Anyone heard any word yet on what Kitchen is earning with the Galaxy? Just wondering how it compares to the DCU offer he rejected in favor of the Hearts move.
Well if that's the case then his European (mis?)adventure didn't end up costing him as much as originally thought. From Steven Goff in December 2015: One source said United has offered multiple guaranteed seasons approaching the designated player threshold of $457,500. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-perry-kitchen-pursuing-attacking-midfielder/
He tried, he failed (or, at least, didn't succeed) and still came out even. As they say in Australia, "Good on ya mate"
I think the "Euro failure penalty" (otherwise known as the "Twellman penalty") doesn't exist anymore. Teams these days have more autonomy and too much need for US domestic players who can actually play in the league and are known commodities.
It's where players returning to MLS are forced to wear a larger than life replica of their own head. The Supreme Court struck down the use of that penalty in the 2011 case, Clint Dempsey vs the Don, calling it "cruel and unusual."
Actually liked watching him at Hearts for a bit.. decent career. Thank you for everything. pic.twitter.com/tHpHcq1qyr— Perry Kitchen (@PerryKitchen23) October 26, 2022
Decent player. He was a figurehead of the "missing years" generation where prospect after prospect never really materialized (it was the 1990-1994 birth years, specifically). You could see signs of that when he was part of a U-20 team that didn't qualify for the U-20 WC. That was the only U-20 team to fail to make it since the millennium. Then he was part of the U-23 team that didn't make the 2012 Olympics. But he was better than most of the "missing years" group and wasn't a main reason why those YNT's failed. Those teams could have used more Kitchen-level players, not less. Unlike players everyone rated so highly at the time (Gale Agbossoumounde, Conor Doyle, Omar Salgado, Dillon Powers, Amobi Okugo, Cody Cropper, Alfred Koroma, Luis Gil, Stefan Jerome, Jared Jeffery, Josh Gatt, Kofi Sarkodie, Sheanon Williams, Michael Stephens) he actually made an impact in MLS with DC United and then tried it abroad - where he actually rose to being the captain at Hearts. He's part of the Missing Years crowd that showed they had something and were more than just prospects, but just couldn't find the next level. He's not like Brek Shea and Juan Agudelo who had elite talent, but weren't mentally strong and wasted enormous talent. Kitchen and his types never wasted talent. They were who they were - which wasn't bad. This includes Kitchen along with players like Mix, Zarek Valentin, Teal Bunbury, Joe Corona, Ike Opara, and Greg Garza (and there were plenty others) who might not have become the international starts fans wanted, but they did their best, weren't mentally weak, and had long enough careers - with many still playing and have had plenty of good moments. The didn't waste any talent. If they came up short for anyone, it was due to misguided expectations of others - not them. Kitchen retires as a guy who captained a USYNT at youth World Cup. Won a U.S. Open Cup, captained an old Scottish Premiership team, won an NCAA Title, and had 223 MLS appearances. That's not bad.
Met PK's grandma at the custard stand here in town. I was in my club gear with my 19U boys one evening after training, and she couldn't wait to tell me and the team all about her soccer pro grandson. She was surprised to hear that I not only knew who Perry was but that'd I'd known of him from Akron on through being with Galaxy. That was a fun conversation.