I heard that Garber was recently in London and was meeting with Anderton's agent. Anybody know anything here? Rumor says he said MLS was interested, buut all transactions had to go through Gazidis. Who has some details?
DC has never won a weighted lottery. We get our players the old fashioned way... we take 'em from Dallas. Sachin
does anybody really "win" a weigted lottery. I think of it as more of a Calvinistic approach to football.
Doesn't Garber have better stuff to do. Seems like Gazidis' assistant could handle this one. Beckham, Ronaldo or Zidane - sure - bring in the Don for the negotiation. But Darren Anderton? IF Garber is in England, I doubt he's there to sign Anderton.
--Darren Anderton to MLS? I assume this will be the same day we announce Blue Cross/Blue Shield as our newest sponsor.
Injuries aside, he would do well for an MLS club. To think otherwise is rediculous. Granted, he isn't the player he was when he played in Euro 96 or WC 98, but he would still fit in on any MLS roster. If you think otherwise, or if you think that any of the other players listed above would come to MLS you are retarded. Fact is the Don doesn't have the money to offer. Has Anderton been injury prone? Of course. Did he play well this year in the EPL despite injuries? Of course Should an MLS team sign him? Again, of course. Don't be the way the Eurosnob fans are. Be realistic. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Currently the man is being courted by Portsmouth, West Ham, Norwich, and Rangers as well as being lured to Quatar. SO, he is good enough for them but not for MLS? Come on people! Should we pay him millions? Prolly not. Should his contract have a base, and then he be paid on a per game basis based on his health? Prolly. But lets not get ahead of ourselves here. We still can't ofer the money that other places can and get players like Zidane. (yes I know you were kidding with that name, but your point was if he (Garber) was in Europe he should come home with a young quality player. Sure he should, but tell the don to bring his checkbook cause we can't afford it.)
Darren knows the pay scale, so I don't think that's ultimately the issue. No transfer fee either. I think the only thing that stops this move, if Anderton genuinely wants it, is that he may not find a team willing to use an SI slot and a maximum salary slot for an injury-prone 32 year-old. He doesn't fit on the Metros. He probably doesn't fit on the Revs, unless Joe-Max is secretly planning on retiring and giving up his salary. Maybe Dallas, after the Bobby Rhine injury, but even then, you'd be paying one of Kreis and Anderton a lot of cap room not to play. LA, San Jose, Columbus, and Chicago probably aren't looking for a forward, DC's roster is crowded with forwards although production could be improved. Colorado would need to dump Zizi for him, in all likeihood. KC? May make more sense than anyone else, though cap room and an SI slot are issues unless they want to get rid of Simutenkov. I'd be tempted if I were one of those two teams.
I have no problem with him coming to MLS - If he can play in the EPL one year, he's good enough for MLS in the next. Heck - I'd like to have him in Dallas. I'll bet he still has legs - even if not 30 games at 90 minutes per in the blistering heat. My only question was that I can't believe Don Garber was over there personally negotiating the contract.
What's he supposed to be working on? New investors? Expansion? Marketing efforts? Hmmm ... maybe you have a point.
Why do we still look for washed up euro trash . Before we needed big names for attendence reasons, now we just need good players. We should invest our money in a couple of central americans or a good but not so expensive Argentine (ceaser delgado Rosario Central to Cruz Azul 2 mil) or brazilian (kleber u 20 striker Sao paulo to Kyiv Dynamo 1.5 mil). sure their expensive but they are far better investments.
You don't suppose Don was in London seeing what Chelski would be up to on July 31 in case of Real Madrid's absence? Or even *gasp* Arsenal? Maybe he did the Anderton negotiation himself out of convenience since he was gonna be there anyway.
You know that we have a maximum amount of money we can spend on players, right? I am split here with you. Firstly, I think it would be great if we can get those players. But the MLS is a very fiscally responsible league. It will never have the issues that SPL or lower English deviosions have if it continues with the current business model. Problem being, under that model, these far better investments that you refer to can't be bought. I think of it like that commercial where the lady wants to buy a house so she freezes her credit card so when the qvc thing is on TV she can't get to it. So yes, those would be super purchases, but not do-able right now. Secondly, given the stage that both MLS and Anderton are in, I think it is a good match. Is Anderton older than those two players and had his share of injuries? Definatly. But he still has enough talent to benefit the league, and still fit into that aforementioned business plan. He obviously wouldn't be the purchase the other two would, but I think your calling him a washed up euro trash is a bit harsh given the scenario we are in. I am not much of a gambler, but I bet that darkness is right, especially since any trade type stuff is done by Gazidis, not Garber. Darkness is a wee clever lad!
I excuse my self by using the term "euro trash" because there is a lot of old players still coming to MLS that aren't from Europe. Jorge Vazquez, Luis " never was a matador" Hernandez, Colombian by the name Valencia played for Metros Etc. I would say if we do end up signing Anderton we should Sign him on a year to year Contract based on performance. I still say there are good players in latin america who are cheap, young,will last for years, and will have better seasons then the old guy