... which could mean Moore for United. Here's the link (I hope!) http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=254349&cc=5901 Basically, Stewart seems to be "leaning" toward Dallas, which Connolly says is the "surest bet." Also, Hudson apparently using Stewart as cover to really get JMM. Not sure I buy that. What do you guys think of Moore instead of Stewart? I'd rather have Stewart, just my humble opinion. Ed
Chris Bergin is saying Moore is 80-90% probable to accept the offer from Wolverhampton and stay in England. So Hudson should take Stewart while there is something to be had...
I think both could lend invaluable experience and models of work ethic to Quaranta and the young attacking players. Stewart seems to be coming to pasture. Moore seems like he will still be going for the gusto and maybe reinvigorating his career. Just my feeling on the situation. I wouldn't mind either and I really have no preference. I think either one would make DC a better club.
Passing this information through my old teamtalk calculator I get the following result: 10-20% chance that he actually will sign with Wolves and will very likely be at DC this season.
The JJM news is confusing to me. Will he sign with MLS or stay in Europe? This scenario has changed more than the Gazza saga. Couldn't have picked a better time for a Happy Hour.
Say what you want about Bergin, I'd class him as a lot better source on any JMM negotiations than Connolly. He speaks with JMM often and believe it or not, Bergin has very good contacts in England.
It's speculation, and Connoly admits it. If Moore signs soon, then it renders much of the column moot.
I'm shocked, shocked to find that Bergin has contacts in England! Seriously, it's hardly a secret that Hudson wants Moore. It's hardly a secret that either would improve this team through sheer presence dramatically. But you've got to take one, because otherwise you're almost certainly stuck with neither. Use both allocations, take 'em both. Dallas deals for Stewart, or New England deals for Moore. Use a discovery on our hairy-chested Bulgarian d-mid, and draft Eskandarian #1 and Clark #5, and ... am I beginning to sound like a Mutts fan yet? Chico's right--it's a great time for a happy hour.
I don't know, reading the Connelly article started me thinking about a bird in the hand. We know Stewart is headed stateside, we think Moore might be. Even if you prefer Joe-Max, you go with the one you know is gettable, it seems to me. Having said that, I'd really love to see us land Frankie Hey-Dude. He can take the left wing and let Bobby play the interior role he had at the end of last season, giving us one seriously kick-ass two way midfield in a 3-5-2. Who in MLS has the outside defensive strength to handle both Frankie and Benny at once?
We get first shot at both of them, so its not really an "either or" proposition. If we take Stewart, we still have the allocation we got from SoS to use on JMM. So we go ahead and take Stewart, then if JMM becomes available later, trade Stewart to Dallas.
What about... After reading the article, it seems that JMM may be holding out at the instance of the Revs. In any case it seems like they would be very eager to acquire JMM, who would probably match up extremely well with Twellman. If so, is there any possibility of yet another trade in the works for Ray and co.? New England has two forwards who scored tons of goals for Hudspar in Miami in Serna and Chacon. They also have two versatile D/Ms in Heaps and Brian Kamler who also played for the Fusion. Do any of you more knowledgeable posters think that Hudson may be tempted to trade JMM for two of the abovementioned players? Just asking...
1. Serna (last I heard) is not likely to be match fit at the start of the season b/c of his knee injury. 2. Chacon was reported by the BG to be cut sometime this week. Revs need to create cap room for the acquisition of Nowak. 3. Kamler was traded TWICE by Hudson. And he's never played D-mid (at least not well). He sparkles as an outside mid. That isn't a priority for this team--worst case scenario is Convey and Olsen at outside mids, I can more than live with that. 4. Cullen would be (IMHO) a nice acquisition: young, cheap and American. But the revs can't expect much for him b/c he's now a reserve (with the acquisition of Nowak).
I don't know about that. They denied they were interested: http://www.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=126986&cpid=10&title=Wolves+reject+Moore+rumours
I like Connelly a lot and what he says. And I have to disagree with a lot of his supposition in this article. Unless he's talked to Ray lately, it's hard to square this article with Ray's recent claim that he's talked to JMM, thinks he's going to sign in England b/c he has an offer there and doesn't see him coming to MLS. Also, the idea that JMM is the first priority doesn't match with Hudson then going to La Liga to scout an Argie striker. Also, this article makes it sound like it's our play. I think the truth is that if Stewart insisted on Dallas, the league would find a way to finess this. It also ignores Andy Swift's initial comments about Stewart, that the team would need to create cap room to acquire him.
Bergin has said that he no longer stands by that article. But, hell, we'll see what happens. I'll take either guy- Earnie or JMM. Also Bergin says that Hedjuk is C-bus bound. How he gets there is unknown with C-bus having no allocations. Maybe they will trade with us? Maybe we don't need to use an allocation to get Ivanov- and we get him as a Discovery? The Connelly article is wrong on several points. For instance, Hedjuk is under contract with Bayer Asprin who have loaned him to St Gallen. So MLS is talking with the german dudes. As an aside- how sick are Bayer Leverkusen of talking with MLS? First Donovan, now Hedjuk. More importantly, by accounts, the Stewart situation is to be cleared up by Monday or possibly tomorrow. If JMM is MLS-bound and also if he is to figure into United taking him over Stewart then you would think that a deal has got to happen real fast. This all seems too complicated to me so I think i lean to the simpler story- that we sign Stewart Monday.
I've been reading the C-bus boards about Hejduk ending up there. They would need an allocation to get him and there was disagreement whether or not they have one. According to the allocation list we saw recently there are only four available, DCU (2), SoS and Colorado. Apparently, if no one with an allocation wants him he would be available without an allocation in the reverse order of last years' standings. If those with allocations passed on him, could DCU then get Hejduk without using an allocation and make him available to C-bus on reasonable terms? According to Bergin, if he does sign with MLS the team he has been allocated to will be announced at the same time. How could this happen without going through the above procedure? Since this is MLS that was a joke.
I think we're engaging in some thinking that is so fucused on some branches, we can't see the forest. Fine--let Surfer Dude go to Columbus. He's a fine player who flourished in MLS and will continue to do so. And it just isn't worth it spending max salary on an outside mid or (more likely) an outside defender. Basic rules for MLS--you can afford to have 2 maximum salary players on your roster. More than that and you have to make sure the rest of your roster are guys making the MLS min or P-40 and you have NO depth. Right now, C-bus has a roster with a lot of moderately (even cheap) talent that is above MLS max. Add Hejduk to McBride (when he comes back from loan), J-W Perez, Cunningham and they will have to do some major jetisoning. Players like Buddle and West suddenly become too expensive. Do we have amnesia--don't people remember last year when Hudson ditched Talley ($70K--not a lot of money there) in order to save $15K? Look at what Chicago just went through--when they had Wolff, Hristo, Nowak, Razov as max salary players. No--let's not waste an allocation on him and then try to trade for something.
Re: What about... New England has been trying to trade Chacon and has found no takers. The Boston Globe reported that he'll be waived within a week. If DC wants APC, they can get him without trading anything. As for Serna, I doubt Hudson wants to fight with him constantly like he did in Miami. Hudson already had Kamler and traded him. Although I really like Kamler's versatility, hustle and hard shot, I doubt he has much of a chance to return. As far Heaps, nothing disgusts me more than a Duke basketball player. I hope he doesn't come here. F*** Dook.
No matter who comes on the allocation DCU should really stick it to the MLS league office and make them stand by their allocation list as they printed it. We have the first shot at the TWO first players signed by the league. If it's Stewart and Moore, take 'em both and then make trades. Don't let the league move those players without making Dallas or NE make LA-for-Luis-Hernandez type concessions. We've sucked for three years, and have made a good trade this year, so now we hold the cards. Use the allocations for the coveted USMNTers, draft a bunch of P-40 salary exempt guys and then take our pick from the rosters of anyone who may come calling. Don't get jobbed out of impatience like we did with Kante.
I think the point was that if no one, including us, used the allocation we could pick him up for "free" since we're still first in the pick order. Then we would trade him to Columbus. I don't think anyone is suggesting using an allocation and then trading him away.
We should snatch up Hejduk. If he were on our team playing left wing (or right wing with Benny on the left) we could easily slide Convey into the middle. I think that Bobby would work really well with Olsen and Hejduk on the flanks, too.