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Red Bulls not Welcome to Honduran forward

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                                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

The Red Bulls’ reported plans for a trial for Honduran Under-23 forward George Welcome may be an exercise in futility because they aren’t the first MLS team to express interest in the Olympic Qualifying star.

The New England Revolution hold the first MLS discovery option on Welcome, having filed a discovery claim on Welcome during the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament back in March, a source with knowledge of the claim told SBI on Thursday. That means the Revs have first crack at signing Welcome, and it means the Red Bulls could be headed toward another Lider Marmol situation if it brings Welcome in for a look.

Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio told reporters earlier in the week that there was no plan for a trial at the moment, with a potential trial delayed by Welcome’s decision to return to Honduras to attempt to talk his way onto the Honduran Olympic team, which he was surprisingly left off of.

SBI first mentioned New England’s interest in Welcome back in May after he completed a training stint with the Revs, but no progress had been made on that front in recent months. Now with the Red Bulls expressing interest in the forward who scored the game-winning goal to beat the United States in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament final, the Revs will be in the driver’s seat with regards to any team wanting to sign Welcome.

That includes the Red Bulls, which look to be late to the party on a potential signing yet again.

Comments

  1. This should be pretty simple stuff. You have an interest in a player, you check with the league, to see if anyone has a claim in on him. If someone does, you check with that team, and find out what they’d want in exchange for the claim if you decide you want the player. If the demand is reasonable, you can proceed with the trial. If not, don’t waste any more time. can’t we have a little professionalism at the top of our organization. too much to ask, I know.

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  2. Ronaldo would be an allocation im sure.. 😉

    and its not even close to illegal.. MLS is basically one company with rules.. the usl doesnt have to honor the discovery procces 😉

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  3. The guy isnt any good people. Outside his out of nowhere goal aginst the US in Olympic Quals he was crap. There is reason he was left off the side.

    Can our people just please pursue ONLY capable and talented players, we have enough deadweight as it is.

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  4. This discovery crap is bull..they need to change it or get rid of it all together. Players who are already known quantities shouldn’t be “discoveries”

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  5. @Posted by: Scott A | July 10, 2008 at 04:33 PM

    C’mon it’s probably like a whole page with 3 or 4 lines to fill out that even has to be faxed. That’s tough stuff. /sarc

    @Posted by: RK | July 10, 2008 at 04:51 PM

    In the meantime perhaps you could demand a front office that actually knows the rules and how to use even ones as ridiculous as the discovery rule to their advantage. Guessing that would be faster and easier than waiting the 2 years until this part of the CBA is up for renegotiation.

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  6. Someone really needs to get fifa to shoot down some of these absolutely retarded rules that MLS has created. This discovery claim rule seems so illegal its not even funny.

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  7. For a second I thought you were going to say Chicago had first crack at him!

    Remind me again why JCO is considered a good coach?

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  8. I’ve got a theory on how discovery should work. A team discovers that they like a player’s abilities. Then its representatives discover that he might be available. Then they discover whether or not he’ll sign a contract with them and whether or not they can afford the transfer fee. And if they take too long doing this, then some other team discovers that and gets the player instead.

    Crazy, I know.

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  9. “Discovering” a player on a national u23 team is as ridiculous as Columbus “discovering” a continent filled with millions of people. Absurd.

    Equal absurd is that the revs had him in in May, took a pass yet somehow retain his rights. It should be a limited window.

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  10. Okay, I’ll defend MLS against a lot of accusations, but the discovery system is indefensible. Combine that with the asinine system of allocating (some) returning national team players, and you’ve got a league that seems determined to keep talented players coming to the MLS from abroad. The McBride nonsense makes me mad enough to spit–and lord knows I’m not a Fire fan–and this is just more nonsensical amateurishness from the league.

    I suppose it’s possible that JCO is a world-class idiot and therefore didn’t check to see whether anybody had filed a claim on Welcome. But my guess is that some bureaucratic silliness at MLS makes it difficult to find out about discovery claims until a team actually tries to sign a player.

    Maddening.

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  11. The discovery rule is really bad. A player not associated in anyway with a team should have the freedom to sign with whoever he pleases. Instead a team can file a claim on a paper who (the player)may not even be aware of having an interest in him and the player has no interest in that team claim him. Worst of all there is no compensation for the player. Even if a player has been on trial with a team its not like they have put $ in to developing the guy. Now they can sit back and demand $ or a trade. If NYRB don’t want to play this game guess what the player claim ends up with nothing all b/c a team he has no contractual associations with has fantom claim on him. Brilliant!

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  12. I’m just happy to read some Red Bulls news. I was beginning to feel a little starved… and I hate having to go to Big Apple Soccer for the scoop!

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  13. Does a player have to actually be physically present at a team’s facilities or does the player need to have an actual interest in a team in order for a team to file a discovery claim? If no, might was well file a few now for the rights to Henry, Eto’o, Messi, Drogba, Kalou, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Sergio Ague…

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  14. Does jeff agoof actually do anything in that front office?

    Is it too hard for agoof to check if there’s a discovery filed on him?

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  15. Discovery option = dumbest idea ever

    Please do away with this horrible rule. It hurts the players the most. So please lets get rid of this ASAP.

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  16. Ives – if something like the discovery claim or allocation rules were to be changed, when and where would it happen? What’s the process? Or is it one of those secretive MLS things that no one gets to see happen?

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  17. This shouldnt be hard for the Red Bulls to sign He already tried out with New England and they didnt want him, Poor kid is going through alot scored the winning goal for Honduras to make them olympic qualifying champs and was dropped from the team because he went on trail for a team in france hopefully his luck changes soon

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  18. To be fair, if the Revs passed on him, it’s excusable to think that RBNY thought they hadn’t filed on him. Then, when they did find out, that ended the trial posibility.

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