George John has moved a big step closer to a move to the English Premier League after Major League Soccer and Blackburn agreed on the fee for the standout centerback.
Here is my Fox Soccer story on the latest development's in Blackburn's move for John, who is on his way to Greece to secure his passport, which will help facilitate his transfer.
What do you think of these developments? Excited to see John make such a big move? Worried a John transfer will doom FC Dallas' chances this season?
Share your thoughts below.
rovers blow
Okay Mr.Soccer Mom…. You only wish you his mother….
They did fire Bob.
None of the upcoming friendlies will cap tie John to the US.
And it seems to me, it might be better for John to stay with Blackburn and soldify a place if he can get one.
Still, at the very least, I would expect JK, if he agrees with most of you on this site, to contact John and let him know he is in the US’ plans.
My guess would be John is leaning towards the US. If he is the real deal, he has a great shot at the 2014 World Cup. The US will probably have an easier path there than Greece.
For Greece, at 24 John, is pretty much a middle aged man and if they don’t call him up this September for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, then I would say they are not that serious about him.
Of course, if, over the next two years, he becomes the new version of John Terry in his prime, then all bets are off.
I sound exactly like me.
You are probably correct but all I know is I feel my net financial worth today is half of what it was then and it wasn’t great to start with.
And I’ll bet I’m not alone in feeling that way.
If this were a traditional transfer between Blackburn and another English club typically his agent would get 10% of the fee, John would get 10% and the club would get the rest. So John could see around $400,000 grand immediately.
However, I don’t know if MLS operates differently. Maybe they keep his 10% as a “facilitators fee”.
I remember before selling him to Fulham for $4 million, MLS rejected a $1.5 million offer for him from Charlton Athletic, condemning Deuce to another season with New England. The league’s argument was that they wanted Clint “to get what he’s worth,” which is ironic as he was earning $80,000 per year at the time. He would have made that on one month at Charlton.
But I suppose that worked out in the end.
Nicely said, but you are not George’s mom. Change your name because you really do not sound like me.
very good for him! i agree, this guy absolutely deserves a chance with the USMNT. his first chance got ruined by injury, so lets get him called up again.
while I agree with you statement, it’s ridiculous to think the dollar has doubled since 2007. $2M in 2007 is probably right about $2M in 2011.
MLS cannot force the sale of a player without the club consenting. Specially now since the club gets the bigger cut of the transfer fee, wasn’t always that way.
Fire Bob? Why on earth would we want to do that? I do agree however that we should get John in the USMNT mix ASAP though… 😛
One defensive lapse? did you watch the game? They turned the ball ove a number of times and had little control out of the back. Hernandez was off that night as well and that does not happen to often.
FCD is good because of their defensive organization and they were anything but organized on Saturday. Some of that is because John was out and Lloyd played out of position. With John going to England they will have to gel quickly to stay in the hunt for three trophies.
2 defenders have already been brought in. Jeremy Hall, who played pretty well for having not even practiced with team yet. The other fella is a loan from an NASL team, can’t recall name but he was an MLS guy before falling to a couple injuries and working his way back thru NASL.
Why hasn’t he been capped yet????
FIRE BOB BRADLEY!!!!
Everyone always talks about aging Euro stars. So you dont want to sign Henry,Becks,Keane,Marquez? All of these aging Euro stars had offers to stay in Europe,MLS cant sign them then? MLS needs these stars, they all still have a couple of quality years left and are all welcomed additions to the league and they put butts in the seats = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
So long as John plays well, even if Blackburn drops, someone else in the EPL will want to pick him up for next season.
He hasn’t had to wait for a call up. He’s been called up, but had to decline because of an injury.
The Gold Cup wasn’t a snub. Nobody who was called up for that tournament was making a first appearance for the USMNT.
Hopefully he doesn’t end up in Europe going from loan to loan like Adu, Johnson, and Jozy did/are.
This is assuming that MLS teams will replace a player with an academy player and not just sign a foreign player. There’s no guarantee that teams will always replace a player that leaves with an academy player even when the academies get more established. That guarantee doesn’t even exist in Europe.
Blackburn must have been impressed by his nose for goal after they saw last year’s MLS Cup Final.
To yourself and boosted. I understand the money aspect of it. Personally, I never knock a player who goes for a bigger payday (within reason), however, i think its possible to get a bigger payday AND walk into a better situation than Blackburn.
My point is this. How many Yanks have we seen who have walked into a struggling EPL side (Gooch at Newcastle, Feilhaber at Derby) and have seen their own careers derail or stall. Or someone like Adu, whose brought in by one manager, then the manager is fired and the player loses his place and subsequently his career is derailed.
That’s what I’m afraid of for John. That he’ll be on a poor side that will be struggling for the entire season, and fan, media and management pressure will force them to bench John or not play him at all. Then his career will be derailed before it has a chance to take off. What’s more important than the league they play in or a quick payday is playing time. If you play, you develop, if you develop you are likely to earn that big payday regardless.
No more Aging Euro stars. Only young talent!!!
Personally I love them, I always can’t wait for Fifa to come out to see how the rising stars on MLS improve on the game and how players talents are increased on the game.
More to your question I think that the team ratings are pretty accurate, with maybe a little padding for some popular but bad teams on the game. Like you said with the research they put in the game they gotta be pretty accurate.
A funny thing about the game is that some of the young players highly rated on the game even if you never have heard of them end up going to strong teams, an example being Lukaku to Chelsea. So the rankings can’t be too far off with the way the high rated players move.
Agudelo has boat loads of talent, but for me the one thing he is terrible at is positioning. He has all the moves but he just is never in the right spot.
In my opinion give him a couple seasons in MLS and he will lead the league in goals once Henry helps him learn where he should position himself in the attack.
If he does go over seas early for his sake I hope it is the Eredivisie, they seem to specialize in finishing incomplete players and making them world class talent.
+1.
MLS should always keep the schedule that is currently in place
In my opinion losing talent is hardly a big deal or a bad thing. Losing talent just makes way for the up and coming talent and it keeps our talent pool ever expanding.
The more MLS loses the better it is for the national team and MLS because more young academy players and younger kids can replace the players who go over sees.
This is great for MLS growth.
Gotta agree with this sentiment.
Yeah at the very least he can just put him on the initial call up roster (and remove him after the fact if necessary), or just give him a phone call to let him know that he is wants to call him up but that he wants him to get situated with his new club.
+1 roach is right
Just 42K as of May 1st, according to the players union:
http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/May%201,%202011%20Salary%20Information%20-%20By%20Club.pdf
Yes Seattle had like 9 shots on Saturday, one defensive lapse and a goal scored.
Pretty weak holding Seattle to 9 shots only 2 SOG.
“Once the league is deemed strong enough I’m sure the switch will be made.”
You are? Why?
Or maybe the question is, how strong is “strong enough”? Because you’re going to be fighting the weather AND going head to head with multiple more popular sports/leagues (instead of just one).
Even wth continued strong growth, when will it ever make sense for soccer in North America to go against the grain in those 2 different ways, just for the sake of matching a European schedule?
+1
If the Eredivisie can withstand poaching all their talent, I think the MLS will (hopefully) withstand it as well.
New team or not, I hope Klinsmann includes him in the Belgium friendly.
I used to think Agudelo wasnt that good because of the fact he was starting…but then i also noticed the coach is wack. Now that doesnt mean Agudelo IS that special…but you certaintly cant hate on him for not playing as..well..the coach is wack
Nobody wants to buy the Galaxy players cuz all of there best players are 2 old. Gonzo is the only one I could think off that can choose whatever league he wants to join. Gonzo a younger version of John. Maybe better
Agudelo is a starting type forward in the MLS the only reason that he’s not is because Backe is a moron. The guy has 5 goals as a third striker. That’s pretty good. 3 of them as a sub. I don’t get sitting Agudelo on the bench. When you move Richards up from wing to forward is just stupid cuz your hurting your midfield by moving Richards up. I hate Backe. Ruin my all-star game and now killing Agudelo…not to mention the Red Bulls.
Your right..Im just pointing out that MLS did not spend any money to promote John, they didnt spend any effort to select him as as an all start after getting he got snubbed by fans 2years in a row. They didnt seem to care that the #1 rated defender on their new precious castrol was one of the lowest paid players on his team and in the league.
So they deserved what was offered. Thats it. Now if players get a % of the transfer then its a different matter all together but do we know for sure that is the case?
All im saying if they were to blow this deal for John by being greedy it would have shamed the league severely.
Speaking as a USMNT fan, and frankly from John’s perspective, what matters is that John gets playing time and establishes himself.
It may not be easy because you are right, I would have wanted a better ,club situation for him, though the presence of Ryan Nelsen may be a big help.
Still if he gets PT, the Championship is still a higher level than MLS and probably higher than most leagues in Europe.
And the money is very good. And if they go down, chances are, John will be on the lower end of their pay scale so he likely be kept on. And of course if he does very well, he will be a very valuable commodity.
So,as long as he does well quickly this move would seem to have more pluses than minuses for him and USMNT fans.
Not so much for Dallas fans.
Hypocrisy? MLS is a business.
They’d be crazy and negligent if they did not ask for as much as they can get.
John’s salary is irrelevant.MLs are doinghim a favor by getting him a hefty raise.
He’s a commodity, a piece of meat like a race horse which are sometimes bought for a song and sold for millions. Supply and demand. Good cheap centerhalves are priceless.
If he turns out to be as a good as you seem to think he will, Blackburn are getting him cheap (though at 24 he is old by their standards). It would be interesting to see if MLS has a sell-on clause.
Is MLS forcing Dallas to sell him at this bad point in time?
If not and this sale screws them up, you could argue it’s their own fault.