ESPN the MAG: Twellman

Guess that means he's getting that raise.

 

Yeah! He should get as much money as possible in a guaranteed long term deal - then he should purposely suck. That would teach those bastards! Yeah!

or was that not what you meant?

 

Why?

 

Do Gus Kartes, Johnny Torres, or any of the other guys who everyone thought would be great, but then stunk, ring a bell?

And if Twellman goes to Europe, shouldn't MLS get something?

Twellman will get a fair deal, but why should MLS be suckers?

 

And that he plans on staying for a while.

 

While TT was vastly underpaid last year, he was paid by the MLS league standards which have been established for awhile now. And trying to tie him down for a three year deal is also an established policy. TT nor anyone else should be surprised by this situation. IF MLS does change their policy here, they open up the door for every kid in the future who chooses Europe first then comes back because they can't cut it or want to be near family later. I'm not saying Twellman doesn't deserve a better deal, but MLS does have to be careful here. Do you change policy for one player who will be gone in a year and risk all that that entails or do you stick to policy and keep his paycheck low, ensuring he does not sign back up later on. The fan in me says give the boy some money because he earned it. The business side of my brain says be careful what you do, because it will forever alter the way contracts are negotiated with young talent. I don't see what's wrong with TT signing a three year deal. I don't think any of us believe he will still be here after 2003 if he continues to produce at club level and that carries over to international level. If a Euro club makes a good offer, I think MLS will sell him anyway. It is obvious they will not keep him, and forcing him to stay would only hurt them in future negotiations with young talent.

 

Your points are heartfelt and understandable. But your argument is inaccurate. Players such as McBride, Beasley et al do get a good look in Europe. For many of these players it is simply a case of bad timing. Had the European markets not receded so much in the last 6 months, I have no doubt you would see these guys in European clubs. In particular I feel bad for McBride and Beasley. Brian was on the verge of signing for Preston but they offered him pittance. After WC2002, EPL clubs were throwing his name about and the offers were projected to be around the $5-6m mark. But with the new transfer window and the market condition, that was stalled. Of all MLS stars, I think he deserves to go to the EPL.

Beasley also was on the verge of signing. First with Ajax, then with Middlesbrough. The fee was $2m which was nothing. But in the 11th hour, Ajax found an EU-player (i.e. no work permit required) and Middlesbrough figured they couldn't get him signed and sorted before the transfer window closed. So they decided to stick with a player who recovered nicely from injury.

Mathis had a $5m pseudo-offer from Bayern Munich which hinged on his WC 2002 performance which was mediocre at best.

Donovan doesn't belong to MLS. He's "owned" by Bayer Leverkeusen.

Wolff got a look by Liverpool after Sydney 2000 but they figured they had better talent.

MLS is surely not to blame for these occurrences. The league is trying to build itself into something similar to the Dutch league where they buy and groom young talent cheap and then sell at a profit. It would be foolhardy from a financial point of view to hold onto "assets" when a good offer is on the table, especially when there is a massive overdraft in your account.

 

I don't think MLS wants to become another Dutch League. They don't want to become a selling nation of players, esp US players. MLS would much rather keep those guys. Its the players for the most part who want to leave, and MLS is tring to find a balance between allowing thier players to further there career there vs keeping the best American players in MLS.

Like TitoDrago said, MLS is losing $$$ still, and if a huge offer every comes across Garbers desk, he'll have to take it, but I don't think MLS plans on making large sums of money in the transfer market.

 

Am I missing something, or didn't TT already "play" in Europe?

He spurned MLS to go to Europe (which was his right), he then didn't sniff first team play and came back to MLS with his tail between his legs.

MLS said "Prove to us that you deserve a star's salary."

He did, now he'll get a nice contract and in a year or two's time he'll be back in Europe a much better player than he left it.

You're right, MLS is just a mean ol' league.

 

Aside from the casual attempt at cynicism what proof do you have that MLS sits on talent?

At the risk of getting bombarded by hate mail, I think that Don Garber is possibly the most under-appreciated businessman in America

 

I would tend to agree with you on both points.

I think for some, the easier (i.e. lazier) method is to simply blame MLS and continue moaning. If you crunch the numbers and research at the real facts people will see that the league is slowly heading where it needs to be.

In any case, the original argument (how did we get so sidetracked?) is about TT getting a salary increase. I'm sure it was mentioned before, but when was the last time that a goal-poacher like Twellman or Ruiz actually replicated his feats in back-to-back seasons? If the answer is never, then I guess the onus is not on MLS to spike TT's salary by 1000 percent.

 

Whay are you so quick to sell McBride, Wolff, Mathis and see LD head back across the Atlantic.

These players are NOT past their prime being paid salaries they no longer deserve nor are they bringing down the level of play nor are they keeping talented or more talented (if there are any) players from getting a chance in MLS.

These players are in their prime right now. That makes it a good tiem to sell them but it also gives MLS all the more reason to keep them.

Your point seems to be that because MLS is reluctant to sell their star American players they are holding back the future talent pool of American players and are dragging the league down.

If anything, paying a transfer fee of $200K and a salary of $200K for a 33 year old foreign defender takes jobs away from US players - but even this may be a money making venture for MLS and right now that is the bottom line.

But for you to suggest that because MLS wants to keep McBride, Mathis, etc...that this somehow is a drag on the league and prevents others from having an opportunity (with all due respect) is patently absurd.

 

In The Trial, it was testified to that the original MLS business plan said that the league would "eventually" become a net exporter of players.

Then during this season, I thought I remembered Garber saying that keeping good players here was a priority. I don't recall him saying that keeping good players here forever was a priority, but if MLS was in the black, they wouldn't have to ask themselves "Do we need the money we could get from selling this guy?"

And in that case, players could move when they were out of contract, theoretically. Though you'd probably have to work out some timing issues.

 

I've been meaning to check on that as well, because some Fire fans were saying they'd put up with Razov if he was scoring 20 goals a year. Well, here's the list of all the guys who've ever scored 20 goals in a season, and what they did the following year:

YEAR...PLAYER...........TEAM..GP...G...NEXT
2002...Carlos Ruiz.......LA...26...24..??
2002...Taylor Twellman...NE...28...23..??
2000...Mamadou Diallo....TB...28...26...9
1998...Stern John........CLB..27...26..18
1996...Roy Lassiter......TB...30...27..10
1996...Raul Diaz Arce....DC...28...23..15
1996...Eduardo Hurtado...LA...26...21...8

John had two good years back to back and they sold him. Diallo was addition by subtraction by the time he was sold on eBay.

And if you want to drop the threshold to below 20 goals, be my guest.

 

I agree with you Northside. We do so many people want MLS to get rid of its best players? I've seen the result of that here in Austria. All the best guys play in Germany, and the Austrian league is reserved for players who either aren't yet good enough or are over the hill. MLS fans should be more selfish about their best players.

BTW, Twellman's wrong about Friends - it translates into German pretty well.

 

Only on bigsoccer could such a piece of fluff journalism spawn such a vitriolic debate.

TT and MLS will each in their own best interests. It's TT's and his agent's job to get the best deal he can, and it's Gazidis' job to act in the best interests of the league--he has to weigh the financial component, but also intangible value of a player's image and Star Value. Yes, it's worth much more than 27K, but you can't spend what you haven't got.

At the end of the posturing, they will most likely find a number that each can live with.

 

Cross-reference: MLS/MFL thread.

 

It seems to me that your arguments are a little inconsistent. You complain that MLS wants names and doesn't care about talent, and then you state that MLS doesn't want to give up the talent it has. Is Taylor Twellman a name or a talent? Didn't he become a name because he is a talent? You want better play in MLS (presumedly through better talent) but then also want MLS to sell off the better talents?

I think you're very much over-simplifying how keen an edge it is upon which MLS has to balance the needs of keeping players and the needs of letting them go.