Gale Agbossoumonde: On Track at Eintracht Frankfurt (loan) (R)

The question we have to ask ourselves is "what is our evaluation of Gale based upon?"

Every time I've seen him for a USYNT since the 2010 Milk Cup against Northern Irish teenagers.........I've been completely and totally underwhelmed. And he's done nothing in club football to merit any kind of good reviews.

As much as some of us don't like Traffic, they've gotten him opportunities abroad. Gale just hasn't taken advantage of them.

The fact that this guy is an option for our U23 squad is an indictment of our central defenders of that age group...........cause this guy has done literally nothing. I can't see how Porter is going to call in a kid from the NASL for our Olympic qualifying campaign. I just can't see it.

 

Playing with the railhawks gets him 90 minute games, fitness, and total freedom to attend all the camps in the US without having to fly in from europe. The olympics are important but for a 20 year promising players positioning himself for the next phase of his career is more important.

Look at it this way

Image that he signed with MLS and showed real potential, higher than Omar or Ream and top Euro clubs wanted him but he was held hostage by MLS for too much money. Freeing himself up puts him in the best situation.

 

I don't want to turn this into a Traffic discussion but if you believe what Gale has said then Traffic is just as responsible for his current state as he is. Supposedly teams were interested and fees agreed then Traffic hiked the price at the last minute. Again, that's if you believe what Gale has said.

 

Don't you know? Any time MLS doesn't sell a MNT prospect for the first lowball offer they get from a European team, they are holding him hostage.

 

True..............no longer a Yank Abroad.

 

I think (hope actually) that this is part of his calculation. His stated perception of his career so far is that it has been blighted by signing with an agency instead of with a club that would have given/imposed stability on him at a crucial stage. Based on Traffic's reputation, that perception is probably 100% accurate.
From Gale's standpoint, MLS' own reputation for being just plain greedy means that, by seeing out his Traffic contract and becoming a free agent, he's actually dodging a bullet at the price of a small professional risk that is accompanied by a real financial upside.

The problem is, while his perception is probably 100% accurate, it's probably not 100% complete. He's had opportunities in Sweden and Germany that have enabled three decent clubs in decent leagues to get a close look at him - two of them an extended look. All of them have passed. If he was showing signs of being the real deal, a fee of some kind with Traffic would have been arranged - his contract is a depreciating asset remember - even if only on an $X00 K down, $X00 k on appearances basis.

His career thus far has the hallmarks of what Eamonn Dunphy used to call "the merely talented;" guys who have all the attributes except the bloody-minded fanaticism needed to make it to the pro ranks. This decision is going for all the marbles and will be the decisive move in his career. If he fails to get on the Olympic team, there'll be not overseas agents to impress and this time next year we may see him signing in the USL Pro League/Mexican third division.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, and that he's been looking after the money he, legitimately, signed for. Traffic, Shmaffic; He's got to deliver starting right about now.

 

Assuming we qualify for the Olympics, I don't think there's much doubt that at least 2 of our 3 over age selections would be CB's (John, Ream, Cameron, Soares, Anibaba, etc). Clubs are not required to release over age players for the Olympics, but I don't think that would be much of an issue for all these names mentioned.

 

Why would he want to to add a middle man to the business equation?that's what got him into this mess. going under contract with MLS is more of the same. If he truly believes he can make it in Europe the last thing he would want to do is sign with MLS.. MLS is a good starting point for some but he probably doesn't think it is for him. alas I digress

 

Off the track at Eintracht and riding the rails to Carolina?

 

I can't say I buy this notion that Traffic is sabotaging deals. They are losing money now paying his big salary without making a sale on a player they have invested in heavily. Whatever you think of their motives, that's not at all what they wanted to happen. What's best for Traffic, a sale to a club that wants him, money in their pocket and his salary off their books, is also what's best for Gale. I can see how Traffic may be incompetent as in this case they have lost a stack of cash and have nothing to show for it, but hard to say they were malicious since the mutual benefit cut both ways.

Traffic has paid him well. With one year left, I can't say he's not making the right call to go ahead and take what cash he can milk outta that deal since it sure doesn't seem like there are teams lined up to pay him what he's making with them until he proves himself somewhere.

 

Undoubtedly. Traffic's business model isn't to keep players on their payroll ad infinitum. It's to have the players on contract, loan them to a club, and then have the club pay a nice fee for them.

No club is going to pay much for Gale if he's playing in the NASL. Traffic is destined to lose virtually all of their investment in Gale when his contract with them runs out. This is far from what Traffic wanted.

If he was on the bigger stage of MLS, perhaps clubs would actually see him play.............

I don't buy for one second that playing for Carolina in the NASL is somehow better for Gale's career than playing in MLS.

I also don't buy for one second that Gale thinks he's "too good" for MLS and is just waiting for the right offer from Europe. After what he's been thru, surely his head isn't that big.

We've had a long list of players like Stuart Holden that have taken that small contract with MLS, worked their butt off, and ended up getting the big move to Europe. Gale should be taking ispiration from them. If MLS offered him GenAd-type money, that should have been more than suitable to start with.

 

Agree, unfortunately the closer he came to the end of his contract the more incentive Traffic had to give on their demands, could be a case where they don't want to start a precedent where teams hold out and low ball them.

 

He is putting all his eggs into the Olympic basket. There are 18 roster spots on the squad, 3 of which are overage players. We already have Senior national team players capable of filling in multiple positions. We have fringe players actually seeing PT at their clubs and awaiting their opportunity at the Seniors, many of which are from MLS being kept "hostage". We have players in Reserves of foreign clubs. The spots on the roster are VERY limited.

He could very well end up a free agent after this season with limited options abroad and no olympics to build his resume. This option could end up back firing. Of course he could find more money at numerous leagues around Europe, even in some countries 2nd division. If he flames out of europe a free agent, he will likely get league minimum from MLS, the 3rd time they offer a contract. IMO im surprised they offered him a low GA contract. Usually 2nd contracts are bare minimum.

But unlike Traffic, Boss would actually be playing for a team and fighting for a spot on the pitch, rather then being loaned every 6 months.

The only thing that kept him out of MLS after the U17's was $$. He certainly thought MLS was a fine starting spot for him, but the 6 figures MLS was offering simply wasnt enough.

It's not. It's a temporary solution until he is out of contract with Traffic. Also he's banking on a good showing at the Olympics, as i suspect Traffic is as well. This is their last chance to break even on Boss. If he does well at the Olympics (assuming he goes) then Traffic will have 1 last bargaining chip to at least break even before he goes out of contract. At least that's my take

 

I think Gale's logic runs out of steam when you consider how much money Traffic has lost on Agbossoumonde.

Frankly, Traffic has put Gale in many positions to succeed. Everyone thought Braga would be a good move, but it didn't work out. Everyone thought Djurgarden would be a good move, but he played poorly, was benched, and then the club didn't want to buy out his loan. He joined Frankfurt and could barely crack the 18...for the reserve team.

Who knows how many other offers/opportunities Gale might have had that weren't reported.

I'm no fan of Traffic -- I think third party rights-holders create more barriers to transfers than they destroy -- but ultimately they did what they said they would do and it was Gale who couldn't execute.

 

If any top Euro club wants him, then he'll have gained tremendous benefit from MLS, because no decent Euro clubs want him now.

 

They don't want him now but might without a transfer fee.

He's gambling on himself, which I can respect.

 

i also can respect that, but i dont know if i agree with it.

I guess in the end, if he doesnt catch in Europe he always has MLS to fall back on. However, his MLS contracts will have decreased by half each attempt. Ultimately he doesnt have that much experience under his belt in the 2-3 years of traveling Europe and will have gone from a High GA contract in MLS (120-150k) to MLS minimum (40K) if he cant latch on somewhere after this next year.

 

This. Unless I missed something (which I may have), it seemed like his trials with other clubs went poorly, I don't remember good reviews of his performances.

It could be that the managers were telling him privately that they would take him but for his Traffic contract, but if not, I'm not sure I can respect betting on oneself when it amounts to a sucker's bet.

 

if i recall correctly, his time at Braga went well. They were even interested in picking him up, but then they had an entire coaching staff fire-sale and the new setup was not interested. Again that's just going off memory. But like you and Balerion stated, the rest of the trials were full of poor reviews (for the most part)

 

Please read the whole article but this is what I referenced earlier in this thread. There is a lot more than just this quote but I thought it was pertinent to the conversation. It is from 2010 though

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5764564/anguish-gale-agbossoumonde

 

Thanks, I was a little hazy on things prior to the Djurgarden loan.

 

I think it was in a recent Ives observation that Gale was one of the few that really stood out before getting injured. just one person's opinion but I think it was made in reference to what coaches in attendence had said

 

I'd be curious to find out how much $$ Traffic was wanting. In the end, Traffic did get Boss the gigs. They may have been asking for more then market value and it very well could bite Traffic in the butt. If that's the case it was unfortunate for Boss.

But it is also possible that the teams see some potential in him enough to bring him on as a free agent, but not enough to make any form of transfer for.

This move could work out for Gale and i hope it does. I'm just hoping he's not making this decision expecting to be on the 18 man list to the olympics (assuming we make the olympics).

 

And you really believe it?