Bolivian midfielder is tops among the league’s most valuable assets
When it comes to appreciating assets in MLS, Marco Preferred is a sound investment. Whether it be stocks, mutual funds or soccer players, buying low and selling high brings prosperity in the marketplace. The league bought Marco Etcheverry at a time few clubs had any interest, and his value has gone through the roof as his stellar play led D.C. United to the MLS title last year. But at what point will the law of diminishing returns take effect, thus prompting MLS to seriously consider selling him, or other popular players that help their teams win or draw crowds? “I don’t think there’s any hard-and-fast rule on that,” says Washington general manager Kevin Payne. “It’s always going to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. “We no longer have in our economic model real significant dollars for selling players. That came out [of the model] by common consent at a fairly early stage.” In this aspect, MLS ù although it operates much as a club team in acquiring players ù deviates from the norm. Few clubs can sustain high-priced acquisitions solely through increased revenue streams. Merchandising, television, sponsorships and stock flotations notwithstanding, sooner or later players must be sold as well as bought. The numbers often defy belief. Alan Shearer commanded a transfer fee of $23 million for Newcastle to buy him from Blackburn at the beginning of this past season. Brilliant Brazilian striker Ronaldo is trying to buy his way out of his contract with Barcelona for $27.5 million in order to sign with Inter Milan, but Barcelona’s lawyers are blocking the move. Just in case rival clubs have ideas of poaching its top players, Real Madrid has inserted buyout figures in excess of $100 million in the latest round of renegotiations with its star players. MLS deputy commissioner Sunil Gulati is fond of recalling that he stocked 10 league clubs for their inaugural season with player purchases amounting to roughly one-half of Shearer’s price. He also infuriated a few players by refusing to pay transfer fees to A-League and USISL teams while reportedly shelling out more than $1 million each for Jorge Campos and Etcheverry. “Could we sign another Bolivian player?” asks Gulati. “Of course. But Marco is the most popular Bolivian player ever. Finding another player like him ù someone who can play like he can and who means so much to the fans ù is impossible.”
Current market is ‘quiet’
This year’s acquisitions haven’t been as spectacular, although Dallas’ double-dip of Alain Sutter and Damian Alvarez can be classified as a true coup. “Right now, it’s very quiet,” Gulati said June 20. “There’s really not that much going on.” For Gulati, “quiet” is a relative term. There’s an offer on the table for Colorado winger Chris Henderson, at least one Mexican club is interested in Eric Wynalda, and the league is trying to atone for striker Daniel Guzman’s embarrassing departure from San Jose by scratching up a replacement. The MLS player most in demand, though, is Etcheverry, who rekindled his career by coming to MLS and brilliantly destroying defenses after a languorous start. His value has more than doubled in the past year. “The difficulty there is that Marco would be a very hard player to replace,” says Payne. “Because of his playing style, his personality, his recognition factor and everything else. “It would be hard to replace Marco without spending $8 million or $10 million on somebody else.” MLS picked up Etcheverry from the Chilean club Colo Colo, where El Diablo had been bedeviled by poor performances, knee problems and rumors of off-the-field problems. He had already struggled in Spain, so MLS ù which Gulati said paid a “seven-figure” transfer fee ù was able to get him cheap. When joined by fellow Bolivian Jaime Moreno one-third of the way through the ’96 MLS season, Etcheverry’s brilliance forged D.C. United into the league’s dominant team. The Barra Brava faction that bounces the RFK lower sections up and down enjoy Moreno and respect Raul Diaz Arce, but one look at the devil masks dotting their faces reveals who is their idol. John Harkes works hard, Richie Williams is relentless, and Mark Simpson stops shots, but Marco is the team’s maestro. And of all U.S. cities, the nation’s capital is the closest thing to La Paz Norte. When Bolivia clinched qualification for the 1994 World Cup, hundreds of fans clogged D.C. city streets to celebrate as overwhelmed police officers could only look on in amazement. Selling Etcheverry could trigger another demonstration of a far less festive mood. And even if the fans didn’t take to the streets, they wouldn’t take to the seats of RFK, either. Although the league signed Moreno to a contract extension through the year 2000, it has not been able to tie down Etcheverry beyond this season, aside from the option years written into his contract. “We ù our club and the league ù are going to talk with Marco later in the sum ááá mer,” said Payne.
Wynalda turned down Padova
Three thousand miles west, the running soap opera that is the San Jose Clash has just fired head coach Laurie Calloway, who had the unenviable and nearly impossible task of coaching two teams: The Clash, and Eric Wynalda. The all-time U.S. leading scorer burned so many bridges in Germany in 1995, he not only left the country, he left the continent. But as memories fade and Wynalda rings up goals and assists for club and country, the faxes and phone calls come filtering in. Wynalda had a chance to play for Italian club Padova on loan this past spring, but turned it down. Padova was prepared to pay him more than his annual MLS salary to play 4 1/2 months in Italy, and the league would have received a six-figure loan fee as well. Partly due to his troubles at Saarbruecken and Bochum, a German club might be reluctant to pay seven figures for Wynalda. But in Mexico, his flair and skill are more renowned than his skirmishes with coaches. More than a few Mexican clubs can pay big money. The league has walked a fine line with Mexican players. Players have been bought outright, loaned from Mexican clubs, and bought from Mexican clubs and then loaned back during the offseason. To land Jorge Campos two years ago, Gulati had to weave together agreements and payments among five principals: Nike, MLS, UNAM (the club he was leaving), Atlante (the club he was joining) and Campos himself. Along with Damian Alvarez, who signed with the league and was allocated to the Dallas Burn two months ago, Campos was picked in the Mexican league draft in early June. Alvarez will play for spring champion Guadalajara in the offseason. Campos joins Cruz Azul, his third Mexico City club in four years. MLS received several inquiries regarding the 23-year-old Alvarez, a dynamic young player who appears to have a decade of productive years ahead of him.
Foreign coaches eye MLS favorites
No player’s value has increased quite like D.C. United’s Eddie Pope, a rookie last season and now a fixture in U.S. national team defense. “But we’re also going to have to face choices about younger players who’ve really been developed here,” says Payne. “I suppose Eddie Pope is a good example of that.” Gulati says Pope is not one of the half a dozen MLS players who have attracted significant interest from foreign clubs. A source told Soccer America the Dutch club Feyenoord had made preliminary inquiries about Pope and floated a transfer price of $1 million. “No one from Feyenoord has contacted us,” says Gulati. “Like all of the U.S. internationals, he’s very important to the league and it’s in our best interest that he stay right where he is, from the viewpoints of both MLS and the national team. “But the situation can change dramatically if there’s a coach or a team that really wants a player, as in the case of Chris Henderson. Nottingham Forest wants him because [ex-Rapids head coach] Bobby Houghton likes him and thinks the club can get him a work permit.” A work permit may be the insurmountable obstacle to Henderson playing in England, since he’s not played for the U.S. national team since 1995. But even if a work permit is granted and the Rapids are inclined to approve a transfer, Colorado general manager Dan Counce says his club would need one more piece to make the equation work. “We’d need to know who was going to replace him,” said Counce, “or at the very least, receive a guarantee from the league that we’d get a quality player in return. But if the player truly wanted to leave, we wouldn’t stand in his way.” Henderson, though, is itching for a shot in England. “It’s always been a dream of mine,” he says. “I might never have had this opportunity if it wasn’t for MLS. It gave me a chance to play, and Bobby Houghton played a part in that, too.” At least one other MLS player has a well-known international coach in his corner as well. “Or, take the case of Graeme Souness,” says Gulati. “He just took over at [Italian Second Division club] Torino, and he likes Richard Gough as well as Brad Friedel.” Souness played with Gough on the Scottish national team, and also coached him at Glasgow Rangers. He was Galatasaray’s head coach during Friedel’s stint in Turkey for the 1995-96 season. Souness then moved to the English club Southampton, and tried to acquire Friedel last winter. “Well, those players’ value goes up,” says Gulati, “because there’s a coach that wants them and a club with money that might be willing to pay for them.” And, like it or not, that’s the time to sell.
by Soccer America
Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney
