Interesting that you claim to be some sort of evaluator of talent yet you struggle to understand the movement of players as assets and their contracts being bought/sold. You obviously have been doing talent evaluations for yourself and some sort of scrapbook as I don't see any club in the world, nevermind Canada paying someone like you to perform evaluations/scouting if you can't understand how simple football business works.
On this page alone you first claim you "do not even see him as MLS material." Then a few post down while bashing him for "turn[ing] his back on the Whitecaps in order to chase some pipe dream" by going to Europe you say he should've stayed with the Caps because he "could have had a great career with the Caps, maybe even MLS," yet now this... So not only are you going back and forth, but if he is such a crap player and not MLS quality in your eyes, why do you care that he's left Vancouver. Shouldnt you be happy that they're not wasting a roster spot on him?
He had a chance to be an MLS player for the Caps. By turning his back on the organization; then by the time he flames out in Europe, the MLS will have passed him by and he will float around Division 2. I have not gone back and forth. And he very well may get signed to an MLS roster, but he will NOT be a consistent long term starter, with his bad attitude I think that will affect his development as well. Many athletes with delusions that they are greater than their skills, end up failing and losing the opportunity they had before. That worn out cliche "the grass is not always greener...." applies here and he won't make much out of himself beyond the levels I have stated. And YES, I am glad his cancerous disloyal attitude is not with the club. Ask around, he was a bad attitude within the club.
You are entitled to an opinion. I have never once heard from any of his teammates or managers that he had a bad attitude at all, nevermind a cancerous one, either through the media or through physically chatting with them. He was sold, he didn't exercise any muscle to get released from a contract. Someone came in for him (WBA) and he was SOLD. He didn't QUIT. You have dug yourself such a deep hole on this one I can't see you restoring any credibility whatsoever now that people are shooting holes in your rhetoric at will. You have made yourself an easy target. what did Haber ever do to you? Did he shag your missus or something? Jeez.
Further to that, it would have been DISLOYAL imho for him to have rejected a contract if WFC Saw value in selling him along, an argument could be made that he, in that situation, could be viewed as blocking a decent bit of business for WFC. A few things could have happened after what did happen, Point #1. 1. WBA comes in and the Caps agree to a fee to release his contract and his rights then belong to WBA. Haber agrees a deal and moves along to WBA, and then out on loan to further develop his career, this ends up helping the Caps as he returns here on loan. 2. WBA Comes in and the Caps agree a fee to release his contract and his rights then belong to WBA. He refuses to agree to terms and his contract is not released... pissing WFC off and then stuck with a player that doesn't want to be sold (keep in mind that WFC wouldn't have sold him without talking to him about it, in this situation, as they are not selling to a team they compete against) 3. WBA comes in for him and the Caps say Piss Off, he's not for sale. End of story, Haber views this as the Caps blocking a natural step up in his career path, they are left with an unhappy player under contract. 4. WBA comes in for him and the Caps ask Haber if he wants to move to Europe, he says no for whatever reason and the Caps politely decline the sale of Haber to WBA, as they realize the player doesn't have the will for whatever reason to move, thus ending WBA's interest in him as they wouldn't want a player with no ambition. 5. Haber goes to WFC Brass and says sell me to Europe, find a suitor, I am done here. I highly doubt the Caps are going to spend time and energy shopping him. That is what agents are for. Caps realize they have an unhappy player and they themselves are unhappy with this behaviour and they either sell him, trade him, release him. Which would you have preferred Shiek? And there are other ways this could have gone down, I'm aware... but these are the obvious ones.
Point 1: You need to ask the right people; he was a bad attitude in the room. He always felt he was better than the rest of the players and he was "too good" for WFC. Point 2: The genesis of this sale was in the player expressing a desire to get into Europe. WFC put out the word and WBA decided to take a low cost risk on the player.
haber will find out, like other young Cap players, that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the pond-- there are soooooooo many young players with better skills, pace and technical ability he will come back to NA-- IMO, it will be Division 2-- or even try in asia-- as these are the only places that could accommodate his skill level-- simply put-- he is not good enough for a good euro league, which the spl is not-- the game he played in for st johnstone had a crowd of 4500, not unlike the Caps figures-- and the Caps could give them a run for their money in a game he should have stayed here and tried to make the MLS with the Caps-- at best, haber would be a bench-sitter, or be loaned out to a NASL or USL team but he had to try Euro-- cant blame him for that!!
I am pleased to see another intelligent post on Haber. Although I do disagree that he "had" to try Europe. He got his ego in the way thinking he was better than he really is. For those of you dismissing my thoughts on Haber(*cough* johnnyranger *cough*); showing up for games for the last few years doesn't make you a talent evaluator.
Well despite what you may think about him and his prospects, he scored again, this time the only goal of the match in a friendly against Valladolid.
Wow, a friendly pre-season game for a sub-part Scottish club. We all should rejoice as he is on his path to the top of the English premiership! Haber is a scumbag for thinking he is better than the Whitecaps. And quite frankly, I will enjoy when I am proven right and this no-talent hack gets his reality check.
Miss Scotland Nicola Mimnagh has selected St. Johnstone and Canada striker Marcus Haber as one of the SPL’s hunkiest newcomers. So he's got that going for him.
Conor Casey scored 16 goals in MLS last year. He's slower and has less technical skill than Haber. There isn't a snowball's chance in Hades of Casey pulling off that move Haber did to score in the playoffs last year. So, I might not buy "easily," but it is certainly plausible.
IF Haber gets 16 or more goals in the MLS I will quit BigSoccer; I stand by my evaluation that he will not be a productive scorer in any league with decent levels of play. (Sorry Ranger, SPL is not decent level of play for most of the teams).
your such a bogan m8 seriously, if anyone needs a reality check it is you, for 1 your not funny 2. you don't have any inside sources since we all know your full of sh!te, and everyone knew that he wanted to go to Europe so quit being so but hurt that he left.
Please ignore the Sheikh. Click on his name, then there will be an option to add him to your ignore list. His posts will then show up as blank boxes. I did it almost a month ago, and my bigsoccer life has been wonderful ever since.
At least one of you admit he "wanted to go to Europe". A bunch of clowns here seem to say it was club initiated (which is BS).
wanting to go to Europe, and being CAPABLE of playing there are two different things. One of your arguements was this was club initiated, it was NOT. Secondly, my main point is that he is harming his career by chasing something he is not good enough to achieve. Thats not strange; just my analysis.
He is there, on a professional contract, as such he is deemed more than capable. You sir are a twit. A debate is one thing, this is getting past the point of ridiculous. I also never said it was club initiated, find the posts, I stand to be corrected. I said it could have been either, either way, he is there, and you are still behind a keyboard and anonymity behind a username, in the dark, doing "talent evaluations" while the rest of us get on with our soccer supporting lives. This makes you and your analysis very strange.
When Haber either toils in lower leagues for the next few years, or winds up back in D2.. .I will remind you of your errors in talent judgement when it comes to this player. At least I am not foolish enough to suggest signing Hargreaves to a deal.
WTF, dude. He's not saying that Haber has the talent to stick in Europe, just that the fact that he is in Europe playing now would seem to be a good indicator that he has the potential. If you go through and look at JR's posts, I think you'll find quite a few instances where he's said that Haber isn't guaranteed to stick in Europe. Haber is not the first player to go to Europe and struggle. If he comes back, that doesn't prove anything... The best current American player, Landon Donovan, failed to stick in Europe his first two times and it's only now that people think he can actually make it in Europe.. Seriously, WTF is up with you and pissing on Haber? Are you his former agent and he gave you the shaft when going to WBA or something?