Also Lee Nguyen at the same club: PSV Eindhoven prospect Lee Nguyen and Kansas City attack apprentice Will John have begun simultaneous auditions with Danish top flighters Randers FC. Link: http://www.americansoccerdaily.com/news/nguyen240108.htm
He's only started 2 games in his career according to MLS. This might turn into a dangerous situation for MLS if higher paying Euro leagues begin to accept that even squad players from America can contribute.
John played 6 games for the Fire in 2005 but hasn't played a minute in league play for the past two seasons.
Well, as I have written in the "Lee Nguyen" thread then Lee Nguyen and Will John were among 4 foreign trialists at Randers FC this week (Lee Nguyen, Will John, Alain Behi and Tidiane Cheikhouna) .... Randers have now decided that they may consider signing the D/DM Alain Behi who has won 5 caps for the Ivory coast, while the Senegal U23 NT forward Tidiane Cheikhouna was send home because they dont belive he would be useful at this point in time.. as for Lee Nguyen, then it very much seem to depend on how much $ PSV are asking to get in compare with what Randers are willing to spend on a young foreign talent.. They may also consider a loan deal... So far they have not said what they think of Will John... .
Will's KC Wizards page. http://kc.wizards.mlsnet.com/player...er=john_w&playerId=joh427705&statType=current
Posted in the Nguyen thread too. http://politiken.dk/fodbold/article464725.ece brief translation by Oz City, here: http://ozcitysoccer.com/2008/01/29/will-john-impresses-at-trial/#comments
Thanks for the update Kuhnscoot. I'm not suprised that Lee Nguyen might be signed, but Will John is a bit of a suprise. It seems European teams have been impressed with young MLS reserves like Will and Bryan Arguez. These guys didn't see much playing time in MLS, but are impressing in overseas trials. I'm not sure what to make of it yet. Presumably Will John would be a lot cheaper than Arguez. In fact, would Will John be a free? Is he still with the Wizards? I guess so. Maybe 300k as a transfer fee?
Gives you an indication of where MLS should rank vis-a-vie European leagues. MLS is a pretty good, but not great, league. In America, reserve-level players don't have a lot of other options (and those other options don't pay well either). In Europe, there are a lot of other options, some of which pay quite well.
This will embolden some reserve players to look for other options, I think. Hopefully this will give the Player's Union a bargaining chip to raise the embarassingly low minimum pay.
And that MLS players are seriously underpayed. MLS really needs to step up their game as far as player salaries are concerned. Look how many Americans and former MLS players are playing in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, BL2, Greece, and lower English leagues.
Will John never made it in MLS and he got an extended chance because (I'm pretty sure) he got signed to a GA deal as a member of the u20 pool. I'm pretty certain he would have been waived as soon as his GA status expired. Less of an impact player than David Stokes.
Makes sense. I was posting in response to Clint Eastwood's speculation that John might b worth a $300K transfer fee. That would be great if the KC could get it but, privately, I'm sure they'd congratulate themselves for pulling off a heist. Arguez is a couple years younger and may have been part of DC's future plans but Will John (nothing personal against him as an individual) is pretty much just a washout.
Or maybe MLS is full of excellent athletes, who have not come close to realizing their footballing potential. So, a team like Randers will take a flyer on a young athletic guy and see if they can mold him into a decent player. If not, they didn't spend much.
I don't know. If he's good enough to get playing time in the top flight of Denmark, then he should have been good enough to see playing time in MLS. I guess we'll have to judge this one when and if: a) the deal goes thru b) he gets playing time at Randers I've always felt that some MLS teams don't give their reserve players enough of a chance to make an impact with the first team. NE certainly does, and they reap the rewards of giving young players a chance throughout the year. Then they're a real asset during the stretch run and playoffs (see Adam Christman, Wells Thomspson, etc). Because lets be honest, the MLS regular season is pretty meaningless. Why didn't DC give Arguez a game or two to see what he could do, and give Simms and Carroll a rest. Arguez didn't even play in the US Open Cup. With all of DC's tournaments (CCC, Superliga, MLS, US Open Cup) they couldn't find one opportunity for Arguez to get a game? Now I'm focusing on DC becuase I know them the best. They had depth in Arguez's (Arguez', do you need an 's when the person's last name ends in z? hmm? grammar!) position with Carrol, Simms, Olsen, etc.
will john is probably the most technically gifted player on the wizards. i would have rather seen him start than many of the other players that started instead of him, like victorine and morsink
ozcitysoccer.com says it's a done deal. the translations also make it sound like lee nguyen will sign there too. good luck to them both.