Most recent Soccer America MLS Confidential email says Rayo Vallecano is asking about getting Mulrooney on (at least) on loan from MLS. I believe this is Mulrooney's final season with MLS on his current contract unless he extends it. 1. NEW WAY IN SAN JOSE: Add Richard Mulrooney to the list of Quakes players who may be bound overseas. Defender Wade Barrett has signed a contract with Danish club AGF Aarhus, keeper Joe Cannon may be offered a six-month deal with French club Lens, and MLS has been contacted by Spanish club Rayo Vallecano about a loan deal for Mulrooney.
I am always encouraged to see talent being recruited. Many times more high profile players are not really the persons, doing most of the "soccer-work" -fighting to make teams better. San Jose Earthquakes have a good deal of these working talents. Quality players that do the work on the field, Cannon, Barrett, Mulrooney, DeRosario and a couple more...even Many Lagos has proven himself in MLS above expectations.
with mulrooney on the fringe of US NATS, i highly doubt he's going to trade the position that he has at San Jose for a spot on the bench for La Liga.
Why does everyone assume that these guys walk around all day thinking about how they are going to get on the national team. If this rumor pans out (which I am highly skeptical of, considering Rayo has no coach at the moment), he would be playing in one of the best leagues in the world, against some of the greatest players in the world. Go over and fight for your spot, and prove you belong...the National team shite will take care of itself (See World V. Hejduk 2002). Someone else pointed this out in another thread...these guys have limited time to earn as much money as they can Given the opportunity to go to La Liga and play would be awesome...although Rayo is in danger of relegation, which would be my only concern with this move.
To echo your point (and take it a step further), why does everyone assume that these guys are headed for the bench? I know someone is going to bring up Hejduk or others, but Mulrooney is a different type of player--much better passer, for one thing. And even if he is thinking about how to get on the national team, one could certainly make the argument--what the heck, I'll be the one to make the argument--playing overseas may be what is needed to bring his game to USMNT level. Playing MLS got him close to making the USMNT WC squad, but he came up short (to a guy playing in Europe, by the way, since Cherundolo got the last spot). Playing in La Liga--even competing for playing time in La Liga--will challenge him in different ways and at a different level than MLS. Some questions, esp. for those of you more clued in to Quakes players: 1. Will WB's departure to Denmark change how Mulrooney is used (e.g., Mulrooney asked to play defender)? If so, this may influed Mulrooney's thinking about MLS v. Europe. 2. Has Mulrooney expressed interest in playing in Europe? In particular, I am wondering if he/his agent has been talking to clubs, or is the case that Rayo V. have scouted him and initiated the discussions? 3. How would he fit in the Rayo Vallecano squad? Have they had injuries and/or esp. bad play from the area(s) in which he would contribute? I assume since they are in danger of relegation, the squad has some weaknesses. 4. When Bruce Arena let Mulrooney know he'd been cut from the WC squad, did Arena identify any areas for improvement? (I don't have a clue about what Arena told him when he was cut, but Arena did say he called all who missed the final cut personally to let them know.) If so, Mulrooney may be thinking that MLS does not provide the particular challenges to help him improve in those areas. 5. Did you all know that Mulrooney's alma mater, Creighton, made it to the NCAA soccer final four this year, and that the Creighton basketball team is currently ranked in the top 10 (highest ranking in school history)? Not relevant to the discussion, but it's fun for us Creighton fans to say.
Those are all good points you've brought up Dolphinscoach. The only one I can give any info. on is #2 and it isn't if Mulrooney has been looking abroad. I can guess that he or his agent has because MLS has offered him a contract extension (this is his final year on the current one) and he has not accepted as of yet. I would assume this means he is looking at options abroad.
Nothing on the matter to be found yet in Marca or on the club's official site. I have no doubt that after a few months in that hole that is Vallecas (or 'Ballekas' as their knuckle-dragging supporters like to write it on their unreadable waste-of-bandwidth message boards), Mulrooney would be more than anxious to return to the Bay Area. If this loan actually happens (which I doubt it will), then I hope he sees enough time to be able to impress the OTHER teams so as to make a move to a more respectable club (and that would be just about any other in Primera except Recre de Huelva).
Kasey Keller seems to have enjoyed Rayo. He played there for what five years? I do have a question about he possible loan. Would this be the first time that MLS loaned a US player during the season? Let me explain, McBride is on loan, but will be back before the start of the MLS season. We all know about the mess woith El Flopidor in LA and how I whink he was loaned just to get rid of him. But is this a first for MLS?
Rob, so far there has been nothing said about Mulrooney being loaned for the rest of the Spanish season. At this point, I think that question is moot. Not sure about it in general, though, I'm not sure about Mr Broken Ankle at N' Forest (I am having serious mental block with his name - and I should be shot for that, too), but I think his was to the end of the English season. Dave or Buff or DK will probably know better.
Re: Re: Mulrooney to Spain? As I recall Keller played the club's first season in La Liga, not only staving off relegation but also getting them into the UEFA Cup. Then he played with Rayo for much of the next season, splitting time with another keeper, before moving to Spurs. So it was more like one and a half seasons at Rayo at least.