According to an excerpt in a much larger MLS article, Wahl reports that many inside MLS are starting to question whether Red Bull is truly committed to the league. The rumors seem to be that they are losing interest in being in the league. I don't know what to make of this article excerpt. In this Red Bull forum many have noted that recently Austria seems ot have been running the club with apathy. Of course the very quiet transfer window could have everything to do with very little cap space, but at the same time no enthusiasm for establishing a Red Bull USL-Pro team, giving the NY front office a marketing budget of close to zero, rumors of being cheap in offers to prospective players...all these things have worried fans or at the very least annoyed them. There may indeed be a cause for concern, but I'm not sure it means that Red Bull is ready to leave the league. If for no other reason than ego--Red Bull has over the years put so much into this team. I don't think they would be willing to leave unless they can recover their investment AND make a profit as well. It would be weird for the company to start trying to figure a way to leave the league just when the team is finally starting to make some headway after years of mismanagement on the field, years of front office hijinks, and loss of public goodwill. The Supporter's Shield win last year should be only the beginning not the end. Does Red Bull fear that it wont be able to keep up with NYC FC and now they want out? It's all very strange.... The rest of the article deals with other bits and nuggets of MLS news. Full article here: http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-fut...nes-chivas-usa-portland-all-star-julian-green
Sounds like they're simply drawing the same conclusion that many fans have: Red Bull is being cheaper when it comes to DP signings, therefore they no longer have interest in MLS and are going to sell. I think that's a pretty huge jump... Especially considering they are still spending money elsewhere in the club, such as improvements to the training center that indicate every intention of fielding a USL affiliate. And if they were seriously considering getting out of the game, why in the world would it take them 10 years? The rest of the article is good stuff, but this sounds like a total non-story.
This wouldn't be the first a reporter stirred the pot a little. On a more serious level, I'll add my own speculation/opinion to the mix. It seems possible to me that the Red Bulls tried to aggressively pursue big time success, by building the new stadium, spending a lot of money and bringing in lots of big name signings. What they are doing now may represent the second wave, which is a more patient approach. They did have 3 DP's for a time, but one of them was such a fantastic bust that they may be a little gun shy now. Likewise, they have weeded out many of the foreigns signings who didn't contribute and established a core mix of players with both Yanks and foreigners. They have a good management team, too, De Grandpre aside. They are looking long and hard at further pushing the youth development, which they should do, but I can't blame them for being a little skeptical about the quality of youth players when players like Agudelo have contributed so little to the club. To me the signs point towards them thinking twice about every nickel spent. The only player brought in this summer was one who I'm sure was pretty cheap. They probably won't resign Henry unless he takes a pay cut. I'm still looking for positive signs about who they do want, but in the absence of other more substantive information, I think the only conclusion is they are playing things close to the vest and taking a very measured approach.
Worse than Agudelo was losing Moreno for nothing. Roxburgh seemed really burned when talking about that one.
Yeah. What can you do when you have one vision of how a player's development should go and he has another?