Saturday, August 19, 2006
More England Rumors
Well, after the Onyewu letdown, the England rumors tapered off for a week, but Grant Wahl fires off a couple doozies in his latest column for SI.Com. Wahl's interviews with DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey confirm that both may have been headed for the EPL during the current transfer window (which ends 8/31).
The Beasley component of the story is encouraging, because even though he has been out of form for the last six months, PSV Eindhoven have not given up on him, and (at least according to him) there were plenty of offers for him in Europe. I had been reading that he was headed back to MLS, and to be frank, that was depressing. We need more, not fewer, Americans playing in the Champions' League.
The Dempsey issue is much more worrying. Apparently, Charlton Athletic offered MLS over a million dollars for the World Cup goalscorer but MLS turned it down. Dempsey is very unhappy, and considering the multiple suspensions he's racked up over the current season, his unhappiness is showing on the field (the latest for breaking Jimmy Conrad's jaw). Basically, Dempsey wants to play in Europe and MLS stands in his way.
Anyway, read the story. Once I do some more research, I plan to write a post on the MLS transfer structure, because it is apparently a real detriment to getting some of our best players into Europe.
The Beasley component of the story is encouraging, because even though he has been out of form for the last six months, PSV Eindhoven have not given up on him, and (at least according to him) there were plenty of offers for him in Europe. I had been reading that he was headed back to MLS, and to be frank, that was depressing. We need more, not fewer, Americans playing in the Champions' League.
The Dempsey issue is much more worrying. Apparently, Charlton Athletic offered MLS over a million dollars for the World Cup goalscorer but MLS turned it down. Dempsey is very unhappy, and considering the multiple suspensions he's racked up over the current season, his unhappiness is showing on the field (the latest for breaking Jimmy Conrad's jaw). Basically, Dempsey wants to play in Europe and MLS stands in his way.
Anyway, read the story. Once I do some more research, I plan to write a post on the MLS transfer structure, because it is apparently a real detriment to getting some of our best players into Europe.
