Branco Thomas Dooley (pseudo-foreigner) Nicola Caricola Mohammed Khakpour Robert Donadoni (the exception to the rule) Marcelo Vega Youri Djorkaeff (could be an exception if he plays enough games) Andrej Juskowiak Lothar Mathais Jeff Agoos (he was born in Switzerland!) Adolfo Valencia Eduardo Hurtado
In the end unless he is quality and helps the team win it won't matter.. Just ask Galaxy fans. Additional fans may come for a few games but they quickly fade away unless the player from their nation of orgin is doing well.
There are a couple of big differences between Donovan and Xavier: 1-Landon is on the upswing in his career. He doesn;t have to worry about his skills detetiorating anytime soon due to age. 2-I've been a huge Landon critic for his Germany time/decision. But even I can't say that he "didnt succeed" there, or was cut from B1 as stated below. He had one bad game, got benched, then quit. If he had stayed I'm pretty sure he either would have gotten playing time eventually there, or he would have been picked up pretty easily somewhere else in B1/Europe. His ability wasn't realy a factor, its his heart. My point is not solely that he couldn't cut it in the B1, it's that he failed so miserbaly. I saw some games, and he was just dreadful. As far as I know, he "plays" for Roma right now, and is signed to the end of the 2006 season. Here's a link to his stats. He hasn't played more than 12 games in a season since '99/'00!!! http://www.romaforever.it/en/players/xavier.htm
Haha. Damn mid-season xfer's. Though even 15 and 22 games a season is pretty weak, especially for a (mostly) Central defender.
Metro will get Adu. We will trade some dead weight (Lisi, Parke, Magee anyone?) and get Adu in return. And don't tell me we can't because of "league rules." League rules don't apply when profit is to be made (i.e. Salaries for Donovan, Johnson, etc.) AEG owns United and Metro. AEG wants Metro to make lots of money. Do you honestly think that Anchutz gives a darn about "tampering"? Mark my words. Adu is going to be transferred to Metro. Do you remember the press conferences? AEG has finally realized that Metro has to succeed for the league as a whole to succeed. When New York wins, the world takes notice.
I dont think Adu is going to make the Metrostars a winning team. Its a mute point anyway since the chances of getting Adu are so unlikely, regardless of what your scheme suggests.
Too bad MLS doesn't have a team om New York then. Besides, do you think the world cares who wins the MLS title?
For future reference, the word is "moot" not "mute". And while I am at it, you need an apostraphe in "It's".
Didn't you ever learn that it is improper to start a sentence with the word "and"? Plus, it is spelled "apostrophe". This is a message board, I dont really care about punctuation. If you are going to try to correct my mistakes, at least type it correctly.
Actually, that is a common misconception. As long as the senctence beginning with "and", or "but" for that matter, is a complete sentence on its own (as was mine), use of the words "and" or "but" are just as proper as beginning the sentence with "Additionally" or "However". "I'm a pain in the arse. And in the neck too." - improper "I'm a pain in the arse. And I'm a pain in the neck too." - proper
No it wasn't. He used "Its" instead of "It is", therefore an apostrophe is appropriate. "Its" in the possessive sense does not have an apostrophe since it's not a contraction.
I welcome the day when decision made on what player to sign will be based on the game, rather than on some elusive notion about perceptions and the mass market. Paul
Wow - you honestly know nothing. AEG is selling DCU to a group of investors. You honestly think those investors are going to go into a deal where they will give up one of the best assets in the league for a nobody? And if you think for a second that if NY ever wins the world will suddenly wake up and think MLS is now a super league - you are truly mentally disturbed.
Do you honestly belive the investors consider Adu a major part of the franchise value price? No is the correct answer. This is a long term deal as far as becoming the principle owners of the DC United brand. While Adu is valuable his actual value to the franchise is negligable since he will leave in 1.5 years and the transfer money will go to MLS not DC United. Nice try though sport.
This is Lalas' idea of an exciting player...I guarantee he would not be pursuing xavier if his hair was not funky
This is why Adu is featured on none of DCU's marketing materials To say Adu has no value and the new owners would trade him for someone like Lisi or Parke is ridiculous. Also, the current MLS rule is that the team selling the player gets a set percentage of the transfer price to use in turn for the next acquisition. I want to say 10% of the transfer is what Peter Wilt quoted. So again - ask yourself - would you rather have Adu for the next 2 years pushing your marketing campaigns + a couple hundred thousand $s or Mark Lisi? Your argument has always been Adu is under AEG control and they can move him like a pawn but that argument doesn't hold water.
Xavier played with Liverpool 3 seasons ago and he was shocking. He was slow, positioned himself poorly and made shocking lunges/tackles. He ended up moving on quickly to Fenerbache on a loan deal. He was miserable at Hannover - signed in a desperation move by a coach who was about to be fired in a misguided attempt to shore up the defense. There is no comparison with Landon Donovan. I can only imagine how bad Xavier would be living it up in New York and playing in US hot Summers. There are some Euro veteren players that just disappoint. But Xavier has the potential to be a spectacular disappointment (leading league in red cards in only a 1/3 of the season and single-handedly ruining Lalas' reputation as a talent-picker). I would love to see a portuguese player in the league. But this is not the one.
He was washed up by the time he got to Hannover and that was January of last year. We are sixth in payroll. That is not an indication of how much cap space we have.