By CAITLIN MURRAY
Obafemi Martins is staying put in Seattle.
The Nigerian forward who has enjoyed a breakout year with the Seattle Sounders signed a multiyear contract extension to stay with the MLS Supporter’s Shield-winning team, the Sounders announced Tuesday.
As usual, terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Martins was clear about his plans, telling the Seattle Times: “I hope to play here for at least three years, as the contract says.”
Reports indicate the contract, worth more than $3 million per year, is for two years with a third-year option.
For Martins, who turned 30 also Tuesday, 2014 has been one of his most successful years to date. He joined the Sounders in 2013, but has been on fire during this season, recording a club-record 17 goals and 13 assists.
Here are some other Major League Soccer notes from Tuesday evening:
TORRES COULD HEAD TO CHIVAS IN MEXICO
Once it was clear Chivas USA would not see another year in MLS, there was one player everyone seemed to wonder about: Erick “Cubo” Torres.
The young Mexican international’s rise was perhaps the bright spot in a dismal year for The Goats, with his flashy goals and first call-ups to El Tri. But, if the Chivas organization has any say, he may not be sticking around in MLS.
Speaking to Goal Mexico, Chivas owner Jorge Vergara said Tuesday that the hope is for Torres to stick with the Chivas franchise, moving to the first team in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“I have not talked to them yet,” Vergara said of MLS, “but we are working on that for next season.”
Vergara’s comments come one day after MLS Commissioner Don Garber told reporters that the league was “in discussions with Erick and his representatives about signing him to a long-term contract that will keep him in MLS.”
Garber had hinted Torres may not be included in a dispersal draft to transfer remaining under-contract Chivas USA players to other MLS teams.
HENRY BACK TO FULL TRAINING, “LOOKS GOOD”
Just two days after missing a road game in Kansas City, Thierry Henry is looking fit enough to rejoin the New York Red Bulls.
Henry had inflammation in both Achilles tendons, but participated in training Tuesday without obvious signs of difficulty. Coach Mike Petke was optimistic, telling reporters: “We’ll know more how he responds after practice, but he looks good.”
There’s little doubt that the Red Bulls will need Henry, 37, as they begin their postseason against Sporting Kansas City on Thursday. But it’s unclear whether the Frenchman is fit enough to go the full 90 minutes after first struggling with the foot injuries a week and a half ago.
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What do you think of Martins staying with the Sounders? Where should Torres end up? Can the Red Bulls advance in the playoffs without significant minutes from Henry?
Share your thoughts below.
We need to keep him in MLS, great young talent with huge potential. Besides a good player (imagine him on a team with good service) who does a crazy robot celebration after scoring, he’s a potential star within the Mexican national team. It could open some doors for young talent south of our border to look at MLS instead of Liga MX.
Young players who need playing time to develop – I agree. However, the top 10% makes more money in Miga MX. The top 1% make more in MLS because there is a bigger range. That needs to change to increase depth in the starting 11.
One thing is for sure.
Many guys will whine that the quality of MLS isn’t good, leading to lack of support, leading to MLS trying to keep players anyway they can to avoid the lack of quality, leading to more whining about the way they do it,
I can’t figure Henry out. This is a contract year Henry.
Cubo will have to through the Garber Magical Allocation Machine.
You mean the magic 8-ball that has two possible responses: “LA Galaxy” or “Seattle Sounders”.
I just shook it…yup, Cubo’s going to the LA Galaxy. I’m shocked.
Yeah, if he stays in MLS, I get the vibe he will step in as a replacement for LD on a DP contract. Great marketing opportunity with a young, rising Mexican international with star quality in a city with a large Mexican-American demographic.
Because in MLS, marketing trumps transparency and rules.
If you don’t think that’s true of every top league in the world, you are being naive. Just another Carlos Tevez.
I cannot believe that secret committees decide which team in the BPL, or Serie A, or La Liga gets to sign certain players. Do any of those leagues operate under a system in which normal rules are suspended when “in the judgment of the league” it is appropriate to do so?
No league has “normal rules”. They have practices that uniformly benefit the richest teams and are modified as needed. Same pig, different lipstick.
In Germany, Bayern bullies any team with a decent German player into “pre-transferring” them well before the season is finished (Ballack, Goetze, Neuer) etc., seriously undermining the competetive credibility of the league in a way that would never be tolerated elsewhere.
In Spain, Barcelona is being allowed to pick and choose when they’d like to have their transfer ban. “Just tell us when you’ve got what you need”. Would this consideration be afforded to Xerez?
Serie A? Transparency is nonexistent. If Berlusconi wants it, it happens.
EPL? See the Tevez/Mascherano case. They were allowed to stay in spite of the shady transfer because ManU and Liverpool wanted them.
Sure it’s disgusting, but at least in MLS, the practice is done with the awareness and (not always unanimous) approval of member teams, as being for the greater good. One of a few reasons middle market MLS teams have a much better life than those in Europe
Somebody needs to fix that 8-ball. The results are already getting old.
I asked on the other thread but got no answer: Which players did Seattle receive as part of the Magic 8-ball Conspiracy MLS Favoritism?
I can think of Dempsey and…who else?
Why would “Cubo” want to join a sinking ship like Chivas Guad, Remember, they shipped him off, as he could not make the 1st team, Lets hope the MLS exercise the purchase clause in his loan agreement.
I think Cubo probably has enough “star power”, after his breakout MLS season, that he can pretty much be kept out of the Chivas USA dispersal draft, and pick his own MLS team.
It’s hard to make a decision without knowing the MLS transfer rules.
With CDG he at least knows they’ll eventually be at the top again. What if he goes with the double-secret-handshake allocation draft and ends up in San Jose or Chicago?
Besides, he couldn’t make at CDG when he was 17 and they were stacked at his position Things are different today.
“Why would “Cubo” want to join a sinking ship like Chivas Guad”
well in order:
1. He wants to save Chivas from relegation
2. He is a Guad native
3. He loves the club
4. He would earn more money
5. He would live close to his family/GF/friends
6. He has better chances to go back to the first squad of the Mexican National team if he competes in a stronger league (his place was taken by 21yo Jesus Corona from FC Twente)
The “Inside MLS” feature on Cubo was telling. He seems to really miss Mexico. He even said, “I’m not ashamed to say I’ve cried out of loneliness.” Damn, that’s sad stuff. If he gets the chance to head back to Guadalajara, I’m sure he’ll take it.
What a wimp!
Swing and a miss.
Most people who have sat in the stands at a Chivas game have cried out of loneliness. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Ha! Hardly enough people to make a group hug.