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Movsisyan signs pre-contract with Randers, will leave RSL after season

MovsisyanRanders

Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan has signed a pre-contract with Danish club Randers, meaning he will leave MLS after the current season to join Randers on January 1, 2010. Movsisyan is in the final year of his MLS contract and is allowed to sign with a new club six months before his current contract expires.

A first-round pick in 2006 by Kansas City, Movsisyan has chosen to play out the final year of his initial four-year MLS contract, which means he will be able to leave Real Salt Lake on a free transfer. Patrick McCabe, Movsisyan's agent, confirmed the deal to SBI and revealed that Randers had approached RSL about a transfer fee to acquire Movsisyan during the summer but were turned down.

Movsisyan helped carry RSL to the MLS playoffs last season, but is enduring his ups and downs this season, managing four goals and two assists for Real Salt Lake. He has managed 16 goals and three assists over the course of four seasons.

Movsisyan's departure comes after a winter that saw Real Salt Lake lock up several other key players to new contracts, including Javier Morales, Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert. Movsisyan is set to make $70,582.50 this season with Real Salt Lake.

What do you think of Movsisyan departing MLS? Disappointed? Surprised? Think he's making a mistake or do you see him thriving in Europe?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Would you be less disappointed if he had moved to Rangers in Scotland and not Randers in Denmark ??…

    Randers is of course not Rangers, but the fact is still that the Danish league is better than the Scottish PL and export much more players to the top 4 leagues of Europe, so it very much attract young talented players from all over the World… also fairly young German and Dutch players. It’s also not by chance that Feilhaber chose a Danish club to get his career back on track.

    MLS has improved and is now probably at around the same level as the Swedish league, also when you look at the average wages. So it’s not that bad… but then the Danish league has improved very much financially the past 3-4 years and has never been better than it is right now, so it’s a level above Sweden in the Europa cups and seem to be moving very close to the level of the Dutch league.

    .

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  2. My guess is he will not like playing in Europe, come back to the Dynamo as a “Discoveery Signing” and score 58 goals in a season.

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  3. As a huge RSL fan and supporter, this is embarrassing. Of course Movsisyan is not a star but he definitely has that potential and he is still only 21 years old. RSL and the MLS as a whole needs to pay these budding stars enough to keep them here at least until they have clearly outperformed the league. Losing a guy like this to a mediocre club from Denmark is embarrassing and not a good sign for MLS.

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  4. Gang,

    I’m tired of this debate:

    “You know what would make MLS better?! If we paid everyone ten times more!!”

    Yes, that is true. But the reason why MLS has a salary cap of $3 Million is that the REVENUE only allows that (actually the revenue allows less given that most teams lose money).

    Denmark is a small country with a mediocre league. However, it can afford to pay higher salaries because THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY WATCH THE SPORT!

    We have this misconception that if we only improved the talent level in MLS, then more people would watch. This isn’t true. The 80% of americans whom wouldn’t be caught dead watching this sport don’t care if MLS (or the men’s national team) are good or bad. They just don’t care about the sport.

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  5. Maybe MLS needs to consider selling more players. In Football, that is where the money really is.

    MLS is trying to get a transfer fee now? Maybe they need to change their thinking. How many free transfers have there been in the last 5 years. What was the revenue loss for those?

    Brazil has a strong league, but understands that their primary business is to develop and sell players. Player development is where the money is in this sport.

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  6. he went to pasadena community college and got drafted thru there.

    when i heard that news i was shocked cuz i went to PCC as well and their soccer team was shite when i walked on.

    he mustve been something amazing to get attentions

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  7. For those saying he could play for Azerbaijan – WOW, I guess international relations of the last 20 years are not the specialty of some! He could more easily play for Brazil (or any other country on the planet) than Azerbaijan!

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  8. Yura is green, but will turn into a decent player, he makes alot of poor shots, and gets nervous in front of the goal. Findley is a much better potential player with speed. I don’t mind Yura going to europe, but what mediocre talent do they get to replace him? Also, money aside, I don’t know that the visibility is any better in Denmark than the MLS. Alot of euro leagues are looking at the MLS for deals, and it seems that with another year or two, that Yura might be able to move to a better league and have more long term earning power and a better club. Not sure what the strategy of letting Escalada go was, but it seems that Garth and Jason are fumbling.

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  9. The Danish league may not have better talent, but they pay better than MLS. Then again, virtually any respectable sports league in existance anywhere in the world pays better than MLS.

    Posted by: Richard

    Richard- you are oh so right it needs to be repeated again and again.

    It was for the above mentioned reasons I was surprised Seattle got Montero because the pay in Columbia is better with the big clubs- let alone Denmark.

    I don’t think many peole out in U.S. Soccer land know it is better to be a squad player-not a star-finacially in Norway’s 2nd division then be a semi to regular starter in MLS in terms of money. Frankly, I am amazed at how the level of play has improved in MLS considering they throw nickels around like they are man hole covers. (not to mention now they don’t spend a dime on youth/reserve development)

    And they wonder why we, the USA, depend on soccer mom’s in German made SUV’s for our player pool.

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  10. Cap him before Armenia does!!

    worth repeating because I believe this guy is going to develop into a mid level european gem.

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