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Report: Jermaine Jones would take pay cut to move closer to LA

Photo by Mike DiNovo/USA Today Sports
Photo by Mike DiNovo/USA Today Sports

Jermaine Jones remains a man without a club, but the U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder would reportedly make some concessions to remain closer to home.

According to Sports Illustrated, Jones says he would take a pay cut to join a team closer to his home in Los Angeles, California. Jones, who will be suspended for the first six games of 2016, turned down an offer from the New England Revolution for a reported $600,000 this season. As a result of their offer, the Revolution currently maintain Jones’ MLS rights. However, Jones has reportedly stated that he will not return to the club.

Jones reportedly feels disrespected by the league with regards to the offers he has received so far. According to SI, Jones and the league remain far apart on money as the league pushes for Jones to ease his salary demands. If the two sides could reach a deal, the league would reportedly push the Revs towards moving the midfielder to a team that is more willing to meet his salary and location demands.

The 34-year-old midfielder made 18 appearances for the Revs last season in an injury-hampered campaign. In 2014, his first season with the club, Jones helped lead the Revs to the MLS Cup finals before falling to the LA Galaxy.

What do you think of the latest Jones news? Where do you expect him to end up?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. At his age he should’ve played in Europe or South America where he’s get paid well and then retire. Between Uncle Sam, high ass property taxes on that big ass house and living expenses he’ll be broke in 7 years. He should’ve seen this coming, I don’t blame the Revs. He’s so arrogant and short sighted that he didn’t get that no one in US Soccer gives a f**k who he is. He doesn’t come with the star appeal like a Beckham or Reynaldo to command the type of money he thinks in his wet dreams he’s worth. All of the posturing on his Twitter acct. Notice now all of a sudden he’s like a priest on his Twitter quoting the Bible as if he’s reaching for God to protect him from going broke in 7 years like the average soccer players do. He didn’t want $600K? Get the hell outta here.

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  2. I don’t see anywhere in this article that says Jones trained in LA and only joined the Revs for games. If that’s true, that’s a) absurd, and b) kind of awesome in a brass-balls kind of way.

    I suspect he wants to be closer to Southern Cal because his “home” is somewhere in Orange County, in the basement of his daddy, a skinny blond German guy named Jurgen.

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    • he lived at home (with his family) and commuted to training in Carson with the National Team in January. the comments about him doing this with the Revs are FALSE and made up on this comment section.

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    • MLS deals happen all of the time. If someone wanted to pay Jones what he is asking then MLS would make it happen. Problem is there probably aren’t any teams in the league wanting to pay him anything close to he was making.

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    • I agree that MLS rules are arcane, arbitrary, and often absurd, but they can’t come close to matching the Soviet economy. As someone who studied the USSR pretty extensively back in the day, the stories of inefficiency and mismanagement in the Soviet economy were sometimes beyond belief. Soviet workers had an old saying, “we pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.”

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      • I get your point. It’s the “command economy”/central control aspect of it that I find reminiscent of the USSR.

  3. Jones is of an age where he will most likely increasingly miss games due to injuries. Last season may have been indicative of just how little he might be available to actually play. If I were a GM, I am pretty sure I would not use up $600k of salary cap space on a guy who will certainly miss 6 games and probably another 10 before retiring. Of course, he is still a very good player and when he is healthy he would help most teams, I am just not sure it would work out well for any team that signs him at that figure. He seems to have figured that out and is now making noises like he might be willing to play for less cash. We’ll see how it all works out.

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  4. Ahhh what is more is more agrovating..
    – MLS’ total disrespectful treatment of a USMNT star
    – the xenophobic pricks in the comment board making up BS rumors

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    • Absolutely. I hear there’s a midfield captaincy open in the Sinaloa squad since the recent transfer of their midfield midget, Chapito.

      Since Jones is a “destroyer” who’s not above doing the “dirty work”, he’ll fit right in–though he might have to play zone defense by crawling through a couple of tunnels & sewers.

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    • Why not? TJ is closer to LA than SJ. Supposedly the Galaxy still have allocation money from their transfer fee from Juninho and other dealings. I’d like to see a Jones/de Jong CM pairing in MLS.

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  5. Whatever you think about Jermaine Jones, you HAVE to admit that MLS rules which still give New England his rights despite not being under contract are RIDICULOUS. The ruling in the Curt Flood case should apply to MLS as well. Too bad the Players Union caved. Dude is not under contract with New England, let him go where he wants without getting compensation. He might have taken a major cut just to be in LA.

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  6. Did he really train in LA during the MLS season instead of on the east coast with his team? Thats absurd. Mainly because the guy is just not that good anymore.

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      • What’s nonsensical about it? I can’t believe that it’s true that he trained in LA and just showed up on the east coast for games. That’s ridiculous if true. No wonder NE wasn’t interested in paying him $3m+ for that nonsense.

      • Where to begin?

        From the jump: Jones wanted to sign with a west coast based team since negotiating with MLS and made no secret about that. Due to MLS and their undying affection for being a parity driven league (when it’s convenient) he was shipped off to the wasteland that was New England and completely changed the dynamic of that club.

        I don’t even know where this story of him training on the west coast is coming from and the first I’ve heard of it, and it’s completely irrelevant because the production on the pitch and performance on the pitch validates however he chose to train. We never heard a single negative thing from a teammate, too, so there’s no discontentment from his peers. He’s been a good servant to that club and more than earned his paycheck.

        Stating he’s “not good” is not only inaccurate but it’s absurd. He’s still one of the better players on our national team and if not for him and Bradley being incapable of playing with one another, would still be the basis of the backbone within our midfield.

        New England being unwilling to pay for him reveals two things: New England has a long history of completely forgetting about their club and paying its players. That’s a wasteland of ineptitude and simply a tax write off for Kraft. Lastly, New England being unwilling to pay him also reveals how ridiculous MLS is where the club he formerly was employed with doesn’t want to pay him but does retain his rights.

        Everything about his post simply read as: “I don’t like Jones” and if that’s the basis of your view it’s going to be nothing more than nonsensical bias.

      • Can’t remember if it was you (I think it was), but the guy who said MLS is a pyramid scheme, is the dumbest guy or gal on this site

      • I agree with NE Revs–if you think that is one of the dumbest comments you have read, you have a very poor memory. My “favorite” dumb comment still has to be bottlecaps saying that the US has good enough players to win the World Cup.

    • While I am not a big fan of Jones for the national team, his value to an MLS team is huge. The question is how much he’ll be available…

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      • He “became” American because he wasn’t ever going to be a regular for his home country. Just like all of the passport Americans JK has recruited.

      • Slow,

        If you mean he became a player for our National team you could have validity in your assessment but you can absolutely eat a dick for continuing to discredit citizenship of sons/daughters of servicemen and women.

        I truly wonder if you grasp the concept of service because you clearly have no respect for it or how these individuals are every bit (if not more) American than you are for everything they represent.

      • Old School, for the most part I agree with your comment, but all that praise you are giving belongs to Jermaine Jones’ FATHER. He is the one that actually served. The German-Americans on the USMNT did not serve in the military. Seems funny to me to heap praise or some sort of special status on them for something their fathers did, and in most cases estranged fathers.

        Oh and, serving in the military does not make someone more American. Are my former high school mates more American than me because unlike me, they didn’t get into a top university, actually didn’t get into any college or university, and therefore used joining the military as a backup plan? I don’t think so.

      • UCLA Bruin, some of us went to a university, got a degree, and served in the military. That doesn’t make us any more American, but not everyone who serves fits into your characterization. Also, some serve and get their degree after that. My point is to be careful with your generalizations. And we should just ignore Slowleftarm’s idiotic ramblings about what makes a person an American since he has no clue.

      • Bob Bradley recruited Jermaine Jones.

        Also, take away our germans and we would be without – 1. our most accomplished player (JJ), 2. our most talented current player (FJ), and 3. our most accomplished and talented young player (JB).

        I think of those three the only one who may not truly embrace american culture is #2. But I’m not about to start judging, my own allegiance has shifted somewhat too.

      • Gary, my point wasn’t to say that all people that serve fit into the situation I described, i am not saying that at all. My point was to give a specific example as to why serving in the military does not make someone more American. That is my main issue, the ridiculous premise that joining the military makes someone more American. People serve for different reasons, and there is a lot of factors that go into that decision. While patriotism is one of those reasons, I would argue it is one of the less prominant ones. There is a reason why you only see military recruiters at traditionally low-income, underperforming high schools. Recruiters focus their pitch on $$. A person like the one you described, that goes to college and graduates and then also joins the military, is very very rare. A few exceptions does not disprove the rule.

  7. I think it’s high time we had an Allocated Discovery TAM – Driven Free Agent Waiver Draft to decide where Jones plays in 2016.

    Ah, the hell with it. I’ll just allocate him to LA.

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  8. I think Jones should think about pulling a Tim Howard and saying he’s taking a year off National team duty. I think him missing 6 matches plus knowing he’s going to miss for National team call ups is too much for some clubs. There were reports that a big reason the Revs aren’t happy with him is he put off surgery to play in a couple US friendlies. Causing him to miss that time with the Revs.

    Perhaps a San Jose would bite if there wasn’t the added risk of injury of 34 yr playing in Copa and WC qualifiers, hanging over him.

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  9. He’d probably have a better season playing in LA. The word was that he trained separately in LA during the season usually and traveled only for games. If his young family is in Encino then I don’t blame him for forcing a move to be with them. Hope it works out for all parties and doesn’t make the league or the revs look like a joke who fell on their side to appease an aging national team player

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  10. I think he’s screwed and better take what he can get. Since the Revs hold his rights, anybody that wants him needs to give up something to get him… plus he sits for 6 games. Doesnt add up to an attractive signing.

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    • Within MLS, he’s still DP quality and completely transformed the Revs since he arrived. Most DP’s take an entire season to get used to MLS, so 6 games (when comparing) isn’t that big of a dent.

      As for the Revs still retaining his rights? More MLS Mickey Mouse bullshit.

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      • I agree. how is getting paid 1/5th of what you were getting paid a few months ago a bonafide offer. That needs to be changed. What would not have qualified as a bonafide legitimate offer? Its NE’s/ MLSs fault they overpaid in the first place.

        realistically he’s maybe worth $1mm, but what are the Revs going to demand for his rights?

      • Whether it is fair or not or whether he deserves more or not, it looks like the realistic outlook he faces is that he can make around $600k for playing a season of soccer or he can retire early and make a whole lot less. He brought a lot of this on himself by bumping the referee, let’s not forget. Pride goeth before the fall.

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