Sports News - March 11, 2010

Major League Soccer has made some significant changes to the Designated Player rule, presumably to encourage more teams to bring in top-quality, big-name, and marketable talent.


Will it have the intended effect? It's impossible to know at the moment, though it does look like clubs might consider signing a DP thanks to a smaller cap hit and the ability to pay down that hit further with allocation money. Sure it's a little complicated, and the vageries of the system mean we're not exactly sure who is sitting pretty and who doesn't have a dollar to spare, but we might be staring down the barrel of a small wave of new high-priced international talent coming into the league.


But this is where the danger starts. Though there's an element of risk involved with any signing, there is particular pressure to get it right when the player in question is going to make so much more than anyone else on the team; it doesn't matter how marketable a player is if he comes in and stinks up the joint. Seattle got it right with Ljungberg, a player with enough skill and gas left in the tank to make a difference in MLS. Dallas didn't when they signed Denilson a few years ago, a player with ample talent but zero drive to succeed. Perhaps even more important than the question "Is he good?" is the question "Will he fit?". Despite the reputation as a middling competition, MLS is not an easy league to adjust to.


Rumored candidates for MLS offers in the near future include Thierry Henry, Raul, and David Trezeguet. There should be no questions on Henry, who would be great for any MLS club but would work particularly well in New York. Players on this level aren't the ones we have to worry about, because unless they get injured, they should be solid contributors at the very least; they may not dominate the way people would expect them to, but a complete flop is unlikely. It's the guys a level down, perhaps with ample talent but a more checkered past, or those that might be unable to acclimate to the style of play, American culture (think language), or any number of other issues that might arise, that bring the biggest risk.


Cheaper clubs should be ready to buy in now. The cap hit has fallen, there are mechanisms to bring it down further, and a prorated value has been established for a player signed in the summer. As long as an owner is willing to pay a star out of his own pocket (still not an easy sell), the ability to construct a proper team is not significantly impacted by one, or possibly even two, designated players.


The concern then, is that clubs sign players for the right reasons, both because they can impact the their team's fortunes and because they might provide a bump at the gate or in the team store. Research is important, and decision makers can't simply jump at a name because he is a name; there's a requisite amount of due diligence that has to be done before a player is added. Age, injury history, cultural adaptability, and especially the opinion of the head coach and his coaching staff are a reasonable place to start. Find out if your target has his head on straight about coming to the States, impart upon him that it's not going to be as easy as he might think (and that it might hurt a little bit), and pull the trigger only when you're convinced that his contributions could be significant.


Even if it sounds obvious, it's impossible to have faith that every club looking for a DP will get it right. If the numbers increase, there are bound to be some failures; philosophical questions about the rule aside, it's the rate of failure to success that will have long reaching effects on how such players are viewed both amongst the fans and team leadership.


Each owner of lesser means than the Galaxys and Red Bulls of the world will need to make a decision; massive name with huge marketing potential, and the natural massive salary to go with him, or the lesser known player that could help the team win but is unlikely to move the attention needle in any real way. We've had the latter on a few occasions, and the results have been a mixed bag; for every Schelotto, there's a Marcello Gallardo.


As the Boston Herald's Kyle McCarthy said on this week's American Soccer Show, the league's intention is to encourage teams to sign superstars. Not very-good-but-ultimately-unknown-in-the-US players like Gallardo and Claudio Lopez, but big names that will resonate in the club's community and bring serious credibility to the league through association.


There are still significant penalties for signing a Designated Player, no matter the change in the rules. But doing so doesn't prevent clubs from putting together a decent roster, and the new wrinkles provide a way to limit the funds tied up in one name. If owners decide to make the move now, putting money on the line now covered by the league's collective salary pool, they'll need equal parts bravery and intelligence.


Do they have enough of either?
blog comments powered by Disqus
    KKTC Bahis Siteleri, Online Bahis

    Archive

    Legal


    Privacy Policy