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MLS Summer Transfer Rundown

ClintDempseyIntroductionSeattleSounders1 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

From Clint Dempsey’s move to the Seattle Sounders to Gabriel Torres’ last-minute move to the Colorado Rapids, the Major League Soccer summer transfer window saw plenty of movement in both directions.

Nearly every team was involved in signing or trading for a player between July 9 and August 8, with D.C. United, Chivas USA, and Toronto FC acquiring four players each, the highest totals in the league.

Along with Dempsey, a number of American’s playing abroad returned home, including Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clarence Goodson, Conor Doyle, and Jared Jeffrey, the latter two making their MLS debut’s this summer with D.C. United. And while Americans begin to stream back, plenty more South American talent has flowed into the tributaries of North America, such as Mauro Diaz and Hernan Bernardello of Argentina and Juan Luis Anongono of Ecuador.

Here’s a closer look at each MLS team’s transfer work this summer:

CHICAGO FIRE

Acquired: F Juan Luis Anangonó (Argentinos Juniors),  D Shaun Francis (Charlotte Eagles), M Egidio Arevalo (Loan from Palermo/Pending)

Departed: M Alvaro Fernandez (loan to Nacional of Uruguay)

Outlook: The Fire struck gold with the acquisition of Mike Magee from the LA Galaxy for the rights to Robbie Rogers, and they’ll be hoping they’ve hit the jackpot again with the double designated player signings during the summer transfer window. Juan Luis Anangono made his debut for the club on August 10, starting and played 76 minutes, while Arevalo is waiting to be officially introduced, pending an open international roster spot and designated player spot. Anangono has been capped just once for the Ecuadorian national team but Arevalo is a regular for Uruguay, and featured at the Confederations Cup this summer. Alvaro Fernandez was already on-loan in Qatar, but he ended that loan in favor of a new one back in his home nation of Uruguay.

CHIVAS USA

Acquired: D Carlos Bocanegra (free), F Caleb Calvert (homegrown player), F Erick Torres (Chivas) Jaime Frias (Chivas)

Departed: Walter Vilchez (released)

Outlook: At one point early in the season, Chivas USA were atop the Western Conference. Since late March however, the club has won just one game and sit in the conference basement. The club management is certainly hoping that Carlos Bocanegra can help shore up a very shaky defense, and that Erick “Cubo” Torres can add a spark up front, which has already been seen in some early performances. Unfortunately for Bocanegra, he has already had to serve a red card suspension after just three games with Chivas.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Acquired: F Vicente Sanchez (Nacional of Uruguay), F Gabriel Torres (San Francisco FC).

Departed: F Kevin Harbottle (released)

Outlook: Outside of Real Salt Lake, there hasn’t been a much bigger surprise this season than the Colorado Rapids. A team beset by injuries at the start of the season has a nearly healthy squad more than halfway through, and now has a couple of legitimate strikers to lead the team through the Western Conference playoffs. Gabriel Torres had a terrific 2012 Gold Cup tournament, and Sanchez should provide a veteran presence up front for a player like Deshorn Brown to learn from.

COLUMBUS CREW

Acquired: None

Departed: None

Outlook: Despite Eddie Gaven and Glauber both suffering season-ending knee injuries, the Columbus Crew front office decided against bringing in any new players, instead sticking with some of the young players signed in the offseason like Wil Trapp and Chad Barson to fill in. Trapp has started five straight games and Barson has started nine of 11 games played this season.

D.C. UNITED

Acquired: M Jared Jeffrey (free), F Conor Doyle (loan from Derby County), F Luis Silva (trade with Toronto FC), M Collin Martin (homegrown player)

Departed: D/M Alain Rochat (BSC Young Boys), D Brandon McDonald (trade with RSL)

Outlook: D.C. United’s summer transfer movement seems to point towards a team that understands that this season hasn’t turned out as planned, and they are too far out to turn things around. Instead of going for any big money signings, the U.S. capital club went after young American talent, bringing in Jared Jeffrey (23) from Mainz on a free transfer, Conor Doyle (21), and Luis Silva (24) from TFC, and signing Collin Martin (18) to a professional contract after one season at Wake Forest. D.C. United also let Alain Rochat leave to return to his home in Switzerland, and traded Brandon McDonald after a disappointing season.

FC DALLAS

Acquired: F Erick (free), M Mauro Diaz (River Plate)

Departed: GK Richard Sanchez (loan to Fort Lauderdale Strikers)

Outlook: With a roster that’s already one of the best in the Western Conference, FC Dallas wasn’t in dire straights to make any kind of big moves. However, the signing of Mauro Diaz, a former River Plate starter and member of Argentina’s youth national teams should help add more to an attack that already features David Ferreira, Fabian Castillo, and Blas Perez. Erick, a defensive midfielder by trade, should provide depth but it seems that he is still a ways away in terms of fitness. Sanchez was not going to see the field this season barring an injury, which made his loan opportunity available.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Acquired: M Alexander Lopez (Olimpia)

Departed: None

Outlook: The Houston Dynamo have struggled to score this season, and they’ll hope that Alexander Lopez’s signing as a young DP can help spark the attack. Giles Barnes and Will Bruin have failed to live up to expectations, but midfielder Oscar Boniek Garcia has spoken highly of his countryman and believes that he can make a difference.

LA GALAXY

Acquired: M Laurent Courtois (free), GK Jaime Penedo (free)

Departed: D Bryan Gaul (loan to Fort Lauderdale Strikers), M Kenney Walker (loan to Fort Lauderdale Strikers)

Outlook: Bruce Arena isn’t one to mince words, and has had plenty of criticism on goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini in his first season in MLS. For this, the LA Galaxy have acquired Panamanian national team goalkeeper Jaime Penedo to either take over for Cudicini or at least provide some more competition. Picking up Laurent Courtois from rivals Chivas USA after he was released is just another slap in the face to the club who shares a home with the Galaxy at the StubHub Center. Bryan Gaul and Kenney Walker both will gain experience playing regularly in NASL.

MONTREAL IMPACT

Acquired: M Hernan Bernardello (free), D Adrian Lopez (free), M Paolo DelPiccolo (MLS Draft)

Departed: M Callum Mallace (loan to Minnesota United), M Sinisa Ubiparipovic (loan to Minnesota United)

Outlook: The Montreal Impact have been sliding down the Eastern Conference table recently as age apparently begins to catch up with the team. With two games in hand over the top three teams in the conference at the moment, as well as CONCACAF Champions League games this fall, the Impact have brought in some more depth and talent to shore up the roster with a lot of games coming up in the next three months. Hernan Bernardello, a designated player, is a big coup for them, while Adrian Lopez and Paolo DelPiccolo could see time in the midweek Champions League games. Callum Mallace and Sinisa Ubiparipovic were outside of manager Marco Schallibaum’s plans so better for the club that they can open up two roster spots, which have been taken by Bernardello and Lopez.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Acquired: F Charlie Davies (loan from Randers FC)

Departed: M Kalifa Cisse (released)

Outlook: With forward Juan Agudelo signing a pre-contract agreement to move to Stoke City in January, the New England Revolution completed a great piece of business just ahead of the end of the transfer window, signing Charlie Davies on-loan from Randers FC in Denmark. The deal is win-win for the club, combining two U.S. Men’s National Team pool players together and bringing Davies back to an area where he attended college (Boston College) and began his rise to fame. Cisse’s contract, an albatross on the roster considering his lack of regular playing time, was terminated to create room for Davies. If Davies is successful, the Revolution can sign him in January when Davies leaves.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Acquired: D Ibrahim Sekagya (free), F Bradley Wright-Phillips (free), D/M David Carney (free)

Departed: D Digão (released)

Outlook: The New York Red Bulls were one of the busier teams in the summer transfer, acquiring three foreigners to add to their already internationally-packed squad. Ibrahim Sekagya joined the team this summer from Red Bull Salzburg, and has provided depth in central defense, though he was counted on as a defensive midfielder against the Columbus Crew last week and failed to impress. Both Bradley Wright-Phillips and David Carney have yet to receive their P-1 Visas but will be asked to provide something different along the wings. Wright-Phillips has game-changing speed, while Carney is a highly experienced Australian international who has struggled to overcome injury problems recently. The open roster places of Juninho and Digao have been filled by Wright-Phillips and Carney.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Acquired: GK Oka Nikolov (free), D Fabinho (free), M Gilberto (free)

Departed: None

Outlook: The Philadelphia Union front office chose not to make any marquee signings, instead bringing in solid role players to help the squad as the season heads towards its close. Oka Nikolov joins after 19 seasons with Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany and despite his age (39-years-old) he’s expected to push Zac MacMath in goal for playing time. Fabinho has already stepped into a wing back position, making his first start on August 10 against D.C. United. Gilberto has been touted by Union head coach John Hackworth as one for the future.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Acquired: D Alvas Powell (loan from Portmore United)

Departed: M Michael Nanchoff (loan to Jönköpings Södra)

Outlook: Having dealt with numerous season-ending injuries to defenders this season, the Portland Timbers used the summer transfer window to bring in one of the brightest stars in CONCACAF, 19-year-old defender Alvas Powell of Jamaica. Already a regular for the Jamaican national team, the Timbers acquired him on loan with an option to buy in the winter. The loan for Michael Nanchoff was to give him some more playing time, as the packed Timbers midfield hasn’t been kind to many of the reserves this season.

REAL SALT LAKE

Acquired: D Brandon McDonald (trade with D.C. United), F Benji Lopez (homegrown player)

Departed: Enzo Martinez (loan to Carolina RailHawks)

Outlook: Like the Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake has suffered a number of serious injury blows to their defensive line, and bringing in a veteran MLS player such as Brandon McDonald became a priority during the month of July. Chris Schuler and Carlos Salcedo are making their way back to fitness, but RSL will be without Kwame Watson-Siriboe for the season. In addition, like Salcedo this spring, the signing of Benji Lopez could turn into something big for RSL, especially with Lopez getting to learn from Alvaro Saborio. Enzo Martinez was returned to the Carolina RailHawks after a successful spring season.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Acquired: D Clarence Goodson (Free), D Jordan Stewart (free), M Jaime Alas (loan from Rosenborg)

Departed: None

Outlook: They’ve shown flashes of what made them last season’s Supporters Shield winners, but the San Jose Earthquakes were in need of improvements this summer due to poor form this season. With Mark Watson as an interim head coach, the club made a big move to bring in Clarence Goodson to partner with Victory Bernardez, strengthinging their defensive line. The Earthquakes also brought in some depth with veteran English defender Jordan Stewart, as well as young midfielder Jaime Alas of El Salvador, who wasn’t seeing the field in Norway with Rosenborg, the same club as USMNT talent Mix Diskerud.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Acquired: F Clint Dempsey (Tottenham), GK Andrew Weber (loan from Phoenix FC)

Departed: M Mario Martinez (loan from Real España finished), F Fredy Montero (loaned to Sporting CP), F Sammy Ochoa (waived)

Outlook: The Seattle Sounders were arguably the biggest winners in the MLS summer transfer window, bringing in the best USMNT player playing abroad at the time. Clint Dempsey’s return to MLS was marked by a first-half substitute appearance last Saturday in a 2-1 victory in Toronto, and when he makes his home debut later this month against the Portland Timbers, 67,000 are expected to see him play, and likely start. Weber joined the team after injuries to all three goalkeepers on the roster. The team will miss Mario Martinez, a talented young Honduran player, while Sammy Ochoa was surplus to requirements and Fredy Montero, finished with his loan in Colombia, decided to pursue a career in Europe with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY

Acquired: M Jimmy Medranda (loan from Deportivo Pereira), D Brendan Ruiz (Figueirense), D Erik Palmer-Brown (homegrown player)

Departed: D Kevin Ellis (loan to Orlando City SC)

Outlook: It looked as if Sporting Kansas City, currently competing for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, were on the verge of signing Honduras international Jorge Claros. However, unable to close the deal out, the club decided on bringing in three players for the future. The club signed 19-year-old Jimmy Medranda on loan from Deportivo Pereira in Colombia, 20-year-old American Brendan Ruiz from Figueirense’s U-20 side in Brazil, and Erik Palmer-Brown from the Sporting KC academy. Meanwhile, Sporting KC has continued its relationship with Orlando City SC in the USL, loaning Kevin Ellis and at times C.J. Sapong to the club this summer after recalling Dom Dwyer from a successful spell.

TORONTO FC

Acquired: D Mark Bloom (loan from Atlanta Silverbacks), M Alvaro Rey (Xerez), D Jonas Elmer (FC Winterthur), M Manny Aparicio (homegrown player)

Departed: M Luis Silva (traded to D.C. United), D Danny Califf (retired), Darren O’Dea (Metalist Kharkiv)

Outlook: The Toronto FC lineup has been in a state of flux all season long, and the summer proved no different. The club has waived eight players since the season started, and had to dump their captain, Darren O’Dea, due to a large contract that the club couldn’t afford to keep. Add to that the fact that they were reportedly close to signing Diego Forlan and the play of Luis Silva since his move to D.C. United and it hasn’t been the best summer of moves for the club. However, time will tell whether Alvaro Rey, Jonas Elmer, and Mark Bloom can contribute immediately to the struggling club. Rey in particular has looked bright in his first few games. Califf’s retirement hurts but he was certainly frustrated with Ryan Nelsen’s plan as head coach of TFC.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

Acquired: GK David Ousted (Randers)

Departed: F Caleb Clark (loan to FC Augsburg), F Corey Hertzog (loaned to FC Edmonton)

Outlook: The Vancouver Whitecaps have been one of the hottest teams since June, and a big part of that had been the play of goalkeeper Brad Knighton, who started the season on the bench. However, the club signed another goalkeeper to compete against him, and in David Ousted’s first start of the season last Saturday, the Dane was terrific in the Whitecaps’ 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes. If he can continue to perform, the current second-place team in the Western Conference can make a run in the MLS playoffs.

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What did you think of the MLS Summer Transfer Window? Which team’s moves stood out to you? What teams do you feel had the best summer? What moves were the most surprising to you?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. MLS doesn’t have relegation. Why don’t a couple of teams start a bunch of teenagers in order to develop and sell them to bigger teams and using the money to reinvest in the academies? To make money on the transfer market you need to sell 20-21 year olds, not 24-25 year olds.

    Reply
    • Imaginative, but money won’t make the academies better and playing kids will mean losing a lot of games (probably all of them). Crowds will disappear and the teams will lose money. Moreover, giving American kids playing time is no guarantee that they will show enough to get interest abroad. DC United is giving playing time to 2 teenagers now, but they hope to get rewards on the pitch in a couple of years, not in the pocketbook.

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  2. Columbus, probably the team in the worst form in the last 2-3 months..is the only team not to make any moves..where is the logic in that?

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    • I think the FO was looking to the future with the new ownership coming in. I have a good feeling a new coach is on the horizon (if not a bigger shake-up), and will probably want the ability to remold the team. The Crew, for all intents, are out of the playoffs and the rest of the season becomes an ongoing try-out for next year anyway. No need to spend any money at this point.

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  3. Best moves:
    1. Dempsey to Seattle
    2. Peneda to LA
    3. Torres to Colorado
    4. Goodson to San Jose
    5. Silva to DC
    6. Fabinho to Philly
    7. Lopez to Houston
    8. Boca to Chivas
    9. Sanchez to Colorado
    10. Powell to Portland
    We will see: Davies, Arevalo, Bernardello, others

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  4. No kaka, ronaldinho rumors, tevez would have come for real money.forlan i guess loves brazil. Giovani do santos wll never come to mls, why even go there.mls should be stealing ligamx top talent like candy and even argentine since their leagues are broke and brazilian.
    Mls needs to.make moves and not just talk.
    Too much parity n rules. If nasl keeps growing and pack their 7000- 10000 seat stadiumand their talent rises, mks will have a serious contender.

    Reply
    • What is the rationale for the statement, “mls should be stealing ligamx top talent like candy”? Top Liga MX teams pay significantly higher total wages, which means their average talent is much better. To poach a player in his prime from Liga MX would require convincing them to come play in a league with lower average player quality, which seems like it means we’d have to offer a ridiculous sum of money above and beyond their Liga MX expectation, no? That seems very costly given the many other avenues a club can pursue for finding DPs.

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  5. Two thoughts. MLS improves by the second. No team can afford to be static, because they will get passed up. The mid-season boast was huge for many teams and it had to be.

    So now all the guys whining about Euro this and Euro that. How long until MLS passes those very static leagues’ bottom and mid level teams ?……..Not long. At the end of Dempsey’s four years at Seattle, will he be better off in MLS or close to relagation bait in some “superleague”…..we will see.

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    • MLS needs to first figure out how to catch up with the Mexican league. Until MLS starts dominating the Concacaf Champions league, any talk about passing European leagues is premature.

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  6. Don’t think it really matters what anyone else does at this point–

    Mike Magee to the Chicago Fire could go down as the greatest acquisition in the history of the league in terms of on the field performance.

    8 goals and 2 @ssists in 10 league games and 5 game winning goals on the season.

    Reply
    • Seattle was close without Dempsey. IF Seattle wins it all now, Magee’s individual performances ( which are great ) will be for naught.

      It is a team game and he made Chicago way better, but they still have to win.

      Reply
      • Say What?

        I wouldn’t say it’s all for naught if Chicago doesn’t win the cup. Yes, I realize that’s what the teams are playing for but I don’t recall one player that has gone to a team and completely changed everything to the degree that Magee has at Chicago….and that’s a pretty freakin spectacular accomplishment with or without the MLS Cup.

    • Magee was more like a spring trade. In terms of truly bad trades I’d say Houston’s many goofy attacker trades take the cake. Wondo (71 goals since he left, golden ball, MVP) for Cam Weaver (10 goals since, 2 since May 2011); DeRo (51 goals since, MVP) for Julius James (minors); Kamara (39 goals since and a stint in the EPL) for Abe Thompson (retired); and Oduro (27 goals since) for Carr (5 goals since) beat Magee for Rogers. FWIW Magee’s been in the high single digits a while…….

      Reply
      • If I were a Houston fan I would be gnashing my teeth whenever I thought about losing Kamara. How any team would give him up is beyond me

      • And here in KC we are fortunate to reap the benefit of that mistake (especially after his headed brace this past weekend)

      • All rumors when Kamara was leaving were about locker room issues with Kei. The Dom will not stand for that no matter how much money you make.

        The DeRo trade was about AEG/Brenner/Golden Boy being unwilling to make him DP. It was stupid for them to trade rather than pay him. The Dynamo could have probably won another couple of championships by now.

        Oduro wanted more money than he was worth. That trade doesn’t bother me.

        Wondo is inexplicable… Weaver would be lucky to make an NASL squad or USL Pro squad in my opinion.

        What blows my mind more than anything is the amount of talent the Dynamo have lost to Europe. Holden, Cameron, Clark (for a few years). Everytime we turned around, one of our CMs was leaving.

        I hope they pony up money for Barnes or Driver when their loans are done.

      • I understood he got in Kinnear’s doghouse, punctuated by a preseason red when he tackled Nick Garcia. He and Garcia had a running “thing.” Soon after the Garcia red he was gone.

        Oduro did hold out on Houston, but they signed him as cover for an injured Ching (so the money wasn’t that big a deal) and then he missed a sitter in the 2011 opener. Oduro got scapegoated for lousy forward play (Garey and Bruin were actually worse that day, they didn’t even have a sitter to miss) and dumped when Ching came back.

        DeRo was a cap clear trade to make way for what became Luis Angel Landin, possibly the worst forward to ever grace our lineup. He was so out of shape he had trouble getting up and downfield.

        Wondo is probably the least fair on my part because he wasn’t much for the A team while he was here (though he tore up the reserve league) and Weaver was coming off being a productive striker for USL Seattle and abroad.

        So when we’re like where’s the second striker to support Bruin, here’s why we’re in that spot. We have done decent at rebuilding over and over — and I agree that we have also shipped more than our share abroad, including some players like Clark who came back — but I can’t help but think that part of our probably is forward talent, particularly held up against a team like LA (Villareal, Landon, Keane, et al) whom we have to beat to win it all.

      • LA losing Magee wasn’t a management decision – it was more about doing the right thing for all parties involved. Magee made that move happen.

        “After Robbie said ‘I don’t want to play in Chicago’ I said wait a minute, I do want to play in Chicago” – paraphrased Magee quote

    • Well — if you mean judging by impact during the season he was traded, Magee is probably running a close second to DeRo’s play with DC United in 2011. Probably not the greatest acquisition in the history of the league, but close.

      Reply
  7. I think one of the best transfers of all was the quietest, Penedo to Galaxy. Sure Dempsey is a big name and was a really great coup but GK is a position LA needed bad and Penedo was one of the unsung heros of the gold cup.

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  8. After the Sounders’ acquisition of Dempsey, I think the Rapids acquisition of Gabriel Torres is the best signing of the summer.

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  9. O/T we need more social welfare and reform in this country

    more free birth control for women
    Universal education
    Universal Housing
    Universal healthcare
    reduce military spending
    elect more legitimate politicians who aren’t frauds

    Reply
  10. Dempsey is obviously a big deal.

    I like Davies in NE — they’ve needed a striker to complete that team, and he had about a dozen his last MLS stint.

    I like Penedo in LA, good GK if small and slight. For Arena to win he needs the D more airtight.

    DC picked up some interesting younger players but that’s more of a long-term thing to watch. They have stabilized somewhat but the start of the season did them in.

    At least one spot Lopez can play is CAM and Houston’s needed a good one since DeRo left. So it might be a good move if the other pieces stay in place, building for the long term. But in terms of winning now what we needed was a second striker and we didn’t get one. This season has already been an extensive exercise in plentiful midfield service not being finished, and we have middies in abundance to the point where we can push Barnes up and bring Creavalle and Driver off the bench. So short term he’s just added to a strength area without giving us someone to finish the midfield play Lopez might create. I think the idea of Cummings and Carr as our cavalry coming to save us is naive.

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  11. anyone know whatever happened to Kei Kamara moving to Norwich? I would guess a million or 2 would be a sufficient transfer fee

    Reply
    • Norwich let his loan expire without event and he returned to KC. He did MLS a solid with his performance (I think he shows that our league is as talented as tail end EPL or high Championship because he goes right in and holds his own) but they wanted goals and he scored 1 goal I can think of. They still had to fight off relegation. As well as he often played I don’t think he was what they’d hoped.

      So they signed van Wolfswinkel and Hooper instead. The latter at least is a confirmed goalscorer.

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  12. Agudelo should be at Stoke right now. If I were him I’d pay the couple hundred grand needed to move now rather than wait 5months. Then again it’s a shame he did’t get a transfer to a club in Holland or Belgium. to help develop his talent.

    Reply
  13. we need more Americans in Europe, not in MLS.

    MLS can be filled with cheaper talent from South America and Africa. Need our best players as a vanguard in Europe.

    Reply
    • I like the idea of diversification, bunch of players in many leagues. When a particular league or team gets trendy it always seemed to me like at least some of the signees just sat. EJ at Fulham and Cardiff. Shea at Stoke.

      Plus I think the MLS remains the motor for American development that separates us (and Mexico) from the rest of the continent. Quite a few foreign based were MLS products so I see it as an important machine even in our export business. And with players like Landon at the top end I think it can be an end in itself.

      Reply
    • Couldnt disagree more.. If all of our top players played here we would have a very strong league. Im all for allowing our very best USMNT players duel it out in the UCL/UEL/EPL/Bundesliga but MLS should continue working towards being the place to see the best players in concacaf

      Reply
    • Please take this attitude to Europe with those “best” players of yours, would you?
      Let the McFlurry be a McFlurry.
      The MLS is what it is. And I love it and want it to get better every week. And it is.
      True growth on the USMNT will come from the MLS youth academies, not from minutes played in Europe.

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      • Ooo man! We’re definitely past the McFlurry stage right now. We’re not haut cuture iced gelato yet, but MLS is at least Cold Stone Creamery!

      • I’d take it a slightly different way and say that as long as the academies are developing their share of players alongside traditional club/college and Bradenton — and you have this FIFA can’t sign abroad before 18 rule — it’s very important how well our domestic academies develop people. It’s hard for our players to find a way to sign abroad U-18 and so we have little other choice than to “grow our own.”

    • This never stops driving me crazy. It’s one thing for eurosnobs to ignore MLS, but to actually not wish for MLS to get better and stronger is just insane IMHO! I strongly doubt that you will find many fans in Greece, Austria, Ukraine, Switzerland etc. who say “I wish all our good players left our league”

      Reply
  14. Not that big of a deal, but it is Carlos SalcEdo at RSL, with an E, not Salcido (like the horror from the other side of the border). Also, Enzo Martinez is with the club, he came back from the loan about a month and a half ago.

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    • I agree in terms of listing it’s a fairly big name move and at minimum a trasaction to be listed. But in terms of consequence I think it’s roughly at the level of Boca to Chivas. Goodson is also O30, slow, overrated.

      Reply
      • I think Joe was highlighting that Goodson is missing from San Jose’s blurb. And as slow as he is for international play, I think he’ll perform head and shoulders better than Hernandez for San Jose.

        On another note, I think it’s sad we couldn’t keep Mario Martinez in the league. He’s a talented young player that I enjoyed seeing play. Shame Seattle couldn’t shop him to another team.

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