems intrested. Same goes for Beasley and Mathis. I don't think they have much choice but to resign.
man. I love MLS but Beasley is too good to stay here another season. He's done his bit here. He can win another championship when he's 33 and wants to play his last seasons as chicagos left back.
If Jovan Kirvoski and Greg Berhalter can play overseas, I think our best player since the end of the World Cup can find a side. There has been a rumor of Boca going to Newcastle, but considering his game is built for the EPL, I think he can find a team in England. I mean how much noise was being made about Convey before that whole situation with Spurs happened?
This is just talk, and smart talk, from DMB. He's in the midst of a run to MLS Cup with a team considered the frontrunner. The last thing the team needs is someone creating distractions by talking about moving on or making it look like he's looking past the next three weeks. So, some reporter asks about DMB's future and he takes the high road and says the politically correct thing about wanting to stay. The fact is that DMB has talked about wanting to go to Europe for two years. He's been pissed when deals haven't gone through and has switched agents in an attempt to help get him there. I don't see that suddenly changing. Now, I believe him when he says he wants to win an MLS championship before he leaves so if the Fire don't win it all this year, perhaps that changes his opinion. But, if the Fire lift the trophy on the 23rd, I'm guessing it will be the last game DMB plays in MLS till he's in his 30's. As for Bocanegra, he's had plenty of chances to re-sign. He's still playing on his original, paltry, straight out of college, MLS rookie deal. That means money's been tight and anytime he wanted to get a little more flush, all he had to do was sign an extension with MLS. But, he didn't do that. He waited. And waited. And now his contract is seven weeks from being up. I just don't see him waiting this long to suddenly re-sign right before he's free. Like DMB, he's on record as saying he'd like to give Europe a go and now there's nothing standing in his way. Maybe if he goes on trial in January and doesn't get an offer he likes, he'll re-sign, but not till he tries to see what he can get overthere.
Normally I would have clipped the above post and replied to only parts, but it bears repeating. Is it possible Boca will be back next year? of course. Though I'd be amazed if he plays for MLS next season. As Sandon mentioned, he's had plenty of time to up his current salary (probably double/triple it) but he's put it off. You don't do that unless you feel you have a good chance of something bigger on the horizon. As to the no transfer talk... how much transfer talk do you see from Euro (particularly English) clubs right now? Very little... why? Because no one can make any deals until the next transfer window opens. Expect to hear some noise in about a month. Back to Beasley, I think he'll move on also. He's always been a class act (from my memory) and talked highly of MLS ... but always stating his goals for moving to Europe. And, if those players all re-sign, the Fire will not have money to pay for anyone else... and I don't think a team of 6-7 players will win that many games. By the way Sandon, your post almost made too much sense... next time try to throw some wild accusations/claims in there...
Damn these reasonable,well-argued threads... How can I get a good chuckle before I go to work if you guys keep posting sense like this?
Carmelo Anthony - "This is my first Final Four, hopefully it won't be my last" Dwayne Wade - "All these guys are telling me one more year, don't they know that I have 2 left?" TJ Ford - "I'm coming back next season"
Well Beasley doesn't need to re-sign, he's signed through 2005. Now he may transfer out if MLS can get the dough they want for him, but his contract isn't up.
I can't believe that MLS won't get any money out of Carlos Bocanegra. Central Defenders with his skill-set are VERY rare. I mean freakin Rio Ferdinand and Christian Chivu went for a good chunk of change. He ain't as good as them right now but he has similar skills as they do. MLS got unlucky that this was Bocanegra's break out year. They might have been able to get a cool 10 Mill out of him.
his contract ends December 31st, thus no money for MLS. I wonder if Feyenoord will rekindle their interest as their defenders suck.
well I said he wasn't as good as Chivu. Probably never will be. But then Chivu is probably among the 3 best Central Defenders in the world.
Carlos hijacks DMB's thread Bocanegra to Feyenoord would be sweet for everyone involved. Carlos fits an immediate on-field need for Feyenoord. Feyenoord play at a good level for a young American moving into Europe. I like.
One thing a lot of people forget is that professional atheletes want to win trophies. Beasley can probably rack up some serious gear in Chicago. Unless he goes to ManUtd, Arsenal, Real, Bayern, AC Milan, etc. he probably won't be doing too much of that in Europe. While I'm sure everybody would love to win the EPL, La Liga, etc, you can't tell me winning MLS Cup doesn't feel awesome to these guys, and that's important to a player. While there would surely be more "atmosphere" and "soccer culture" at Aston Villa or Leicester City, there won't be as much hardware being put on the mantle either.
I think DMB views the MLS Cup like a MLB baseball prospect views the AAA World Series. Great to win, but he's got bigger goals. I think any of the top 8-10 teams in a major european league would seem like a huge step up from MLS. As would a top 3 team in Holland, France, Portugal. He might not win championships, but he would be competing for a spot in Europe, maybe playing in Europe, playing against the top players in the world, adored by fans, incredibly well paid. I also believe the time for DMB to go is RIGHT NOW. He has 3 years before the next world cup. Gives him time to either make his mark, or correct a mistake if things don't work out. DMB seems like a player that might need a few seasons to really cement his spot in a European league. He's a high impact player, but an inconsistent one. In MLS, he doesn't have the same kind of pressure to perform every week.
I think Beasley has the desire to go to Europe. Athletes lie about staying at a certain place all of the time.
Tis true... a lot of professional athletes want to win trophies. However you often see them trying to win them in the twilight of their career ... after they've made enough money to set themselves for the next 50 years. Examples: A young Alex Rodriguez moves from Seattle with a good nucleus to Texas with a price tag that all but ensures the team can't sign enough other quality players to win anything. A soon to retire Karl Malone moves to the Lakers for a minimal sum just to try and win a championship because its not happening in Utah. DaMarcus is way to young to worry about never winning a title