MLS Splashing Cash (Defoe, Bradley, Edu, and now Xavi)

[Smurf]

1/17 Update:
Yet another USMNT player appears to be coming home as DC United are reportedly going to pay Maurice Edu $1.2million a season to make him a Designated player. Reports are the deal is waiting to be finalized by the league...and that the league is upset at the price DC United are willing to pay Edu.


In more news, its being reported that New York Red Bulls have reached an agreement to acquire Xavi at the conclusion of the world cup. The Barcelona star would certainly add a hell of a punch to Tim Cahil and Thierry Henry's squad.


Si....I think we are heading closer to NASL levels here....and that kind of scares me.



Original Post:
Toronto today announced they signed Gilberto to be a DP. $3 million transfer fee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert ... uza_Junior

He's a 24 year old Brazilian Forward. Great signing IMO.


They also are rumored to have landed Jermaine Defoe for $10 million.

TFC's new leadership is gonna try and play with the big boys now...



UPDATE:

Today the MLS Twitter universe is EXPLODING with news that TFC have reportedly come to an agreement with Roma to acquire Midfielder Michael Bradley.

Legit Journo's like Ives Garcia, and Grant Wahl have began reporting the story.

Also, Defoe is rumored to be officially announced on Monday.

 

[silverss]

From what I've been reading, no one around here really knows these guys.

 

[Uncle Si]

From what I've been reading, no one around here really knows these guys.

Defoe is a legitimate goal scorer in the Prem. Has had some very good seasons with Spurs, some international appearances with England. Not sure why he agreed to the move. His days at Spurs were over but surely he could have found something better.

Gilberto is a relatively strong attacker for the MLS. Nothing special anywhere else. Good signing for an MLS team (both are actually). Will inject the right type of quality

 

[Smurf]

From what I've been reading, no one around here really knows these guys.

Defoe is a legitimate goal scorer in the Prem. Has had some very good seasons with Spurs, some international appearances with England. Not sure why he agreed to the move. His days at Spurs were over but surely he could have found something better.

Gilberto is a relatively strong attacker for the MLS. Nothing special anywhere else. Good signing for an MLS team (both are actually). Will inject the right type of quality

Agreed.


IMO they spent the money in the right places.

 

[GCrow]

Gotta give new MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke credit if he can pull this off and make an heck of an offseason. Re-Branding/Building TFC seems to sort of been his own special project flying under the radar. He said from the start he was going to make big splashes with international players and this offseason is certainly doing that (granted though, it helps when you have the spending control of a $2 Billion dollar company)

 

[Uncle Si]

as it was a poor decision for Dempsey to leave the PL, it is a poor decision for Bradley to leave the Serie A. especially in a World Cup year.

There is a reason we havent seen much movement in the big leagues of Euro soccer in the Jan window. Players dont want their preparation (and thus status with their national team) interrupted by swapping teams/(especially leagues.

Two of the USMNT's most important pieces have done that recently. Jermaine Jones is out of contract at Schalke as well. IN contrast young starlet Green chose to stay at Bayern and joined the U19 German team just for more playing time and training. Its not just that Bradley and Dempsey are leaving Europe for the MLS, its that USMNT "stars" are not holding their own in the upper echelons of world soccer.

All of this is ominous for the USMNT.

 

[Smurf]

as it was a poor decision for Dempsey to leave the PL, it is a poor decision for Bradley to leave the Serie A. especially in a World Cup year.

There is a reason we havent seen much movement in the big leagues of Euro soccer in the Jan window. Players dont want their preparation (and thus status with their national team) interrupted by swapping teams/(especially leagues.

Two of the USMNT's most important pieces have done that recently. Jermaine Jones is out of contract at Schalke as well. IN contrast young starlet Green chose to stay at Bayern and joined the U19 German team just for more playing time and training. Its not just that Bradley and Dempsey are leaving Europe for the MLS, its that USMNT "stars" are not holding their own in the upper echelons of world soccer.

All of this is ominous for the USMNT.

Jones is reportedly in negotiations with MLS or an MLS side.


As a USMNT fan I dislike these moves...


but as a fan of the MLS...its nothing but good. Having players like Jones, Dempsey, Bradley, Donovan will help the league grow.

 

[Hawkspur]

From what I've been reading, no one around here really knows these guys.

Defoe is a legitimate goal scorer in the Prem. Has had some very good seasons with Spurs, some international appearances with England. Not sure why he agreed to the move. His days at Spurs were over but surely he could have found something better.

Looks like the UK well has run dry. In the last week Jermain has started following 2 Canadian pornstars on twitter.

 

[Seahawks1983]

as it was a poor decision for Dempsey to leave the PL, it is a poor decision for Bradley to leave the Serie A. especially in a World Cup year.

There is a reason we havent seen much movement in the big leagues of Euro soccer in the Jan window. Players dont want their preparation (and thus status with their national team) interrupted by swapping teams/(especially leagues.

Two of the USMNT's most important pieces have done that recently. Jermaine Jones is out of contract at Schalke as well. IN contrast young starlet Green chose to stay at Bayern and joined the U19 German team just for more playing time and training. Its not just that Bradley and Dempsey are leaving Europe for the MLS, its that USMNT "stars" are not holding their own in the upper echelons of world soccer.

All of this is ominous for the USMNT.

Jones is reportedly in negotiations with MLS or an MLS side.


As a USMNT fan I dislike these moves...


but as a fan of the MLS...its nothing but good. Having players like Jones, Dempsey, Bradley, Donovan will help the league grow.

I don't buy this argument at all. By the time the World Cup rolls around, these guys will be in midseason form rather than in offseason training.

 

[Uncle Si]

To a point yes but not quite true... First the euro league send in May (or late April for some). So there is a month off to train with your national team. This works out perfect plus gives a few weeks to recover. 2...you're in mid season MLS form. That's a lot different than the Series A, PL, Liga etc.

 

[StealthHawk]

As someone who lives in Toronto, I'm approaching these moves with cautious optimism. I think everyone remembers the off-season the Blue Jays had last spring. All the hype they got from ESPN and Canadian sports networks last year, and then colossal failure last season was.

 

[Smurf]

Maurice Edu is reportedly going to DC United at $1.2million per season (Just stupid money for him, he wont even be a top 10 CM in the league).

Xavi is reportedly joining New York Red Bulls after the world cup.