Wheelock: Howard will cause a Wave of MLS Exports

Carlos Ruiz to Leicester?

Anyone got anymore info on this?

 

The question is can MLS bring in and create new talent as fast as it goes elsewhere?
It needs to if the level is going to continue to improve.

 

Wheelock makes some good points, but all it takes are a couple of transfers that don't pan out to put a bit of a damper on the whole thing. Like if Rangers signs Mathis and he plays like a lard-ass. Howard's signing has certainly opened a lot of eyes, but U.S. youth clubs have to continue to improve their coaching of young players so that they have what it takes to compete against the best of the best.

 

I like what Wheelock says at the end of the story-- suggesting that being a farm league or a feeder league to other bigger leagues isn't necessarily a bad thing...

It's an upward cycle, or can be, if done properly. Improve the national team by allowing the top footballers to go abroad, improve the league by wisely spending the transfer fees.

Success by the United States in international competitions enhances MLS, while the league's success creates a system to vastly improve the U.S. squad. It's all interdependent: MLS, the U.S. Federation, fan interest, media coverage, and the development of players, both amateur and professional.

So, while I hate to have the best of MLS leave the league, I draw some patriotic zeal in seeing them succeed abroad. Not just the American players, but any MLS alum. This country's first division is now producing some amazingly talented footballers.

Having leagues like the English Premiership take notice is something that all supporters of the sport in the country should appreciate, even if it means losing some of the best talent your MLS club has to offer.

In due time, therefore, we can see MLS grow from this process.

 

I think a clip in today's L.A. Times was suggesting that it wasn't going to happen.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/olymp...37592.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-olympics

But I'll look around and see if I can find any other confirmations or denials on the matter.

 

Found something else re the Ruiz rumour...

Injury doubt over Dickov -- sportinglife.com

Towards the end of the brief...

(Leicester manager Micky) Adams admitted he would not be pursuing his interest in Guatemalan international Carlos Ruiz who plays for LA Galaxy.

He said: "We have had him watched but we are not going to do anything about it."

Short and sweet, there it is...

 

He said "footballers."

Heh heh. "Footballers."

 

I hadn't noticed that before, from what I previously quoted, but I do now.

Notice that he themed the article towards the top of qualifying these rumors as, well, "rumours", too.

 

This is one of those chicken or the egg things. Somebody was going to do it, be it Howard, Donovan, DMB, etc. and when they did it they would kick the door in for the rest of the league. We just have to hope that the rest of our talent doesn't let us down.

I like Wheelock's analogy to the French League; using the moeny from transfer fees to buy better talent from abroad, raising the level of play in the domestic league, which improves the league while allowing the players who have grown beyond it to move on without hurting the league too much. What will do that for MLS is every team having their own SSS, which would hopefully make them profitable, which would bring in more investors, who would allow the league to expand, which would bring in more fans, which would bring in more TV coverage, which would bring in much more money, which would allow the league to raise salaries and the teams to spend much more in youth development, which would greatly increase our talent base, which would make our National Team that much better. I know this is the plan, I just wonder if it will happen.

 

Here is a problem though. In Europe, when a team loses a player, another player can be bought to replace him. In MLS, the deflated salary and foreigner restrictions make replacing a domestic player more difficult. I mean if you lose Clint Mathis, where do you find another cheap labor who is as good as Clint and cost the same salary?

 

Oh...I think your chances are pretty good.

 

While Mathis is probaby a poor example, I agree with the general sentiment of your comment. THis league is not going to gain acceptance in the media of this country if it doesn't keep and market as many of its American stars as it can. It's all well and good on the field to sell and player and bring in someone with the money from Guatemala or Honduras, but selling Americans to bring in foreigners isn't doing any favors to your fanbase.

The reason this league is better than the NASL is the local talent. I don't want another league full of foreigners. I want to go see our American heroes on Saturdays. I don't mind having a number of foreign players around - It was a joy to watch Etcheverry and Valderrama when they were right - but I don't think the league is going to succeed on the merits of foreign players.

That said, it would be great for the league to sell a player like Ruiz to England or Spain. If this league becomes a showcase for young talent in central America to find their way to Europe, that's win/win. They get to showcase their talents, and we get to see young, hungry players instead of old aging stars.

 

I feel like you do - I'd rather see American players.

But for every two of us, there are two guys who are convinced that Americans can't play, and that the only way they'd even consider giving MLS a sniff is if they get more "skillful" foreign players.

This is one of our problems.

 

wheelock has got one thing right: it's a total paradox.

one hand, I'd like the transfer $$$ (hellloooo Earthquakes Field) but on the other hand an MLS with Landon, McBride and DMB is a lot of fun to watch. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I guess in the end I'd rather keep most of our stars players and let just one, maybe two, players go per season. but that's just me.

 

But that's kinda what we have. It's not like there is this mad exodus of american talent. So far, we're losing 2-4 players a year. Not bad at all. And for every Twellman that goes down (or Landon that leaves) a Noonan gets a shot and becomes the next star in MLS. The standard of the league continues to rise and the standard of the National team skyrockets because our top field players are getting valuable experience against the best in the world. I look at it as a win win situation.

Couldn't agree more. In fact, I would love to see the amount of players that get sold from the FMF to european clubs, compared to the number that get sold from MLS. If the numbers are favorable (and increasingly so for the next few years), we may be able to lure good player fom the Mexican league that are looking for a spring board to Europe. You never know. The only thing I do know, is that if things continue the way they are going, the future looks very bright indeed.

 

As much as I love the Fire, I can't wait to see DMB get the hell outta here and play in Europe, even if Armas, Ralph, and Boca all go too..I'll still have Ante, Marsch, Zak, etc. And I'll have the pleasure of watching Gray, Mapp, Pause, Jaqua, Curtin, and Capano grow...Oh yeah, I almost forgot....Henry Ring....hmmmmmmm........

 

Definately. Although, there is a limit, and I think the MLS will look at each sale very very carefully - if no other reason than to make sure that there are replacements on the horizon. You couldn't just sell DMB, Donovan, McBride, Mathis, and Boca in one season to any multitude of leagues.

But with those millions that pour in - as it was posted earlier - those are sooooo important. I don't think Donovan alone will buy a stadium, but if it means going into the black, and therefore interesting new investors, then its very very good.
I know every DC fan can't wait to see what they will buy when Adu eventually moves on.

Plus - doesn't it give more college players incentive to at least try and go pro?

 

The French league model would be a very good model to follow, but Sean's caveat of "if it is done correctly" is the most important point.

Some sort of standard rule should be created so that when DMB gets sold for $2 million to Middlesborough, his replacement isn't a $100,000 allocation no-name from Costa Rica. MLS fans will not long put up with valuable players , be they American or foreign, being replaced by bargain basement players.

MLS should allow 1/3 or 1/5 or whatever of any transfer fee collected to be able used by the team that lost the player for any replacement players transfer fees and salary. And it should be standard across the league. The rest of the money can go to raise salary caps, offset league costs, a SSS pool, whatever - but the team that loses the player should get a set % of the transfer relative to the value of the transfer.

Clint leaving the Metros for $500,000 (yes I know he's free) should be worth less to a team that loses DMB for $2mm. Both teams getting $150,000 to be used for a replacement's transfer fees is not fair.

 

Conversly...

I don't think this is it. I think it's more simply a cause and effect relationship. What will happen is that as younger players see their mentors or idols or even counterparts moving overseas to the bigger stages, they will recognize an opportunity (those with the aggressiveness and killer instincts, which is after all what you look for in a player); an opportunity to show what they've got, and they will play harder, work harder, want it more, and MAKE the play better with their existing talent. More often than not, it isn't a players talent alone that gets them to the top, it's their talent coupled with the drive and ambition. There are many top rated players, in many sports, that may not necessarily be the *most* talented of the lot.

The players are out there, and they will find MLS once the league is seen as a platform to bigger, better things; it's inevitable.

Does MLS need to focus on new talent? Absolutely. Do they constantly need to make sure that the player pool of young athletes is full? Certainly. But the pressure isn't on to FIND the talent....just to open the door. And there is simply no better way to open a door for someone than to show them what opportunity they have.

GO MLS!!!

 

I enjoyed the article, but I did have a problem with Wheelock's comparison to the French League. He says that they've been able to bring in talented foreigners....particularly players from West Africa. I think a good reason why West African's go to France is because they speak French having been former colonies of the French Empire. Do we have a similar pool to pick from? I suppose Central America is an option, but right now those leagues pay similar wages. I think it will be a slow progression for MLS. Slowly money will come in from transfers, slowly the cap will go up, and slowly players from Central America will begin to be lured here to fill in the rosters.

 

I lived in France during the fall of 2001, and let me assure you that the French don't give a shite about their domestic league. The level of play isn't all that spectacular, although it does seem to have improved a wee bit. I came back a fervent fan of MLS b/c I realized just how much the league had improved. I would go to a local bar teaming w/ footie fans in order to watch French teams play in UEFA and Champions, and I was the ONLY person watching. The rest knew their clubs were mediocre.

Plus, their clubs can sell all the players they want, but they are still stuck in out-dated municipally owned stadia, "communist" tax structures, pathetic t.v. deals; in short, mired in all the problems that plague modern big sports leagues unable to shift w/ the changing economic landscape.

 

If MLS does lose some of its top players why would it have to look outside this country for new players? The A-league has some great players who could move up to the MLS.

 

I think Wheelock's point about the French League is that even though it is not up to par with the big boys of Euro football their national team is one of the best. So they've managed to get their best players experience in the big leagues while making their domestic league profitable. Some would argue at the expense of the quality of the league. I think that's true to an extent with the mid-tier or bottom table teams, but some of the top teams are doing fairly well in CL this season.