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Cummings on verge of Aston Villa loan

Omar Cummings (ISIPhotos.com)

Colorado Rapids striker Omar Cummings is coming off the best season of his MLS career, just led his team to an MLS Cup title, and could be poised for a shot at the English Premier League.

Colorado managing director Jeff Plush told the Denver Post on Monday that the Rapids are in talks with Aston Villa about a potential short loan move for Cummings during the winter.

"Omar is a Colorado Rapids player," Plush told the Denver Post. "We explained to Aston Villa that we would be open to discussing a loan agreement for Omar until our season starts on March 19 if it benefited Omar and the Colorado Rapids."

One potential hang-up could be Cummings securing a work permit. He plays regularly for Jamaica, but because of Jamaica's low FIFA ranking over the course of the year, Cummings may not qualify. Jamaica just made a 24-point jump in the most recent ranking, from 82nd in November to 58th after winning the Digicel Cup.

Under UK Work Permit rules, in order for a player to secure a work permit his national team must be have an average ranking in the Top 70 over the previous two years to qualify and Jamaica has been ranked lower than that for the majority of the past two years.

What do you think of this development? Could you see Cummings doing well in England? Hoping he makes a permanent move?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Yeah, it seems like that would be penalizing a player for having a bad national team.

    If Wales, for example, were located in Central America (odd hypothesis, I know) Gareth Bale/Ryan Giggs wouldn’t be good enough for the EPL? Wales is way below Jamaica.

    Just an odd rule. I’d rather they factored national team quality in with a decision, as opposed to making it a hard and fast rule, but again, it’s hard to say how many hard and fast rules there actually are in soccer.

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  2. How many loans have transitioned in to actual offers?

    I ask because I honestly can’t reference a single one and bring this up because I actually don’t believe these kind of loans are good for the league.

    Quite the opposite.

    Clubs from these leagues have high enough quality in their scouting departments to rate players without renting players and exhausting them/causing them to miss time with their actual clubs.

    Anyone have a listing of loans that turned into purchases during said loan, during the next transfer window or at all there after?

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  3. You don’t remember who, because it was never announced. The offer was also for less than a million, so it would have been foolish of the Rapids to release him.

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  4. Because he’s better and a lot faster than Carew?

    As for not being better than Agbonlahor — CUmmings is a lot better than you think, and Agbonlahor maybe not as good as you think.

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  5. I agree (with SBI) that the rule is probably meant to limit imports to top players from good national teams. This would seem to increase the quality in the English leagues, but the end result is different. The big teams can attract (and afford) the top players, but mid- and low-level teams cannot. So the quality at the top of the league is very good, but the rest of the league has more trouble attracting talent. So the “haves” win and the “have nots” don’t.

    Having wrote all that, I’m not sure how to explain the increased parity in the EPL this season.

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  6. The whole average ranking requirement is nonsense anyway. Why penalize a player just because his team doesn’t get results? A totally arbitrary rule that makes no sense.

    (SBI-Not totally arbitrary. The logic is that a league as good as England’s should only have top players from good national teams. That’s the theory, obviously a flawed philosophy but not arbitrary.)

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  7. Colorado turned down an offer over the summer for Cummings from a Mexican club (I can’t remember who), this may be a chance for them to show off his talents in Europe so that they can sell him in a year or so.
    I think if it goes through it’s a win for everyone involved.

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  8. “Omar is a Colorado Rapids player,” Plush told the Denver Post.”

    That’s so cute…… It’s almost like he believes it. In a world of minnows and sharks, we’re still very much the minnows. If Aston wants him, they’ll take him and there is very little he or the MLS can do about it beyond bartering the best deal possible.

    He’s your player until the rest of the world comes calling….. Until the chains come off, THAT’S our reality.

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  9. I know not everyone speaks Spanish, but when the article mentioned wikileaks and the American Consulate that probably should have been a clue.

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  10. i guess something good comes from mls playing a spring to fall schedule. it’s a win-win for mls. players get better and european teams get an upclose look at them before making offers.

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  11. if he plays, and plays well it will look good for the MLS and maybe they will sign more players and respect us as a league of talent more

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  12. Would be a blow to Colorado, but like yall said, good for the MLS if he shows well. It sucks its so difficult to get a work permit in English, but I guess it is what it is fellas

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  13. commonwealth means nothing in this instance mate, Aston Villa may be able to pull this off tho. Wish Omar the best of luck, and hope he reps MLS well if he makes it across the pond.

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  14. Villa have 4 forwards tops, Gabby, Heskey, Carew and Delfouneso. Carew is on the outs with the Gaffer, Heskey just got injured, Delfouneso is a reserve team striker. Gabby is quality but he can’t go it alone. So yes, great move for everbody and oh definitely he’ll see plenty of time on the pitch.

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  15. He is closer than expected to a work permit. Jamaica has an average FIFA ranking of 74 over the past two years (it was ranked in the high 60s most of 2009, but then fell to the low 80s) and the argument will be made that it has improved and its current ranking is the relevant one—especially since Omar (and actually Dane Richards) is such an important part of the JMNT now).

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  16. I think he’ll if he maintain his form from last season. If not up top, he’ll probably play on the flanks. Ashley young on the right, cummings on the left. It’s just a possibility.

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  17. i’d like to watch that. he is quality and has good pace and villa could use a finisher. plus, it would be nice if he played really well, boosting the respect for MLS England and the rest of the world even further, showing there really is true quality all throughout the league

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