The rumor on the rumored trade is Avery John for a draft pick and an undetermined amount of allocation money. From this Blog: MLS Rumor Blog Downside of the rumor is that NE would keep the profit from any transfer to a league abroad.
If that is true, perhaps McC and Sigi should pay particular attention to this part of the artical before giving up too much: Why give up allocation money plus any potential tranfer money?
A scenario that could work, though it is likely in the outer realms of the realistic. We trade for a certain amount of allocation money - say 100 bucks. John comes here and leaves in the summer transfer or even earlier. Foreign club pays $1000 in transfer money, of which say $500 goes to the team holding John. Columbus negotiates 50% of fee and $250 goes to Crew, $250 goes to Revs. We would make money in a scenario like that. But I'm not even considering John's salary for the time he is here, the international slot he would hold, or the value of the draft pick. So it is possible we could benefit. Likely? Hmmm, I don't think I'd bet on it.
Well, as has been said by others, we have plenty of youth, so I'm not sure giving up a draft pick would be a bad thing. Then again, I'm sure somebody stellar will emerge from this draft class and we'll all end up kicking our own asses for not picking them up with the pick instead of taking Avery John.
Maybe we can do both, I would not give more than a 2nd rounder in next years draft for him, and maybe the all to often used future considerations depending on if he stays a whole season. His salary was $63,000 last year, so not to bad.
I'm trying to give the Crew a chance here and not be pessimistic, so... If the crew do go and sign a quasi-name euro DP, who will actually be a difference maker, Guille comes back wanting to play for this team and Avery is the other piece (how long have we been wanting a left back) to make a run at the cup, great. I'll have no problems. I'm just weary of what they might give up. despite all of our youth, I don't have that much confidence in many of them really panning out. A brunner or some such would be invaluable to the long term health of our defense. We need some other pieces, but if even just one of the 4 trialist works out I think the pieces are there to make this a good move, again depending on what's given up, in an attempt to go for the cup.
I have unofficial confirmation (can't give away source yet) that this is for real. No word on which draft pick or how much allocation money yet. More details as I get them.
strange that they look at Avery John when we just had word that O'Rourke would be moving to back for good. I'm sure everyone else assumed that Danny O would be at left back. And if the rumors about Herron from the end of last season were true, why not include him in the trade in lieu of the allocation money?
Good point eboe....They will need another striker, especially if the rumors about Twellman possibly moving to Europe are true. Seems silly not to get SOMETHING out of the Herro debacle.
Avery is a versatile defender who is left sided. We need that. So at that level, I like the deal. However, the rumours that he will be leaving the league are disturbing. I would hope we would have a sit down with him before the deal is done, and if he is wanting to leave, I'd hope we'd negotiate a deal, as mentioned above, where we get our $$ back if he goes. Still, giving up a draft pick for someone who only stays half a year seems daft. Edit: both the Danny to LB and the John rumor don't bode well for one Timmy Ward.
I believe that I have also heard that Tim is supposed to stick around, I read it in an interview from Sigmund somewhere. Maybe he expected him to see Olympic time?
I'm not so sure giving the Revs more draft picks is the key to beating them. He'll be with the Olympic team for a few months this year. Remember, Ward's still young, and will likely continue to improve.
It's called a "sell-on clause" and is quite a common part of transfer deals all over the world. It helps teams that developed players make money off the player even after the player is transferred to a third team. What this means is that the Revs would receive a percentage of the transfer fee, not the entire fee. Of course the Crew could offer him more money and he may not want to leave. I think one of the main reasons he is considering a move to Europe is for the money. He's a good player but the best he could hope for would be a team in one of the smaller Euro leagues or an EPL team likely to be relegated.
If we can bring in Avery, and then give him a 50% salary bump after the end of the season (assuming he's earned it), then I think we'd have a good LB on our hands.
I don't rate John very highly. He did score the game winner vs us in the 04 playoffs but he's also had some famous on field meltdowns. Wasn't he red carded at the 06 WC? I remember him giving up a dumb penalty in the MLS playoffs one year too.
His second yellow saw him sent off in the WC match v. Sweden. Pretty vicious tackle. I know he has been trying to get to England for years to play, which is probably why the talk of heading overseas is ever-present. Previously, he has not been able to get the work permit there, He has to be over 50 caps though by now for the Soca Warriors.
Who it really doesn't bode well for is Rusty Pierce, who is still listed on the roster officially, for now... Not that there is anything wrong with losing Rusty...
Maybe Danny O'Rourke can shift to center D. Maybe Avery John can play central D. Maybe Marshall will be healthy enough to play center D for a whole season. We also still have Miglioranzi who I thought was quality last season as well who could play center D. And Oughton. So really we will be very deep in defense and I think it's time to cut guys like Pierce and Ezra. I could also see some other guys go because we are almost too deep in defense that guys like O'Rourke, Migs, and Oughton could be sitting on the bench for considerable time next season. Ward might never see the field. The allocations of guys live Avery John and Brian Carroll will bolster are defense and hopefully means that guys like Rusty and Ezra never see considerable time on the field next season for the Crew. Although Sigi believes Ezra to be high quality
Factor in that Rusty and John both made about $63,000 last year and ask Crew fans who they would rather have given they both would count the same on the cap.