Ives Galarcep says MLS doesn't seem to get the idea of using transfers to build the league's quality and credibility. MLS Left Out in the Cold Why don't players seem to move to/from the MLS the way they move in European and South American leagues?
Well in order for Americans to move to Europe (mostly England) you need to obtain a work permit, which states that you need to have played in 75% of your national team games during the past two years. So very few players in MLS meet that demand, you can try to get a pass on it but thats far from easy ie Wolff. There are quite a few players from Europe who ply their trade in MLS. The biggest thing is getting someone who is still good and being able to fit them in the salary cap. Which is why during the off season when teams can trade players or drop them is when some overseas players come in. Oh and Galarcep is dead wrong on this issue in my opinion. You don't "grow" your league by letting your young talent head overseas for nothing, a month before the playoffs. If Dempsey got an offer for $3-4 million I'm sure he wouldn't be here, but the fact is that the reported offer was $1.5 million. And the long term results of holding him back and not letting him go now will greatly benefit MLS imo.
Ives makes a very good point re loans: With more and more MLS clubs getting into partnerships with various clubs around the world, it certainly makes sense for loans to be part of those deals. Often MLS GM's mention the possibility of loans as one reason they struck up a partnership with an international club, but more often than not, it seems as though there's relatively little interchange of players -- either by loan, or even in short term training stints.
Partly because when the possibility of moving players TO Europe and South America are discussed, receiving players of equal or greater talent FROM Europe and South America is so laughable to everyone who thinks Dempsey and Johnson should burn MLS to the ground that it's almost taboo to talk about reciprocity.
Does it actually say they must play for the national team or does it actually say that they must play in 75% of games internationally? In otherwords does club level international competition count towards this?
Perhaps MLS should have swapped Clint Dempsey for Teddy Sheringham or somebody plus the $1.5 million. And before you claim they couldn't pay Sheringham's wages think again. He makes less than $500,000.
Folks, maybe the European clubs (or at least the English ones) are not as dumb as we think. Just perhaps they already know that it is difficult to get MLS players during the summer transfer window and are waiting for the winter one to fill any needs.
Perhaps. The relegation clubs are always looking for a good buy or something to gamble on. I remember Redknapp buying all the players he could at bargain prices, some were busts, some turned out to be great. Also Steve Bruce bought Chris Sutton, I'm sure he would have loved to offer $4 million for Clint Dempsey if he would have known how bad a situation BCFC were in.
i agree with the article. i love mls... but... i'm just concerned they don't care enough about the bigger picture, let alone their players. but seriously... i know nothing about running a soccer league. i always reserve the right to change my mind.
The easiest way to get around this would be to have a policy of no outs during the season. I want Clint Dempsey to go to England, at the end of the season. It would be a shame to take that team apart right now.
Sadly Teddy Sheringham only goal right onw is to play a professional game with/ against his son. Incidently Sheringham reminds me of DeMerrit, as in late bloomer.
Late bloomer? Teddy Sheringham's career from start to its near finish has been one of consistent achievement. He may have been late onto the international scene (27), but he's been banging in goals since he was 16. 27 isn't even that old for the international stage either, pretty much in the prime. Overall career totals Apps As sub Goals Yellow Red Total (Club) 871 (93) 345 44 1 League 701 (67) 271 38 1 FA Cup 54 (9) 29 3 0 League Cup 54 (2) 28 1 0 European/Others 62 (15) 17 2 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International career totals Apps As sub Goals Yellow Red England 51 (21) 11 2 0
Yes it must be in games for the national team in a FIFA sanctioned "A" international, which doesn't include friendlies. It does include Confederation Championships (Gold Cup), World Cup Qualifying games, World Cup games and the Confederations Cup, a FIFA sponsored tournament of the winner of the last individual confederation championship tournaments. International club competitions have no direct bearing on the ability of a player to get a work permit, although I would think it would attest to the quality of said player and be a piece of evidence submitted in an appeal for a WP should it be turned down the first time. http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/wo...sports_and_entertainers/football_players.html
Agreed. There's some of this going on now. The MetroJoshes had the two Argies a few years back. I think Nagamura and Saragosa both originally came to LA on loan. I don't know what the hell is going on with Chivas. MLS needs to formalize a policy...perhaps each team can have 1 U-23 and 1 other player of any age.
Saragosa was on a loan. Nagamura was a free. Although I think the "rule" that Ives was talking about was for players on loan w/o an option to buy. Saragosa had an option to buy which the Galaxy declined. He went back to Sao Paolo and then returned to the Galaxy later.
For once could we just have a policy that allows a team to get any player they can on loan. Why do we have to artificially restrict this? Same as the 6 discovery picks a year, why not unlimited as long as you put a binding contract offer out there. Why not get rid of the allocation/discovery system alltogether and have a hard cap of salaries plus transfer fees paid and let clubs get creative? None of these would give a competitive advantage if all 12 teams have competent management, which may not be so accurate.
mls seems to work more as an american league than a euro league. its like the nba they dont really transfer with any other leauge and i think the mls should stay that way i dont like the way euro leagues work
But baseball teams have paid transfer fees for Japanese players, including Ichiro. And NBA teams have bought out player contracts from Euro clubs in the past, i.e. transfer fees. Sachin
Can't believe we all missed this. The restrictions are as follows. In Britain, they have the WP system you describe. In Holland and Belgium, they have min. salaries for foreigners. Most other nations restrict the number of foreigners. Germany, I believe, is open like the NBA or NHL or MLB. If the team wants you they can sign you.
1. Chivas. 2. You know, maybe you're right...if a team doesn't exceed the SI and YI limits, should it really matter if the player is owned by MLS or on loan? I could see an argument that yes, it does matter, but I'm not sure that (absent Chivas being so ready and able to exploit this and gain an unfair advantage) I find it compelling.
Hmm, I can see this several ways. 1. Chivas signs great players and loans them to MLS and leaves them there at a salary capped figure. Therefore Chivas USA gets unfairly enriched, but a Hard Cap would solve this. Hard cap also would have to include advertising fees arranged by the team or league. Not sure how to do this but NBA and NFL get it done so it must be feasible. At least enough so that it's not blatant favortism of one team. 2. Chivas moves players back and forth so much the team gets good players but can't build a system and fans don't know who they are watching. That wouldn't help at all 3. Chivas has a mixed success so far with mexican players of pretty high stature, are these loanees even guaranteed to be better than americans they could aquire? Actually this could be said about any loanee.