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An Eye on Europe, but Choosing M.L.S.
By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS
Published: July 4, 2012
The walls of Major League Soccer’s Fifth Avenue headquarters in Manhattan reflect its reputation in world soccer.
Posters and signed jerseys and balls of stars like Carlos Valderrama and David Beckham who have played out a last well-paid hurrah decorate the premises. The 17-year-old league has long been known as a place for soccer’s geriatrics to ease into retirement. Lately, however, M.L.S. has become a popular way station for young talent from throughout the Western Hemisphere seeking passage to Europe’s top ranks.
“M.L.S. has become a destination league for top young players in the region,” said Patrick McCabe, a Boston-based player agent.
In 2006, M.L.S. counted 36 players from the Caribbean, Central America and South America. By last April, the number was 107, a 197 percent increase over six years and a 37 percent rise from March 2011. In those six years, the league has grown to 19 teams from a dozen, but the number of American- and Canadian-born players is up only 35 percent.
The global market for soccer players flows to Europe, home to most of the world’s richest clubs. The top-tier teams in the English, Italian and Spanish leagues combined for more than $1.92 billion in transfer fees (which do not include salaries) during the two-month summer transfer period of 2011, according to the Deloitte accounting firm. Consequently, most of the world’s elite players pursue the superior paychecks paid in those leagues.
International player transactions must be conducted in official transfer periods. The primary summer period opened last Sunday and will close Aug. 31, by which time clubs will have made all of their chief transactions for the first half of the season.
More players appear to be choosing M.L.S. first, hoping to boost their stock for Europe. The league’s increased attractiveness to these soccer migrants is underscored by the number of Brazilians, Argentines and Colombians it has attracted.
Players from those countries are often valued on the transfer market, with the Brazilians and Argentines the most popular, making up 20 percent of all international transfers registered by FIFA in 2011, equivalent to more than 1,500 players. Colombians were the fifth-most-transferred players in the world.
In the first decade of M.L.S., 8 to 22 players from those three countries made at least one appearance each season. By last March 21, 57 players from Brazil, Argentina and Colombia were on M.L.S. payrolls. And they are typically younger and more promising than in years past.
Fredy Montero was a two-time top scorer in the Colombian leagues and had already made three senior national team appearances as a 21-year-old in 2009. He picked the expansion Seattle Sounders over a Spanish club, Real Betis, and several Mexican teams. Montero said of M.L.S., “I felt it was a good place to prepare me for my future, which may be in Europe.”
At 18, Fabián Castillo was one of the top prospects in Colombia when he decided in March 2011 that Dallas would be the best place to develop. He rejected advances from the Portuguese powerhouse Benfica and the Italian Serie A club Brescia.
Darren Mattocks, 21, a forward from Jamaica, opted for M.L.S. over the Danish club Brondby, joining the 10 Jamaicans regularly called to their national team who are already in the league.
“I always wanted to go to Europe right away, but I thought M.L.S. would be a good starting point for my career,” Mattocks said. “It was a better offer and it was closer to home. Denmark is so far away from Jamaica.”
As M.L.S. has solidified and grown, money for better talent has become available.
“Players like Montero are in an economic space that we just weren’t in four or five years ago,” said Todd Durbin, the league’s executive vice president. “We’re in that space today, and it’s connected us with the global community.”
M.L.S. stimulated its clubs’ entry into the highly speculative market for young international prospects with favorable terms. While veteran designated players — the league’s dispensation program for pricey stars — count against the salary cap at $350,000 each, no matter how much they make, designated players who are 23 or younger count for only $200,000 and those under 20 count for $150,000.
Previously, teams could keep only a capped third of their transfer revenue, having to surrender the rest to the league, but they now get to keep two-thirds with no limitations, further inflating the teams’ purchasing power and incentive to invest.
The increased visibility in M.L.S. is attractive to the players, who also benefit from the league’s financial stability compared with some leagues in their home countries.
The improved level of play has increased the attention paid to M.L.S. players worldwide.
“Every year, the interest level from European teams increases,” said McCabe, who recently brokered the sale of the American defender Tim Ream from the Red Bulls to Bolton Wanderers, then in England’s Premier League, for $3 million. “Top clubs now have full-time scouts based in the U.S. and are regularly monitoring players’ development” in M.L.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/sp...yers.html?_r=1
By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS
Published: July 4, 2012
The walls of Major League Soccer’s Fifth Avenue headquarters in Manhattan reflect its reputation in world soccer.
Posters and signed jerseys and balls of stars like Carlos Valderrama and David Beckham who have played out a last well-paid hurrah decorate the premises. The 17-year-old league has long been known as a place for soccer’s geriatrics to ease into retirement. Lately, however, M.L.S. has become a popular way station for young talent from throughout the Western Hemisphere seeking passage to Europe’s top ranks.
“M.L.S. has become a destination league for top young players in the region,” said Patrick McCabe, a Boston-based player agent.
In 2006, M.L.S. counted 36 players from the Caribbean, Central America and South America. By last April, the number was 107, a 197 percent increase over six years and a 37 percent rise from March 2011. In those six years, the league has grown to 19 teams from a dozen, but the number of American- and Canadian-born players is up only 35 percent.
The global market for soccer players flows to Europe, home to most of the world’s richest clubs. The top-tier teams in the English, Italian and Spanish leagues combined for more than $1.92 billion in transfer fees (which do not include salaries) during the two-month summer transfer period of 2011, according to the Deloitte accounting firm. Consequently, most of the world’s elite players pursue the superior paychecks paid in those leagues.
International player transactions must be conducted in official transfer periods. The primary summer period opened last Sunday and will close Aug. 31, by which time clubs will have made all of their chief transactions for the first half of the season.
More players appear to be choosing M.L.S. first, hoping to boost their stock for Europe. The league’s increased attractiveness to these soccer migrants is underscored by the number of Brazilians, Argentines and Colombians it has attracted.
Players from those countries are often valued on the transfer market, with the Brazilians and Argentines the most popular, making up 20 percent of all international transfers registered by FIFA in 2011, equivalent to more than 1,500 players. Colombians were the fifth-most-transferred players in the world.
In the first decade of M.L.S., 8 to 22 players from those three countries made at least one appearance each season. By last March 21, 57 players from Brazil, Argentina and Colombia were on M.L.S. payrolls. And they are typically younger and more promising than in years past.
Fredy Montero was a two-time top scorer in the Colombian leagues and had already made three senior national team appearances as a 21-year-old in 2009. He picked the expansion Seattle Sounders over a Spanish club, Real Betis, and several Mexican teams. Montero said of M.L.S., “I felt it was a good place to prepare me for my future, which may be in Europe.”
At 18, Fabián Castillo was one of the top prospects in Colombia when he decided in March 2011 that Dallas would be the best place to develop. He rejected advances from the Portuguese powerhouse Benfica and the Italian Serie A club Brescia.
Darren Mattocks, 21, a forward from Jamaica, opted for M.L.S. over the Danish club Brondby, joining the 10 Jamaicans regularly called to their national team who are already in the league.
“I always wanted to go to Europe right away, but I thought M.L.S. would be a good starting point for my career,” Mattocks said. “It was a better offer and it was closer to home. Denmark is so far away from Jamaica.”
As M.L.S. has solidified and grown, money for better talent has become available.
“Players like Montero are in an economic space that we just weren’t in four or five years ago,” said Todd Durbin, the league’s executive vice president. “We’re in that space today, and it’s connected us with the global community.”
M.L.S. stimulated its clubs’ entry into the highly speculative market for young international prospects with favorable terms. While veteran designated players — the league’s dispensation program for pricey stars — count against the salary cap at $350,000 each, no matter how much they make, designated players who are 23 or younger count for only $200,000 and those under 20 count for $150,000.
Previously, teams could keep only a capped third of their transfer revenue, having to surrender the rest to the league, but they now get to keep two-thirds with no limitations, further inflating the teams’ purchasing power and incentive to invest.
The increased visibility in M.L.S. is attractive to the players, who also benefit from the league’s financial stability compared with some leagues in their home countries.
The improved level of play has increased the attention paid to M.L.S. players worldwide.
“Every year, the interest level from European teams increases,” said McCabe, who recently brokered the sale of the American defender Tim Ream from the Red Bulls to Bolton Wanderers, then in England’s Premier League, for $3 million. “Top clubs now have full-time scouts based in the U.S. and are regularly monitoring players’ development” in M.L.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/sp...yers.html?_r=1
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