It's easy. He will go to New York by doing what Manning did in the 2004 NFL DRAFT. "If you don't trade me, I won't play for you." Maybe that won't work because he already signed a contract with MLS with terms that probably dictates that in order to earn money, he has to play. However, I don't think Columbus wants an unhappy player on its hand. A trade will take place (i predict in about 10 days from now).
Did Szetela get bad advice?.... Well, today's NY Times pretty much answers the question posed on this thread. If he had a GOOD agent, this thing would have been resolved well before the lottery. The guy sees he screwed up and now is claiming they never had an inkling that they might be going to Colombus? As already mentioned, the family has gone through SIX different agents. My God, how difficult then is this family to deal with? Also, if the mother is that "sick", how was she able to make it to the MetroStars match on Saturday night. My cousins lost their mother at the ages of 6 and 8 and my uncle had to bring them up by himself with NO help whatsoever. Never did they use the death of their mother to make people feel sorry for them. I donate my time to many different causes, etc, but even I'm starting to get apalled at how many times the death of the father is going to be used as an excuse to make MLS feel bad because of their own doing.
Unbelievable. I can't believe his agent would say that. If I were Danny, I'd be looking to get me a new agent. This current one messed his deal up royally.
Szetela has nowhere near the weight Eli Manning had at draft time. Manning was expected to come in first game and be a starter. If Szetela doesn't play, I don't think it matters at all. What is his salary counting against the cap? Plus Manning's worth was apparent as seen by what the Giants traded to get him. The Giants had their man in an hour. Doesn't seem like Metro is moving heaven and earth to get Szetela. I presume Metro is thinking "It would be good to have him, but we aren't going to break ourselves to get him." Manning V. Szetela is apt only in the aspect that neither wanted to play by the teams that drafted them. It falls apart after that.
Whoops. I posted that before reading he'd already gone through six agents! This whole thing is bizarre.
You know how often a lawyer experiences this: a client comes into the office and says, "I just signed this contract. What do you think." It takes monumental control to not answer, "I think you are incredibly stupid to have signed without asking your lawyer to review the contract first."
After all is said and done, I believe Danny will not play until after the all-star game and when he does he will be a Mutt. The league will step in and do their usually "you go here, you go there, here is your allocation,,,everyone play nice now. This is MLS, they front office will put you where you want if they feel they can benifit. Landon wanna go to cali? sure go ahead, what freddy? dc united? u got it. This thing is not over yet and if this kid and his loser agent keep crying MLS will probably throw him to the Mutts and say shut up, play good and make us some money when we sell you in two or 3 years
Well, other than the the fact that Eli Manning comes from a rich family headed by a former NFL quarterback legend, while Danny Szetela... doesn't, that's the perfect strategy. I'll give you one thing: You figured out the flaw in the strategy pretty quickly. Seriously, if Szetela were to do something as foolish as hold out, how does that hurt Columbus? They have their team set (or as set as you can have it midway through the season) and he was dropped into their laps. He doesn't even count against their cap, even if he were playing. If he holds out, they're no worse off than they were last week. He can't even cause a disruption in the locker room, because all of his new teammates probably think that he's a punk that needs to shut his piehole and play. Szetela has no leverage here, and the sooner that he figures that out, the better off he'll be.
Professional Soccer player........it is time to stop whining and get to playing. Danny, the ball didn't bounce the way you wanted it to go, but it is now time to start showing us what you are made of and at this point you are not showing you are ready to be a big boy. My second round of thoughts on this is if this kid has been a part of so many youth national teams and has spent time training and traveling with them, you would think that he has a little better than most ability to adjust to pressure situations. It is time to draw on that experience and step up.
Comments like this are really starting to get annoying. There isn't some sort of limited sympathy pool where you are only allowed to have pity for 2 unfortunate people per day. There isn't some cosmic injustice scale where if one person has had it worse than another and you know about both you can only feel sorry for the worse off of the two. Yes many people in the world have been substantially more unfortunate than Danny (or just about anyone else you can think of). That does not mean you are therefore precluded from feeling bad for a kid who has had a couple of bad turns early in his life. Learn some compassion... those you supposedly care for are sure to appreciate it.
My compassion is extremely limited for those people who are going to be making $140,000 a year to play a game and for some reason think that moving to Ohio is such an outrageous hardship to earn said money. Especially when those people were recently negotiating with potential employers in Liverpool, England.
A dead dad, a sick mom and a 17 year old kid who now is supporting his family. I think the real world hit him 2 years ago moron. What - did you grow up on the streets of Baghdad or something? Yes life can be hard - but it sounds like its been harder for him than most in this country. And while they may have taken some bad advice this is the first time they've been through something like this. They don't get to pretend to be experts on the process like some folks on here who have never done anything similar to this in their lives. Its also his frigging agent talking. His agent says something and all these wanna-be's jump all over the kid like he took a crap on the Statue of Liberty. I haven't heard the kid complain yet. So interent tough guys - lay off the kid until he says something. Then remember the Magazine-Cover Model Genius you were at his age.
Szetela vs. Mike Tyson Someone needs to tell the kid it's not ok to eat people's children, before he ends up with a tatoo on his face.
Look Szetella said he would really like to go to the Metros but that if it doesnt happen he will go to Columbus and do his job! He agreed to the contract and said he would honor it. He didnt throw a fit like alot of spolied little brats do in alot of other major league sports. He didnt say to hell with you to Columbus he simply stated his wishes. Thats about as professional as the guy could be. I give him alot of credit for publically being diplomatic about it. It shows class and maturity. Probably more maturity than even I have. I feel for this kid. I have a soft spot for him. I love my parents dearly and if my mother was ill and I was offed 200k a year to move to NewYork to Columbus to play and my mom was ill here in Chicago, well I would probably pass it up or try and find a way to make it work as close to home as possible. I can only chalk up the heartless stupidty on this board by some of you as a lack of maturity and lack of life events to give you a perspective!! I have had them so I understand what the kid is going through. It isnt always about money guys. I make a good chunk of change but if my dad died tomorrow I would gladly give back ten fold to have him back. Good luck to you Danny. Do whats best for you. MLS and some of its idiotic fans will survive. Sigh.
You mean the real world where all of us are forced to move to different cities for jobs as opposed to taking the same job in the city we're already in? That real world?
The problem is, he comes out and says he'd rather move to England. And he says, literally two minutes after going to Columbus, that he's hoping there is a trade away from Columbus. Of course he should try to stay as close to home as possible, but he made a decision, that took him away (what a 7 or 8 hour drive?), so there's not much reason to shout about it now, just get on with it, and do the best in his ability.
I'd rather move to England than Columbus too. As far as the part about him getting paid so much to play a game, my guess is that Szetela has worked his testicles off to get as good at the game of soccer as he is right now and when people who begrudge him money he has clearly earned (as evidenced by the amount of interest in him in and outsode the league) it reeks of pure jealousy. If I was Szetela and was told the reason I had to play in Ohio instead of at home was because a random number generator said so... ...I'd be less than thrilled.
Um, that would be MLS. The only places in the country he could get that job was with MLS teams. It was sign with MLS, or not get that job. He could have signed with the A-league, which would have been a lower paying job in a lower league with less all-around benefits to his career, so that certainly isn't the same job. He could have gone to college and not get paid anything so that sure as hell ain't the same job.
I caveat my comments by saying I take your point, Northside, in saying that it's his agent making the comments. And frankly, I consider the quote to be something of a "plant" to enhance the odds of a trade. (And even if he had made it, I would tend to forgive the comment itself, under the circumstances). As to the other issue, though, I won't suggest that I would trade my father's life and my mother's health for $140k a year. Of course I wouldn't. But what that assessment fails to recognize is that MLS did not actually kill Danny Szetela's father, or make his mother sick. If all of that happened to me, and then separately I was later offered $140k a year to play, but not in my hometown, I would say "well. . . at least I can support my family." Sympathy is not a moral mandate for action. There may, as DaMa suggests, be no theoretical limit to human sympathy (I think there are probably some at the extremes, like I would not have particularly mourned Adolf Hitler over his father's equally untimely demise, but leaving that aside), there quite clearly is a limit to what we can actually do about having that sympathy. And I think there are far more worthy candidates to spend our time and money on than Danny Szetela, who can still provide for the remainder of his family. That is quite a bit more than tens of thousands in Darfur, Sudan can probably say.
So no one forced him. He wanted the MLS job, he got it with no promises attached. I moved to England for my job, knowing it full well, i could have stayed local if I had of wanted to. He wasn't forced to do a damn thing.
And I'm sure that if I worked equally hard. . . I would still suck. Danny's natural talent, that enabled his hard work to mean anything, is a matter to be taken up with the same God that would take his father's life and his mother's health.
Well, Szetellas agent said that. Who knows!?! Maybe his agent was talking out of context or against Szetellas wishes. He may have made a mistake and out of anger said something he shouldnt have. We need to concentrate on what Szetella said and not his agent. He would like to go to the Metros if possible and if not that he will go to Columbus and do his job. I agree what his agent said is a contradiction and it makes no sense. I am guessing his agent made a boo boo by saying what he did. This will all get cleared up a a few days but as of now it looks like he will be suiting up for Columbus this weekend. I just hope he has a stellar MLS debut. This kid could be our new #10 in 5 years. Him and Donovan in the middle during the next couple of World Cups and qualifications sure would be sweet.