After a report made the rounds that Sporting Kansas City is being linked to a Dutch midfielder, the Western Conference club revealed a change to its midfield.
Amobi Okugo, 24, was waived by Sporting KC on Tuesday after joining the team in July 2015. The defensive midfielder has played 135 games since joining MLS in 2010. (REPORT)
Perry Kitchen, who turned down an offer from D.C. United in December, could reportedly join a team in Sweden or Norway. The 24-year-old midfielder most recently took part in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s January camp while out of contract with D.C. United and MLS. (REPORT)
PRO announced the referee assignments for the first week of the 2016 MLS season. Allen Chapman will be the center official in the league’s first game of season between the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC. (REPORT)
The Philadelphia Union have signed 2016 MLS Draft pick Cole Missimo. The midfielder was selected with the 64th overall selection. (REPORT)
The Chicago Fire announced its regional broadcasting plans for the 2016 MLS season. Starting with the club’s home opener against New York City FC on March 6, CSN Chicago will broadcast a total of 28 games. (REPORT)
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What do you think of Sporting KC waiving Okugo? Should Kitchen have stayed in MLS? Like the Fire’s regional broadcasting plans?
Share your thoughts below.
I pity Philly for drawing Mark Geiger for game one. He will find a way of making himself the story with cards and bad calls
so here in lies the problem….how is it possible that players like okugo and kitchen have no other options in mls? there are teams that could probably use them. mls wants americans to stay and develop in the US but these two can’t…..just don’t get it….
Speaking of Okugo, it’s the price tag. At ~$150K, sure. But at $300K? This is what happens… Philadelphia let him go, Orlando, now KC…
well they can use Okugo but they dont at the 275K he is due, so he was dropped, and any team can then pick him up at whatever price he and the team agree too.
yes, you really dont get it, and I dont blame you, MLS roster/player movement rules are confusing. Okugo doesnt have a team right now because he had an inflated contract relative to his output, and I dont think that is a problem
His departure speaks more to MLS inadequacies. Simply stated they don’t seemed interested in keeping their mid level players who make the league. The league has lost a lot of talent and has gained nothing in return. If he was washed up superstar playing the bench in Europe mls would be interested in pushing a deal for him
Right again Tony!
What’s the problem for me is the common behavior that teams will spend their targeted allocation money on some euro guy who’s already reached potential but refused to drop coin on 24, 25 and 26 year old major league soccer veterans who can still grow into team leaders, club and brand representatives as well as standard bearers and squad leaders.
Tony,
This is the post/comment of the year thus far. Great note. It is sad to Kitchen and Okugo in such uncertain situations. Philadelphia could use both. Chicago?
Recommendation for both,…Kitchen especially,…Bob Bradley and Le Havre! Normandy (cant get much nicer than that), American coach, team battling for promotion to Ligue 1. Get it done brother!
I have noted this before. With the DP and even now with the TAM, you have a few top earners who include some real quality players and then a whole lot of other guys making a lot less who aren’t in the same category as DP’s when it comes to ability and achievement (unless it’s a bad DP selection, of course). MLS teams need more players who make in the $250k to $500k range to improve their quality. This is why significantly increasing the salary cap is so important if the league wants to improve. And, once again, I will push my idea that the league should allow teams to take on EDP slot and allow them to use a certain amount that could be used for a DP (like $2 million or whatever) and get, say 4 players at $500 k each instead.
Sorry to dispel the myth here, but MLS has brought in something like 40 new players this winter. Many of these guys are in their lower-mid 20s.
Backwards move for Kitchen – I guess there’s no interest from a better European league?
Today, no. Tomorrow, maybe.
If he plays for a team that qualified/qualifies for continental competition there could potentially be more eyes on him than if he had signed a DP level contract with DCU.
The top leagues IN FACT still take top players from Scandanavian countries and offer them great wages, improved work opportunities and naming and branding recognition.
Worked in the past. Still works.
Get that money young man!
Ok, it this results in him joining a “top league” then it was worth it. Right now, he moving from MLS to a league worse than MLS and I doubt his salary in Sweden is comparable to an MLS DP. If his team makes the UCL, they’ll probably play a round or two against teams from comparable leagues and get knocked out. It’s not like Swedish teams are frequently making deep runs in European competitions. Malmo made it to the UCL group stage the past two seasons but before that no team from Sweden had reached the group stage in 15 years or so.
If he’s just going for the adventure, as someone speculated above, then I totally get that. Who wouldn’t want to make decent money and live abroad for a while, especially in their 20s.
Regardless, I wish him the best even if he is a former DCU player.
Another aspect is that if he wants to play in England he hasn’t played enough USMNT games to get a work permit. I think it is much easier to transfer from a league like Sweden to say the English Championship from Sweden than coming straight from MLS.
Apparently, Kitchen didn’t get the memo that it’s not 2004 anymore. If he went to Germany I get it. Even if it’s Bundesliga 2. However, if he ends up in Sweden, he is probably not gaining anything from any of the exposure, money, quality of play, or national team visibility perspectives.
Doesn’t Sweden still pay its starters more by median?
At 24 if someone offered me more or less the same money to work in Sweden I’d take it for the adventure. Probably easier to get scouted to a bigger league. Not everyone has to take the same career path or have aspirations to be the hero of US soccer.
This. What’s with the cookie cutter approach of how to get to the highest level of your game. Clint Dempsey’s path (US youth club-College-MLS-BPL) to European football is the exception not the rule.
I bet he and his agent have things under control and are considering what is the best next move for Mr. Kitchen
To add to the chorus, I can think of worse places to go than Sweden or even Norway. Plus, most people in those countries also speak English and in Sweden especially I’m guessing he will get paid well.
Okugo? Really? Wow…
not a 300K player in MLS and given that he was let go (like SKC couldn’t get a bag of balls in return from a team willing to pay him that), no other team thought he was either.