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Chivas USA has passed on the opportunity to acquire U.S. national team midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
Feilhaber, who signed with Major League Soccer on Friday, must go through the league's allocation order to be delegated to a team. Chivas had the top spot in that order and passed, citing team needs and high salary concerns as reasons for passing in a statement released by coach Robin Fraser.
"It was a difficult decision to pass on Benny, but we just feel that we have more needs than the one person could’ve addressed, and his salary would have inhibited our ability to make improvements that we think we need," Fraser said.
The Philadelphia Union is next in the allocation order, but multiple reports have suggested that the club is not interested in Feilhaber's services either, which would put the New England Revolution in pole position to acquire him and pair him in central midfield with Shalrie Joseph.
(UPDATE: The Union officially passed on Feilhaber to maintain its No. 2 spot in the allocation order. The Revolution used its allocation spot to acquire Feilhaber, though it's unclear whether the team will keep him or trade his rights.)
Houston, Toronto, Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle and Columbus follow the Revolution in the allocation order, respectively. By passing, Chivas remains at the top spot and will be first in line to acquire any other U.S. national team players that sign with MLS when the league's summer transfer window opens.
"Having this No. 1 spot in the allocation is definitely an asset, not only because of the player you can get but the potential moves that you can make with it," Fraser said. "So in the last 36 hours it’s been looking at every possible scenario that we thought would benefit us, and as unbelievable as it may sound, it seemed like this was the best move for the long term benefit of the club."
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What do you think of Chivas' decision? Do you see New England spending the money necessary to bring in Feilhaber? Where do you think he'll ultimately wind up?
Share your thoughts below.
Las Vegas is the perfect place for a stadium in the South West, Naturally it would have to be a retractable roof stadium but a nice 18k-22k stadium on the strip would be insane and plenty of people would want to play in America’s playground
It’s one thing that’s always annoyed me, how people seem to say that the Revs don’t have a SSS because the Krafts are cheap and don’t care about the team or whatever. (I also remember someone here last year saying basically that the Krafts were cheap, and that Brady wouldn’t re-sign with the Pats because of it – yup, he was right, that totally happened) As has been mentioned, the 2 teams with outdoor stadiums tried very hard to get new stadiums in the past 15 or so years, and neither got close. The Sox stayed put, the Pats, and the Bruins as well, built new stadiums themselves, on land adjacent to their previous stadiums.
Are the Krafts free with their money like a Mark Cuban? No, but they also built a couple of pretty successful teams in the early part of the decade. And as was also said, people always say they want a new, freespending owner who cares, and they say it like there are lots of such people out there, as if to imply the Krafts could easily sell to such a person, but just choose not to.
The Sommerville sounds good, but I’d bet there are other places they’ve investigated as well, that just haven’t gotten as much press. Some have mentioned the Wonderland dog track site, but that would not be so good. Yes, there’s a subway stop somewhat nearby, but it would be a huge pain to get in and out of there by vehicle. Yes, Fenway is not on a high way, but it’s in a city, with many more subway stops around it, people are also used to what it takes to get there, and the team has a bit more history and cache. The Revs need a place near a T stop, relatively close to route 93, and I just hope they can find one and make it work.
BigLustythongGrl = best…name…ever
Definitely walking distance but maybe not walkable to many fans? I’m not including myself in that group but I’m sure there are a number of fans/families who don’t get excited about the prospect of a walk along McGrath Highway or through an industrial park? Without the extension, the proposal is much less attractive.
Either way, they certainly wouldn’t be doing any worse than the status quo.