Simply put. We can't afford him even if he does play for Auxerre. The French League may not be able to keep players because of low wages when compared to other leagues in Europe but they can still pay alot better than any team in MLS. It's one of the reasons why Vanney plays for Bastia and why Cannon took a longshot to play @ Lens.
I know, I know. I was just throwing that out there for those who can appreciate how good this guy is and how good he might be. Would be a nice fit too!
Yep. That's the guy. A definate gem, from what I've seen. How much was Peter making in Germany before he came over here? Just curious. And yes, he definately resembles Wolff. I think they are about the same size also. But Mathis (pronounced like Matice) really has great footskills and vision. I think he may have some control problems right now early in his career i.e. yellow cards and such.
Should I just send the bill for my keyboard to you or do you think if I just dip it in the bathtub the coke will get cleaned out?
Classic example of "A little too much knowledge can be dangerous". Based on your reasoning I should have placed a photo of Zizou with a similar caption.
A classic example of really bad reasoning, my friend. Zidane is legitimately (among) the best player(s) in the world, has set record transfer fees, captains his national team, plays in an elite foreign league and has been world player of the year. Mathis is a young, yet to fully blossom player that is in his nations league, with the same team he developed with in the youth system from age 16 (he is now 21 I beleive), yet to claim a transfer fee or yet to even sniff a call up to the full national team. The only common ground is they are both French and don't have a lot of hair. Granted even a player from the French Ligue 1 is probably too expensive for an MLS team. I was just throwing a name out there for fun. But even so you never know what type of player we could coax to come play for us. I don't think Lionel Mathis is so far out of the realm of possibility. I appologize sincerely for insulting your supreme knowledge and intelligence mister Fonsos.
He's as far out of our realm as the space station that's in orbit. You're right he's young and up and coming, so why would he entertain the idea of playing to America @ this stage of his career when he could go to Italy? He's also a part of the Auxerre system set up by the great Guy Roux and I can assure you that he won't go on the cheap. Seeing that Auxerre's main source of income comes from player transfer fees -- those are words from Guy Roux-- he won't go cheaply if he leaves anytime in the near future. Types of players we could definitely pick up are still based on in Eastern Europe as well as in Africa and a few countries in South America. I'm not sure why the league hasn't gone after a few of the young Africans & Eastern Europeans. I'm guessing marketing has something to do with it but considering how a number of the big clubs throughout the world continue to rely on these countries to supply them with players, develop them then transfer for them for a great return is beyond me. Yes, I knew you threw it out there because you're excited about this player - he's good and fun to watch but you know, it sounded a lot like a "look what I know" type of thing and I couldn't resist the urge to ...oh excuse me """PULL!!!!" (Sound of a Skeet slingshot) oh as I was saying Shoot it down. That's okay, don't let it happen again. ;O)
FWIW, I am not a "look what I know" kinda guy. If I was, I probably would have more then 500 some odd posts considering the time I spend around here. But thanks for the very well thought out post. I bet there are some great gems in Africa. It's a shame that our (MLS in general, not just the fire) scouting in that area just isn't that good. I, probably like everybody else, just want a signing that we can really get excited about sometime in the near (within a year) future. It just seems like other teams keep getting new, intriguing players while we keep losing all of ours. The young nucleus we have is very exciting, but we could definately use something a little more...I don't know fill in whatever word you want here. Anyway, with respect to Mathis, it will be fun to see how he develops and how far he goes. Hopefully he doesn't follow the path of a different Mathis.