They also said a Norwegian team was making an offer for Jimmy Conrad on the broadcast yesterday. This Scandinavian thing is rapidly going to become a huge problem. It's no longer the "middle class" MLS players they're going after, but rather national teamers. Other guys that follow in the pipeline like Davies won't even think about getting locked into an MLS contract. The league has to get working on a strategy to counteract this.
They are going after players on the verge of becoming a regular of the National Team. It's like they want to get them before they break out so they can sell them to a EPL team. All MLS can do is deny the bids. What the players need to understand is that if they want to play for the national team, they need to stay home or play for a good team, not some team in Scandanavia.
Maybe they should have raised the cap more than marginally when they decided to do the DP thing. The DP can also be seen as a cost cutting move by the league now that there's a cap at how much most players can make. Some americans may feel slighted.
An offer was made for Conrad some time ago, and was rejected by MLS. I don't believe this is anything new, no matter the impression left by Rob Stone.
OK, replace Johnson with Carlos Ruiz. Anyone want to argue that they're not on the same level? What does Ruiz make? $500,000? I'd give that to Twellman.
250,000 base, 360,000 guaranteed. Based off of that number, realistically I think Twellman should make 300K base and 390K guaranteed.
All Twellman (or any other player) needs to do to make the national team is be clearly better than the other players in competition for the same roster spot. As of last summer, that was not the case. In the future it may be the case. Last time, many forwards were given a shot at making the team and none of them ran away with it. There are many ways he could be better than the players competing for his role. Among those ways (but not an exhaustive list) are improving his game to that point where a coach must put him on the team as well as the case where he does not get any better, but no superior options present themselves. If Taylor has aspirations of playing in the next world cup he should try to play in the environment and league that he thinks will help him raise the level of his game the most. If his game improves the rest will take care of itself. His desire to go back to Europe (if it exists) and for financial security might be tough for the MLS to compete with. I do not know how the MLS compares to league play in Norway, but I think that Taylor needs a new challenge and some competition on his club team to improve.
Pay Taylor $399,999.99. I don't think we should make him the DP, because we can trade the DP slot for lots of goodies (players, draft picks, cap room, etc.) The DP is worth more to us than a a couple hundred extra grand for Twellman - I wonder if we would be able to trade the DP for some extra salary for Twellman and something on top of that?
Are you absolutely sure about that? This is a statement from the only official press release on the DP rule: Carlos Ruiz's 2006 salary according to the Washington Post last year: F Ruiz, Carlos $250,000 (base)/ $360,000(GS) There hasn't been any official word yet, but I've read a few times that there's a cap for individual players. It may be an old rule that they will try to enforce now that they don't have to sign a guy named Paco to get Mexicans to go to Chivas USA games.
Hello from Norway. I understand if you guys are not completly up to date about the quality and standard of the Norwegian league. The league has improved much the last ten years or so, and it is now a league with one or two clubs in the Championsleague qualitfy each year. For many years Rosenborg has been the leading team in the league, and has made the group stage of Champions League I belive 10 consecutive years. Making it one of the clubs with the most appearenses in the whole league. Lately the flow of players from the norwegian league to other big leagues like the english have increased. So it is safe to say the league is good window for the top leagues in Europe. The individual skills of the players are maybe not as high as in MSL, but the teams are very well organized. As for my team Odd Grenland, it has been a mid league contender for almost 10 years. But lately more money has resulted in the buliding of a brand new stadium, and additional money for transfer and wages. The average wages is about 110.000$ a year, but 300.000$ is within reach. Twellman will without a doubt become the best paid player in the squad. We have a young and exiting squad, and with a proven goalscorer in place before the coming season Odd Grenland will be playing for a qualify in the UEFA cup this season. And if anyone (Twellman) does a good season for the club, don't be suppries if he ends up in the premiere league in England.
The figures from the Washington Post aren't accurate. It doesn't make sense to make Carlos a DP if he makes under 400K. MLS stated any player making over 400K would require the team to use their DP spot on that player. Thus the most a player can make before qualifying as a DP is 399,999.99
All valid points, but... If Taylor Twellman goes to Norway for $300,000, then it's all about money. since he should (If the Revs come to their senses) get at least that playing in MLS. And he's publicly stated in two different Boston Globe articles that he likes it in New England. Competitively speaking, it's still a lateral move. There's no need for MLS players to go to Europe to get exposure. Come to think of it, how many players have left MLS for a mid-tier European league then moved up?
That is what every player going to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, or Finland is thinking, and it hasn't come true yet.
NFW! Boy am I glad you guys aren't running the team. That kind of sentimentality would destroy a team budget in no time. Let's see who else can we shower some extra money on? Lesson 1 in salary cap management - don't pay players more than you have to (Lesson 1 in player representation - make the team pay your client as much as you can). Twellman scored 11 goals (and missed more than twice that number of good chances) in 32 games last year, most of the pretty easy variety. I don't know about the rest of you, but those numbers don't scream Designated Player to me. Overall, I think he had a rather piss-poor season last year, although he did improve late in the season. I can easily come up with about 10 MLS forwards who would have scored at least 11 playing those minutes with the Revs last season. Twellman is a product of the Revs' system as much as the Revs' record is a product of Twellman's ability. He never managed to develop any cohesion with Dempsey, nor Sims. And for all the talk about the synergy between he and Noonan, to me that's mostly the work of Noonan as provider and Twellman as consumer. The guy's been a top MLS scorer and I expect he'll bounce back from a very mediocre season, but let's not go nuts showering money on him that will prevent us from paying other people down the line.
My club has the last years gotten a few players from MLS- Nat Borchers has potensiall to become a very good defender, but lacks a little experience. He was if I don't remember wrong very impressed with the level of the league. Chris Joyce, a young striker who completly failed in his first season in norway. He did not have the phsyique or the stamina to make the first team. Olivier Occean did a great first season for Odd Grenland, but has dropped his level the last two years. But if he finds his form from 2004, he might be leaving norway soon. Other players i can think of now, is Adin Brown, he is a great goalkeeper, but he plays for a rather poor team and has been relegated a few times.
I'm, not suggesting the Revs break the bank on Twellman, but his play for the club over the last few seasons does merit a significant salary increase. If classifing him as a DP best allows for this respective of the overall interests for the club it should be explored. I think it's fair to suggest that the Revolution adhere to this, perhaps more-so than any other club. That being said, there's a fine line, primarily when it comes to a teams' elite players, where the club has to determine the point where they find it in their overall best interests to spend money, rather than trying to save it. As has previously been said, there's a fine line between being "Pennywise, but pound foolish." Twellman's scored some 82 goals in his five years with the Revolution, only one year removed from when he scored 17 goals and had 7 assists. If I'm running the club, I don't only consider a players last season as the sole determinant in coming to terms on a contract. Also, there's the matter of context that needs to be considered as well, as the circumstances these 11 mystery players you've suggested might have scored said number of goals under considerably different circumstances. Dempsey was never a set-up man, and as such, its to be expected that he wouldn't have the greatest cohesion with Twellman. To that end, Willie Sims was a rookie last year, was a very raw player, and didn't work well with anyone for that matter. Twellman's always going to need a set-up man to be successful, that's just the type of striker he is, whether it's Ralston, Noonan, or someone else. Whoever said we'd shower money on him? Quite frankly, the Revs can spend whatever they want using the DP slot, and considering that he's been our only effective forward for the last five years, that he doesn't have a capable back-up who can step in and produce, and with the Revs giving no indication that they're looking to use the DP slot on someone else, let alone someone more effective, why not? We don't need to go out and find a hired-gun, we already have one, so let's pay him what he's worth lest we risk losing him and putting the club in a much more awkward position. The Magpie
He's our former starting goalkeeper actually. For what it's worth, the teams havign expressed an interest in signing Twellman, by-in-large, have looked to do so for relatively little money, and play in Leagues that are considered to be second tier in Europe. The onyl exception is VfB Stuttgart who play in the Bundesliga, but even the money they were rumored to be offering was only about $200,000 more (in terms of the transfer fee) than what Grenland has reportedly offered. Would it be a lateral move for Twellman? Perhaps, perhaps not: if he were to go there and end up being the League's leading goalscorer, then maybe he could use Grenland as a stepping stone to a larger European club. If he's just the leading scorer for Grenland, then odds are few people are going to notice, and not ony can this impact his future professional career, but his place as a member of the U.S. National Team. If anything, the interest is probably flattering for Twellman, but the circumstances don't seem right for a move, at least at this time. The Magpie
I agree that Taylor shouldn't be the Revs DP, as that can be traded for a good bit, but imo everything should be done short of making him the teams DP to keep him here. After Dempsey leaving, if Twellman leaves i don't see where the goals are going to come from. As much as i like Pat Noonan you can't count on him to go a whole season without injury.
I must say I disagree. The norwegian league is beeing watched close by all the top leagues, and if he [Twellman] is as promising as it looks, he will be noticed by alot of clubs Last season Odd Grenland was dangerously close to relegation (because we lacked a goalscorer), but still one of our defenders [Per Nilsson] has been linked to Fulham, Hamburger SV, Sunderland, Sampdoria and a couple of other teams, so it is realistic to belive he can be noticed even if he don't become the leagues leading scorer. But to be honest, I don't dare to wish for this transfer. He seems like a top class striker, and I'm afraid the price will be to high. And if not, there are a few clubs in Norway with more money than Odd, that are always out to snatch great bargins right in front of smaller clubs like Odd. Maybe Nat Borchers can put in a good word for the club. I guess it's always nice to play with someone from your own country.