Yup. Its a good "getting your foot in the door" move. Would we have preferred Belgium or a better league? Sure, but that can't happen for everybody. Mueller isn't a 19 year old prospect. He's soon-to-be-25. He's the same age as Rubio Rubin, and it seems like Rubin has been around forever. We've talked about this quite a bit. Its not the mid-career MLS players that are necessarily wanted by the "bigger" European leagues. Particularly those without Euro passports for whom fewer doors are open. Its the young, raw materials that they really covet. I would love to live in Edinburgh. So there's that.
As I think I said somewhere else, he's 25 ... I hope he's getting paid. Mueller's making less than $140k this year in guaranteed comp. I don't know what he's making at Hibernian, and I don't know what Orlando offered, but I hope he took the higher cash and higher guarantee. Even a successful run at age 26 in Scotland isn't likely to get him a next big payday, so I hope he didn't walk from something he could put away for life. But hey, that's his call.
Belgium 1st Div is 9th on the UEFA coefficient and is projected to slide to 12th in '22. SPL is projected to move to 9th. Aaron Long had EPL interest. Lack of interest in mid-career players is due to most of the talented players having already left at younger ages. Back when more players went to college, mid-career moves to the Top-5 were more common. Also, Orlando is a bit of a backwater MLS team. And had Mueller been on the GC team, he would've had more exposure.
I suppose, though I think that the Perry Kitchens aren't going to get paid as much any more. Mueller could conceivably come back younger and better, though. Kitchen, I think made about $500k for a few years. I'd really be curious to understand what Orlando was putting out there. Was it Jordan Morris / Darlington Nagbe money? Or was it substantially lower?
The money was probably better in Scotland. But I would not discount the importance of other considerations. Living and playing in another culture, a soccer mad culture, is a life-changing experience. Every American player who has that opportunity is missing out on something big if they turn it down.
i think theres also a strong getting out of mls aspect to this. as noted hes not eligible for free agency, so oc doesnt have any incentive to pay him. so even if the money is similar i could certainly understand wanting some agency over your own career. i still dont see this is a good move competitively, but personally it obviously was for him. and just a side note, but add whatever system says scotland is the 9th ranked league in the world to things i care about as much as that fastest player of the match award.
Yes and no. Its the best we can do. Its kind of in tiers. The gap in points between nations like Scotland, Belgium, Austria, Ukraine, is actually pretty small. So year to year there's fluctuations. I tend to think of it as a band of leagues at about similar quality. I mean, the UEFA coefficients tell me that the Swiss League is worse than the Cypriot League. Do I believe that? No. I think Pefok is in the better league. But the Swiss haven't done well in the Champions League recently, so there ya go. The data doesn't lie. I personally prefer the leagues in Belgium and Austria to Scotland for our USMNTers. Personal preference.
9th in Europe, based on UCL and UEL performances. How is Orlando a backwater? They have Nani and Mickey Mouse.
Salaries in the Cypriot League are pretty competitive. SPORT: Cyprus offers sun, sea and fat football contracts - Financial Mirror
Sure! That's cool, too. I wouldn't mind some time in Scotland, heard Edinburgh is cool. Would probably get really mad at the weather as well. I think Mueller is exactly the type of guy who will be pretty darn good in MLS for about 5-6 years, might do well in an SPL kind of league but I think he has zero shot at a top league. So I'm just hoping he didn't take a flyer for low money when, as a professional athlete, he needs to BANK his cash over the next five years. Because after that, he'll need to find a new career real soon.
Mmp. I don't rate the Scottish Premiership at all, but that's just my opinion and not one that comes from following the league closely per se so take it for what you will. As for the "experience of playing in a soccer mad nation" -- sure, but the whole SPL is smaller than the MLS eastern conference and yet half of the clubs in the league right now wouldn't meet the requirements to expand into MLS. Mueller will actually be playing in a smaller home stadium than he currently does. That's only one measure of fan culture, engagement etc of course, obviously. UEFA country rankings are based on clubs in Europe; for a better measure of the league, just check UEFA's club coefficients to see Hibernian are ranked below squads in Ireland, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Or check 538 rankings which puts them below most MLS, Championship, 2Bundesliga clubs, and even below some Chinese, Irish, and Austrian clubs. They sometimes make it to Europa League, which is pretty prestigious, but once there they tend to get bettered pretty bad by 3rd tier European clubs (hammered 9-0 by Malmo, 3-0 by Molde, 6-2 by Maribor a Slovenian club). So I don't think he's likely to build many new skills under these circumstances, playing fewer, (mostly) poorer teams, often in USL stadia, with the rare exception of maybe getting steamrolled by the Swedish champion occasionally in Europe. He's not going to play with anyone as good as Nani. I also don't know that lots of players jump from Scotland for all the same reasons aforementioned (except for sheer proximity, I think the days of seeing SPL as more "credible" than MLS are gone). So hopefully he got paid.
No. According to transfermkt the most valued player at Hearts is worth $880k. Their record transfer fee was $1.765M in 1988/89.
Folks should think about that in relation to the transfer fees of the young Americans from MLS that we've seen since Reggie Cannon. Out of the price range for the non-firm SPL teams. .....................but they can nab a guy on a free transfer like Mueller. A good piece of business for a club like Hibs.
Speaking of Scotland, Ramirez has scored on his debut for Aberdeen. This is a European qualifying game against Häcken of Sweden. Not a thing of beauty, but they all count. 🇺🇸 A first goal for The Dons. 🔴#StandFree | @Chris_Ramirez17 pic.twitter.com/jkEDWiHrfn— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) July 22, 2021
New York Red Bulls right back Kyle Duncan is 'drawing interest from French clubs Metz and Montepellier, and at least one Bundesliga club' per @TheAthleticSCCR.— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) July 22, 2021
How do the league coefficients even work then? Celtic/Rangers are 46/52 on the Club Coeffcients and then the next Scottish club is 150+. Belgium has Genk, Gent, Anderlecht, LIege that are all 55-65. Antwerp is at 125 and then the rest are slightly better than their Scottish equivalent. It's a easily a better league top to bottom. I would unironically rather him stay in MLS than go to Scotland honestly. He's only guaranteed to play 4 games a season against decent competition. (The group stage for the Europa Conference ends in December so Hibs will likely already be out by then.)
Mueller's options were limited. When Gressel and Atlanta couldn't come to an agreement, Atlanta traded him to a club that would pay him. Mueller had earlier interest from clubs in Belgium; Orlando turned them down. Orlando didn't trade him, didn't sell him, and I suspect they also blocked his participation in the GC. Gotta wonder about Dike's future.
The 2nd-highest paid player on Hibs last season made $350k. The money might be better at Hibs than whatever Orlando offered, but I doubt it would be by any significant amount.
Well you can see how they add up on UEFA coefficients web page. Scotland had 2 good years, the best being 19/20 when Celtic and Rangers made it to the knockout phase and Rangers made it to the last 16. While Celtic and Rangers are ranked 46 and 52, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey and the Netherlands all only have one team ranked in the top 50.