Grimandi leaving has left a real vacuum in the middle. He is a very good player that Hanki and the whole team was banking on and really we have no one good enough to fill the void especially when Pablo goes to the Nats. It has thrown the team off big-time.
I truly hope this is not a sign of things to come with Euro players coming to the MLS. If they start to believe that they can just walk out on contracts, MLS is going to have a tough time. I also hope that GG can't just walk to another club. If he got a better offer and did all this just to move to a different club he truly is a unethical sportman. MLS should be compensated if he goes onto another club.
Give me a break... the guy was nothing more than a distracting soap opera. The Rapids did fine in pre-season without Grimandi and, unless Hankinson continues to screw the pooch with his lineups, they'll continue to do fine without him. The team is better of saying good riddance and putting the whole fiasco behind them. I don't see how "the whole team was banking on" someone who was never really much a part of the team. Thrown the team off? As if to imply the team was "on" with Grimandi on the roster. Later, Gilles. Go waste oxygen somewhere else.
Rumors say Nice wants to sign him. if they want him, open up the checkbook. I wonder if he repaid the league his signing bonus?
The online version of the French sports journal L'Equipe has an article dated 4/16 entitled "Grimandi returns to France," but I get an "Erreur 404" whenever I click on that link. If the problem clears up anytime soon I'll translate anything interesting and post it.
Good ridance Grimandi! the little French turd is gone. I hope we never have to watch a French player in this league. Were 100% better without them. (except maybe if Zidane decides to play for MLS next season instead of waiting until he's 40 and can hardly run any more).
Ya, ZiZou is the only decent French player worth playing in the MLS. Come on, if El Tanque and Zi Zi can play, there are more than plenty French players that could pull their weight. Heck, I'll bet any MLS coach would give their right leg to have someone like Micoud in their line up, let one Zidane.
Micoud is sensational, too bad he'll never get to shine for France. he should have married a Yank and joined the USA
Boy is that stupid. I'd love to see some French players in this league! They play some beautiful ball ... with a WC and European Championship under thier belts ... why wouldn't you want something from that soccer culture! (If it's politics ... don't even bother replying)
Yeah, this isn't about French players, this is about Grimandi. There are probably 30-50 great French players that the league would love to get in an MLS uniform... What sucks the most is that the Rapids and MLS won't get anything in return for Grimandi. When players are signed, there is always a transfer price/clause associated with that player. I'm sure Grimandi was no different, but because he walked on his contract, the league is left with nothing and a team like Nice can pick him up on a free transfer. That's ridiculous and it degrades MLS financially and as a league that can't hold on to the players it signs. Ronaldo didn't want to play at Inter, but you better believe Inter got some moolah from Real Madrid for him. Obviously, Grimandi is no Ronaldo, but he is still a player of value and for him to leave without the MLS getting anything in return is only negative. That is probably the worst aspect of this entire situation, at least from a financial perspective, although the Rapids now have a hole to fill in midfield. I guess we'll see how the year progresses and players like Beckerman fill in.
I'm not sure I understand you bit about the "transfer price/clause". From what I have heard MLS doesn't agree to these, and he is still under contract to MLS. They will not release him unless there is some restitution in their favor. FIFA will not let him sign anywhere unless MLS releases him.
I might be looking at it from more of a European perspective, where every player has a recision clause, basically, the price they or another team would have to pay to get out of the contract. A lot of times, this price is never really met and transfers tend to be lower than this price, but it gives the player value and makes it very difficult for them to wiggle out of a contract, especially to go to another team. I don't know if MLS has the same thing, it sounds like they don't, but it's good to hear that Grimandi can't go anywhere unless the team that signs him compensates the MLS. I suppose that I understood (or misunderstood) from the article that he was no longer under contract because he has officially left the team and in my thinking, that makes him available to sign with another team on a free transfer. Thanks for clearing that up.
If he's no longer under contract, then the likely case is that Grimandi bought his own way out of the contract -- which amounted to little more than reimbursing MLS and the Rapids for his signing bonus (which as a discovery, couldn't have been that much) and expenses involved to this point. Thinking MLS doesn't hold players to contracts and collect transfer fees when they depart... man, I have no idea where you got that one from. Especially over the last few years, the news over MLS players heading to Europe has always made clear mention of a transfer fee.
There are good examples of players moving from different teams when they end their contracts. Steve McManaman left Liverpool on a free transfer to Real Madrid. He had finished his contract in England, thus Real Madrid didn't have to compensate Liverpool for his services. I have no doubt that the MLS would want a transfer fee for Grimandi, if they still hold his rights, but if he bought his way out of the contract, does the MLS still hold the rights? He's not under contract. Do you see what I'm getting at? I would hope that the MLS continues to hold some legal right to Grimandi so that when he shows up in a Nice uniform, the French team will have to pony up some cash. That was my question, because often times, when players are no longer under contract, they are free to transfer to whatever team they choose. In fact, isn't that how we got Grimandi in the first place?
Unless Grimandi wrote a good check for $100,000 he won't go anywhere for free. That is the reported signing Bonus MLS paid, might be more if there were agents commissions or any other expenses involved.
Yes the Bosman moves. We had Wade Barrett and Matt Jordan both sign with clubs in Denmark like this. If Clint Mathis gets his game on, he'll be doing the same.
So, I've been rooting around French websites trying to find out more about the deal w/Grimandi & Nice. Along the way, incidentally, I stumbled on a French site that deigned to include USA under it's list of international leagues---but the list showed MLS as still having three conferences and still included the Florida teams. I wrote to the webmaster to (thank him for including the USA and) mention the corrections, and I asked if he happened to know anything about Grimandi & Nice. Who knows how in-the-know this French webmaster dude is (panicfc sounds VERY in-the-know), but here's a translation of his reply to me: "Concerning Grimandi, he has in fact returned to France, where he has announced for Nice, Sedan, and Lille, as well as several small Italian clubs. It will be rather difficult for him to sign in France because he visited the three above-mentioned clubs and refused their offers because their establishments were lacking and their financial offers weren't very attractive. There's little reason that anything would have changed in the interim."
Take his info as gospel and knowing more than me. I heard about the Nice offer a few weeks back. Apparently he counted his chickens before they were hatched. Good stuff and thanks for the compliment.
if we got Gilles for nothin and sell him for somethin i say its a darn good deal. let the bastard go, sign djibrille cisse instead.
Micoud for USA LOL I'm sure some of the FIFA guys would be willing to accomodate us in our quest. I think he is married to a hot babe, so we have to spring for the divorce and set him up with a new hot babe. All do-able if you ask me.
There's a big difference between what you describe above (the fairly recent Bosman rule) and the situation with Grimandi. A contract that runs its course leaves a player free to do whatever they want, whereas a player simply bagging down and violating his contract would not. I've not heard of any league in the world that wouldn't expect financial recompensation for a player that walks out on a contract -- the only times you've seen players do this, it typically signals their retirement from football. Hence my original point and that echoed by many others in this thread: if Grimandi is going to play for some other club, you can bet that the Rapids/MLS wound up getting some sort of reimbursement.