The Chivas USA Farewell Tour Thread (2014 MLS Thread)

[Szumi]

It is/was well known that Edu was asking for this amount of money before entering negotiations with any MLS club.The Union were just the only club willing to meet his ludicrous wage demands. It's not like Philly are in a competition to sign him - no other club will meet Edu's demands because they know he isn't anywhere near worth it.

[Gazz]

I'm totally supporting Chivas this season

[GoGo Yubari]

Well of course, you led them to Champions League glory.

Also, Seattle has traded Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Pat Ianni to Chicago for Jalil Anibaba and the 8th pick in the draft (trading them the 13th overall pick in the process). No real complaints there, Hurtado's erratic and Ianni's injury-prone.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Edu may not be worth that much but neither was Clint Dempsey in hindsight and the MLS can't just throw it's toys out of the pram and say "nonono YOU CAN'T do this" when they helped to finance the Dempsey move. If they think that the league will break once inflation sets in then they shouldn't have created the designated players rule in the first place.

[Lineker]

DP never ends well.

[HailtotheYo]

Edu may not be worth that much but neither was Clint Dempsey in hindsight and the MLS can't just throw it's toys out of the pram and say "nonono YOU CAN'T do this" when they helped to finance the Dempsey move. If they think that the league will break once inflation sets in then they shouldn't have created the designated players rule in the first place.

That's quite a few bullet points you tried to put into one.

Dempsey, in hindsight was more than it should have been monetarily. Maybe. He didn't exactly have a whole lot of playing time or anything and had a spell on the bench with an injury. However, the simple fact that the biggest USMNT name at the moment signed with the league ... justifies most of cost. Then there's the little matter of Dempsey being pretty good and such. He's got several years left too and will be high profile at the World Cup for the league (you know American's and their pride).

There's a huge difference in helping finance the literal face of a soccer nation to get him back to your league ... and Maurice Edu asking for twice or more than what he's worth and the league not biting.

And uh, the DP Rule is what got the league to the point that we're building the stadiums we are and expanding like we are. Just take a look at the league before 2007, and then since. It isn't that they're afraid the league will break, it's that they've had a very methodical and successful approach up to this point and they want to ensure that they can control the curve that's arrived now. Things accelerated much quicker than they ever believed and they just don't want everything to go to hell when it doesn't have too. Everything they've done up to this point has worked very well (whether or not it's been fast enough for some people isn't the point) and they've got another CBA and TV deal upcoming .. well, now. Going three sheets to the wind right now would be the absolute dumbest thing they could do.

Hey Szumi .... Philly signed Cristian Maidana today ... it's not all bad.

Why is it his fault for being offered a stupid amount of money? "No you idiots, only give me a quarter of that!"

It's not ... it's his fault for asking for it, which is what he did.

[Tits McGee]

I really hope we can land Edu still. Not worth 1.2 million but still a good player. He plays well for the Nats so I don't understand all the hate. He would be an immediate upgrade over Carroll.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Dempsey, in hindsight was more than it should have been monetarily. Maybe. He didn't exactly have a whole lot of playing time or anything and had a spell on the bench with an injury. However, the simple fact that the biggest USMNT name at the moment signed with the league ... justifies most of cost. Then there's the little matter of Dempsey being pretty good and such. He's got several years left too and will be high profile at the World Cup for the league (you know American's and their pride).

There's a huge difference in helping finance the literal face of a soccer nation to get him back to your league ... and Maurice Edu asking for twice or more than what he's worth and the league not biting.

You cannot say that Dempsey might come good in time and then write off Edu by saying he's not good enough and will never be good enough, if we're going to determine the economics of the league by how good the player is then Dempsey should be on much lower wages than Defoe, Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill. If Edu fits the club tactically then he may well be worth that much for Philly, whether that matters to the MLS or not is their business because they cannot just block moves for players that they find undesirable.

And uh, the DP Rule is what got the league to the point that we're building the stadiums we are and expanding like we are. Just take a look at the league before 2007, and then since. It isn't that they're afraid the league will break, it's that they've had a very methodical and successful approach up to this point and they want to ensure that they can control the curve that's arrived now. Things accelerated much quicker than they ever believed and they just don't want everything to go to hell when it doesn't have too. Everything they've done up to this point has worked very well (whether or not it's been fast enough for some people isn't the point) and they've got another CBA and TV deal upcoming .. well, now. Going three sheets to the wind right now would be the absolute dumbest thing they could do.

But it is sorta funny because it is exactly down to the Dempsey deal, before that happened (which I may add, the MLS actually paid for the £8m transfer fee, not the Sounders) it was almost as if the MLS didn't take the DP seriously, you had LA Galaxy buying useless hasbeens (and a kinda mediocre David Beckham) and everyone bar New York Red Bull buying alright South American players on the cheap, the Dempsey deal happens and suddenly there's a rush for every club in the MLS to get the best player they can for their DP and suddenly wages are shooting through the roof.

The MLS cannot seriously try to drastically improve the league and then after making a huge move forward decide to do it on the cheap, it's already given one team an £8m advantage over other teams so to say "I don't want to pay Edu's $1.2m transfer fee" looks petty. Maybe the Sounders should have paid the fee themselves, for if the MLS wanted to have Dempsey then he should have come in and been a draft pick instead.

[Meacon Keaton]

Am I wrong in thinking the draft isn't on television? I have the main draft page up on the MLS website, but it just dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, some station was actually airing it.

[Meacon Keaton]

ESPNews! Wonderful!

[Crybaby Bunting]

See, I was looking up the wages of MLS players because for some reason I had it drilled into my head that Edu would be on maybe the second highest wages in the league, hence the shit fit.

The problem seems to be that he'd be on the second highest wages for a midfielder, of course the highest wages for a midfielder is Michael Bradley's $6.5m per year wage which is frankly ridiculous, but makes me wonder why so many teams are using their DP for strikers or defenders rather than midfielders. If more teams were using their DPs for midfielders then $1.3m per year for Edu doesn't seem that strange, the only problem is comparing Edu to other US national team players who are on 40-50 times less than Edu, but that seems more like a problem with underpaying those players rather than overpaying Edu.

So I dug further and had a look to see if there's been any more midfielders who were paid more than Edu, and found Julian de Guzman who was paid $1.9m a year at Toronto. Somehow that is acceptable but Edu isn't?

It just sounds like a really petty excuse, and whilst I could understand the MLS blocking an international player because of work permit issues (like if say, Gerami or whatever wanted to play for MLS) but blocking an American national transferring to an American team because it costs too much is stupid.

[brenchill]

Man, the MLS is complicated.

[Meacon Keaton]

Man, the MLS is complicated.

Just wait until you hear about the 2-point goals!

[Meacon Keaton]

If Blake is as good as everyone says, then I suppose I'll be ok with this pick. I was personally hoping for Birnbaum as I've actually seen him play and we need all the defenders we can get. I'm guessing/hoping we trade MacMath for some help on the back line.

[HailtotheYo]

You cannot say that Dempsey might come good in time and then write off Edu by saying he's not good enough and will never be good enough, if we're going to determine the economics of the league by how good the player is then Dempsey should be on much lower wages than Defoe, Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill. If Edu fits the club tactically then he may well be worth that much for Philly, whether that matters to the MLS or not is their business because they cannot just block moves for players that they find undesirable.

But it is sorta funny because it is exactly down to the Dempsey deal, before that happened (which I may add, the MLS actually paid for the £8m transfer fee, not the Sounders) it was almost as if the MLS didn't take the DP seriously, you had LA Galaxy buying useless hasbeens (and a kinda mediocre David Beckham) and everyone bar New York Red Bull buying alright South American players on the cheap, the Dempsey deal happens and suddenly there's a rush for every club in the MLS to get the best player they can for their DP and suddenly wages are shooting through the roof.

The MLS cannot seriously try to drastically improve the league and then after making a huge move forward decide to do it on the cheap, it's already given one team an £8m advantage over other teams so to say "I don't want to pay Edu's $1.2m transfer fee" looks petty. Maybe the Sounders should have paid the fee themselves, for if the MLS wanted to have Dempsey then he should have come in and been a draft pick instead.

- I can absolutely say that Dempsey is on a completely different level as a player, than Edu is. That's simply the truth. He's a few levels above, in fact. People want to call the Dempsey deal a bust based on 9 total games (not even all starts). That's a joke. The level of player he was at the time of the signing and the seasons he was coming off of certainly place him at higher level of cost. Based on economics how co you figure that he should be on lower wages than those three ? Coming into that deal which of those players was coming off of two successful seasons in the top league of the world AND captaining his national team during a record streak ? Which of those players was playing at the highest level ? Henry and Cahill don't fit the entire bill, and Defoe ... you might want to check the 3yr goal totals (and assists) going into the signing of Dempsey. On top of that, it's not like other countries don't pay more for their domestic stars/players ... I mean we can laugh it up about EPL signings all day with English players. The league signs the contracts. They can so 'no' all they want if they feel the player is asking too much. See: Olaf Mellberg ..... but just so you know, Defoe is making more than Dempsey (8m per vs 6.8m per) ... and Bradley is just behind him at 6.5m per.

- Well first, let's keep in mind that there were only a select few teams he was ever going to go to due to his interests. Seattle was one of the two he was highest on (LA and then TFC the only other ones he'd come back too). Why ? Seattle been gauging his interest for a couple of years. He'd been courted. TFC actually thought about the league and figured (rightly) that Dempsey would do much more for the league being in a US based city. LA wasn't really in the running either because they were fixing to lock up Omar with their last DP slot. Seattle was really the only team it was going to be. So it was up to the league to make it happen and they did because of who he is. There is no other signing that would do for this league what his did/will do. #Dempseywatch ? That was a glorious 36 hours for the league and priceless media coverage .... that continued after the signing was official. The reveal was all over the place. Now, leading into the World Cup you've got him in the league ? Priceless advertising/marketing/etc .... the league paying the 9m was for much more than the player.

- I'm not sure how you think the league didn't take it seriously though (the DP). I mean Beckham is as serious as it gets in this regard. Henry, Cahill, Di Vaio, Keane, Martins, Blanco (that was enormous), De Guzman, Ljungberg, Frings, Miller, Gallardo, Juan Pablo Angel ... and then of course there's the "all right South Americans" and everyone else you're dismissing. It seems the league had a pretty good grasp on reality and where it sat in regards to perception. It isn't like they could just sign whoever the shit they wanted in 2007 when it started. Beckham was a perfect storm and his being an entity unto himself made it possible. It grew gradually but there were definitely big shots fired along the way. If they weren't serious, they wouldn't have instituted it in the first place. You have to remember that it was a specific tool for a specific purpose. It worked ...

- Dempsey still wouldn't have been a draft pick because whomever ponied up (which only Seattle could have even done anyway) would have had to pay a transfer fee. That makes the allocation draft order a moot point. There was one, and only one way he was coming and the league made it happen. Let's be real ... who in the league is really made at it ? They all knew and they all knew he wasn't going to ever go to anywhere but 3 spots. One didn't bother and the other couldn't. So it came down to ... is it better for Dempsey to be in the league now or hopefully later ? No brainer. It was smart business, period. The Sounders were presented with the deal, they didn't ask the league to do it.

Of course, it isn't a 1.2m transfer fee that the league is saying no to. They're saying no to Edu asking for 1.2m as his salary. What the shit has he done in the last 2yrs to warrant that salary ? You wanted to talk about the economics of it ? Ok, I'll just toss in this bit of information for perspective: Will Johnson, Kyle Beckerman, and Graham Zusi only make 144K, 300K, and 174K ... and they are three of the best mids in the league. All three are National Team players. If you DOUBLE their salaries you'll get to 1.2m .... but Edu is supposed to be worth 2 of each of them ? Yeah, no.

[GoGo Yubari]

Why the fuck did we draft two centerbacks. Lowe I get, he's GA, but who the fuck is Jimmy Ockford?

[HailtotheYo]

The league is reporting that there will be "an announcement in early February" about BeckhamiamiFC

NYRB continue pursuit of Vargas and are in talks with CB Armando Lozano

[brenchill]

Beckhamiami FC? Whaaaat?

[EddieG]

Beckhamiami FC? Whaaaat?

David Beckham's franchise in Miami.

[brenchill]

That's a real thing that's happening?