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Kassel and Agoos discuss the Kassel contract situation

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Days after failing to come to a contract agreement with the Red Bulls to make him the team’s first academy product to graduate to the first team, Matt Kassel was at Red Bulls training once again. There was no animosity from Kassel, who revealed that the team did in fact offer him a developmental contract, which he and his family rejected.

"They offered a developmental contract and that’s not something we’re interested in," Kassel said. "I’m not accepting a developmental contract at the moment."

"My father and Agoos met and they had a meeting about contracts and that’s what came out of it," Kassel said. "From what I understand the Red Bulls didn’t want to offer me Generation adidas right now but the league wanted to."

Red Bulls technical director Jeff Agoos would not confirm that the club offered Kassel a developmental contract, but offered his explanation for why the club chose not to offer Kassel a Generation adidas contract.

"We think there needs to be more development but we think he has a very bright future with this club," Agoos said. "We think Matt is an exceptional player and person and this allows us to continue his development with the first team as well as assess him in the college environment and I think it’s more a question of when rather than if with Matt."

Kassel did not show any signs of being upset with the situation and plans to continue training with the club. He expects to keep training with the first team until it is time for him to head for the University of Maryland in the late summer.

"It’s a great club, I love being here and I’m going to continue being here every day," Kassel said of the Red Bulls. "I’m going to continue to work hard, improve day in and day out until I know what I want to do.

"Right now I plan on attending the University of Maryland for the first year," Kassel said. "At the end of the day I’ll see where my options lead. I’m not going to guarantee where I’ll wind up.

"If I’m here or somewhere else, I’m not going to say anything about that," Kassel said. "Just because I didn’t get offered a Generation adidas right now doesn’t mean I won’t get offered it later on."

Agoos cited the club’s desire not to rush Kassel along despite his status as the best player in the Red Bulls Academy.

"We feel that, with a Generation adidas contract and being the first homegrown player and every thing that’s involved with that, we wanted to make sure that Matt had all the tools and every advantage he could before he steps into that position," Agoos said.

"It’s certainly a contract that on our end we need to make sure it’s handled the right way," Agoos said. "We want to make sure Matt is ready to take that next step and we just think he needs a little more time."

Agoos downplayed the possibility of the club coming back with a Generation adidas offer before Kassel goes to Maryland.

"I don’t think the progress that Matt needs to make is something that will happen in two months," Agoos said. "But is it something that happens by the time he finishes his first year in college? Possibly."

Kassel will now focus on training with the Red Bulls and finishing high school before embarking on his college career.

"I’m going to enjoy myself both ways," Kassel said. "I chose Maryland for a reason. It’s a great school, great place and great soccer atmosphere for me. I feel that I can continue to develop there, get games and get some minutes there.

"It’s not a downfall for me because I’m going to keep training with the first team guys here all the way until I go to college," Kassel said.

So what’s my take? I wrote a piece this morning laying out why the club passed on signing Kassel now and while I can understand the Red Bulls being prudent, I probably would have signed Kassel if I were in charge. As it stands, the Red Bulls feel Kassel still has some growing to do as a player and isn’t yet a can’t miss prospect.

What I did find interesting was Agoos’ unwillingness to admit that the club actually offered Kassel a developmental contract. That’s probably because that bit of information doesn’t quite go with the club’s "We didn’t think he was ready to make the jump just yet" explanation.

Nobody should feel bad for Kassel though. He has kept his professional freedom intact and could theoretically head to Europe next winter if he impresses scouts this fall in college. Red Bulls fans are already dreading another Gabriel Ferrari situation, and while that is a possibility, the sense I get from Kassel is that he does want to wind up with the Red Bulls. He isn’t going to come out and say that publicly because that really doesn’t help his bargaining position but I’m sure he can look at the success Michael Bradley is enjoying in Europe now after an apprenticeship with the MetroStars as a template for how his career could go if he starts out with the Red Bulls.

So yes, the Red Bulls wouldn’t have been wrong to sign Kassel with the Generation adidas contract, but I also don’t think it’s the end of the world that they didn’t, which some Red Bulls fans clearly seem to think.

Comments

  1. “by the time you get out, you’re 22 or so.”

    Umm, no, you can leave any time you want. You can play in college for one year and then go pro–Lee Nguyen did.

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  2. don’t waste time in college, my friend. if you want to be a pro, the only way to go about it is to play play play. one of the biggest roadblocks in american soccer is the college game. a real waste of time during a player’s developmental years. by the time you get out, you’re 22 or so. european players at 22 already have a few years experience by then.

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  3. Kassel will likely do one year and move on, perhaps to the Netherlands ala Robbie Rogers (before Robbie came back to MLS). It will likely be very hard for MLS to offer him a starting salary comparable to the $400k plus he’ll receive in Holland (its more in dollars now that the exchange rate has moved), even if he would get GA status here.

    Agoos’ comments make no sense to me. If he believes all of the positive things he said, why would he low ball Kassel with a developmental contract, especially when he can pay Matt a real salary outside of the salary cap (or even have the league pay)? The comments are very contrived and I don’t think anyone is going to fall for it in this region.

    The team missed a golden opportunity to deepen their roots in this market. I agree wholeheartedly with Onionsack’s rants that this would have inspired aspiring soccer players here to sign up with the Red Bulls and have a viable pathway to the pros, just like Jorge Flores inspired kids in SoCal when he won Sueno MLS and made it onto Chivas USA’s 28-man roster. For years now the best kids in this market have looked abroad to go pro. Dare I say Giuseppe Rossi. That kind of kid with a Euro passport could have looked at Kassel getting to the Red Bulls 28-man roster and said, “hey, its worth it for me to be in their academy because its the simplest, most straighforward way to the pros.”

    We’re only two games into the season and I’ve lost faith in Osorio/Agoos. Too many disappointments between the lack of player signings and giving away Quaranta and Doe for nothing and Kovalenko, a fan favorite, for peanuts.

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  4. Considering the lack of quality in college soccer I doubt Kassel will actually development further playing at Maryland. I mean thats partly why they developed the youth academy system in the first place. If he can keep practicing with NYRB while in college then maybe he can keep developing. But otherwise you are better off getting out of there after a year or two or just not bother with that route at all. The college game just doesn’t ready players to be professionals. As the level of play has risen in MLS this gap has become more and more apparent.

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  5. Bits – Good post, especially point #5. I used to think it was a one-way street, and that MLS clubs had no motivation to develop players from within; now it seems like there’s little motivation for the player to develop for their MLS team, either.

    (by saying “motivation,” I’m being relative)

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  6. I can’t say if nyrb blew it – althought they surely missed a nice marketing opp as someone pointed out above – but I can say this: from what I’ve read these GA contracts are REALLY good deals for the kids, and if I was this kids dad, and NYRB essentially blocked the leagues offer of a GA for my son, this would be the last organization I’d want to deal with.

    Obviously you spoke to him Ives and we didn’t, but when I read those comments, they don’t sound like someone who really wants to play here. He sounds like he is playing the field.

    Good for him. For a young kid, he seems to have a very mature view of the essential nature of this thing -this is a cut-throat business (which is almost a redundant expression) and he needs to get what he can out of it and take care of himself. Getting bitter or having an attitude can only hurt him, since training w the senior team is a wonderful opportunity for his career and he should not do anything to mess that up. But I suspect (and recommend) he gets what he can out of this team and then take it to the marketplace and get the best deal he can.

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  7. I just wrote Jeff ‘Retart’ Agoos an email saying my take on the whole situation saying how terrible it is to let Matt Kassel leave us and not offering him a Generation Adidas contract. I think all of you guys should write an email to Jeff as well saying how terrible his move was on Kassel. His email is jeff.agoos@newyorkredbulls.com

    P.S. I also added in the email that he should be fired 🙂

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  8. Wow – Agoos should never have spoken to you Ives. His reasoning is flawed. You brought up some great points. Summarizing.

    1.) By offering a developmental roster deal, NYRB felt as the he was ready enough to earn a spot. **This is a no brainer that Kassel would not accept a developmental slot. He would have been a fool to. The FO HAD to know this so then why even offer a developmental roster slot in the first place?

    2.) Someone correctly pointed out that MLS Rules change ALL THE TIME. Furthermore, the new CBA will be negotiated after the 2009 season (before the 3 years are up) and you can sure as hell bet that the same rules now won’t be implemented.

    3.) Unless the rules change (see above), then NYRB will not have dibs on Kassel after he enrolls at Maryland. GA players are randomly placed in the draft and are selected according to their draft position. Was it worth to lose this prospect?

    4.) I will give Jeff the benefit of the doubt in that he didn’t say he would be ready (for certain) after year one in college, but as someone stated, 3 months more (after the college season) should not benefit more for Kassel than consistent trainings with an MLS team with reserve games.

    5.) A local player for his hometown team does do wonders for the youth academy. It gives the players below him a reason to work that much harder. NYRB had a chance to be a pioneer in youth development.

    Perhaps the FO staff has been told to win now or they are can and thus aren’t focused on “wasting” a roster spot on potential?

    Feel free to add to this list on how this isn’t the right move. I also suggest countering this posting with arguments that this was a smart move.

    I’ll end by saying I have not seen him play to know whether he could help the team now or later. In the end though it seems like this was not a smart decision and Agoos definitely did not give sound/logical reasons for the move.

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  9. I have had the pleasure of seeing him play, both in high school and at the academy level and I’m not alone when I say he is something special. If he weren’t, he would not have been considered for a GA contract and would have not been regarded as one of the top recruits in the country or be going to UMD on a scholarship, etc, etc. If anyone actually googled his name and saw some of his accomplishments, they would be quite amazed. He alone attracted approximatedly 1800 fans at a high school championship game, so when I say RB blew a marketing opportunity, that’s exactly what they did.

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  10. Two thoughts: eighteen roster spots isn’t enough, and developmental contracts must only pay peanuts. And why only one Generation Adidas contract per three years?

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  11. Don’t worry JCO is scouting 2 venezuelans, 3 peruvians, a ukranian, a brazlian, and 1 mongol. He is not making names available yet, but says he is very close to signing a left footed player, who can ride horseback and terrorize a small village.

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  12. For all of you knocking RBNY for not signing this kid, I have one question for you:

    Have any of you actually seen him play?

    Followers of MLS really need to start basing their opinions of teams and players based on what they’ve seen, rather than what they read in the media.

    I’m neutral. I haven’t seen the kid play. For all I know he could be a superstar or a turd. Or quite average.

    It seems that after Kassel emerged–in the media, of course–as a possible youth system success, everyone got all excited and ASSUMED that he’s something special.

    Now that he’s not being given a deal people are up in arms without really knowing anything about him.

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  13. Just think what this says about the state of player development. A kid works his way up to being the most highly regarded recruit at a club who is really trying to emphasize youth development. He gets passed on by Red Bulls because a developmental contract is so unprofitable it makes more sense to go to college to improve your soccer career than actually playing US professional soccer.

    For all those people out there who thought that the road to US player development was through youth teams, this should be a clear sign that without changes in the salary cap young US talent will not play in MLS.

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  14. This is going to bite NYRB in the butt. I do not know how they manage to screw it up when it comes to talent they already have everytime? They are probably waiting for the next Messi who has to be out there because NYC is the greatest city in the world so everything there must be better.

    I do not think “organization” is the right word for what they have there. May cluster would fit better.

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  15. Get Paid SON! Don’t accept less than what you deserve. These guys are loaded, move on if they aren’t showing how important you are. It’s already a sign that there will be problems in the future. They’ll be terrible about letting you go to clubs that you want and they won’t pay you well enough. Maryland is your best option, the program is top notch. Hold out, don’t settle!

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  16. This could very, very easily become a win/win.

    The club obviously thinks he cannot help them anytime soon on the pitch, hence why they only offered a developmental contract. It sucks that there is no way through MLS that the Red Bulls can guarantee he signs with them in the future, but at this point in time it honestly seems like the current situation might end up being the best for both sides here.

    The one thing I do agree on is with whoever mentioned the special treatment given to teams in this league, contract-wise. It would have been nice to see the league step in here and make some kind of exception to their rules. It would certainly be a FAR smaller exception than other teams get from the damn league.

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  17. The only thing this sheds light on is what a shambles the FO must be in currently. Osorio, or whoever is actually calling the shots, is too stuck on players he can’t have, and not decisive enough on players actually available to him.

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  18. Yeah Danny I agree, generation adidas it up, if one of those guys does turn out big before 3 years pass who cares, give em a senior contract, if they are that exciting of a player it’d be worth the senior spot, it’s not like we don’t have guys we could easily cut. There are at least a handful on our senior roster that may be “serviceable” backups, but if Johnny X looked that good I think it’d be a no brainer to give him a senior contract having a lot of upside and get rid of someone like (not to hate) leitch who may not be bad but doesn’t really have anymore upside, he is what he is and thats a bench player

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  19. Why exactly are we giving Agoos paychecks? He doesn’t seem to do much of anything useful, his job description could be “come up with excuses for why we aren’t doing anything positive as a club”. And how long is the college season? 3 months plus depending on post-season? If that makes him into a stud but 2 months with the Red Bulls won’t, that doesn’t exactly say alot for their views of their own training regimen. I agree with Ives that this isn’t the end of the world, but seems silly, do it like Euro clubs (I am NOT a euro-snob lol) and keep him around to train and get his occasional minutes here and there til he is ready. Now I feel like everyone in our supposedly good youth program are gonna say screw this, they didn’t even give Kassel a contract, I might as well start looking elsewhere as well

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  20. Unreal MLS wanted to offer him Generation Adidas but Red Bulls didn’t.

    What stud do they have in the pipeline? We haven’t heard a damn t hing about Exauntus or Hines lately, are they doing that well?

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