Rumors resurfacing about David Beckham coming to MLS. Another English Premier League team eyeing Clint Dempsey. Troubled striker Eddie Johnson suspended a few days before Kansas City plays its playoff play-in game against the New York Red Bulls. …
There's been a lot of buzz about MLS in the final week of its regular season. Unfortunately, much of the buzz has little or nothing to do with the playoffs, of which two slots are still unclaimed. But buzz is buzz, and so let's start with Becks.
This time, instead going to the Galaxy, he was supposedly destined for the New York Red Bulls, where the infinite largesse of company founder Dietrich Mateschitz would lavish upon him all he would want to chuck Europe and cross the Atlantic.
Those rumors have been quashed, at least for now. Logically, with the David Beckham Academy up and running in Southern California, and AEG President Tim Leiweke having already welcomed him with open arms, if he does come to MLS, it will be to Los Angeles. But it's not a sexy story without Red Bull in it.
Besides, Red Bull New York will be busy enough clearing salary cap space for Claudio Reyna, should he decide to cut short his final season with Manchester City and come home during the winter break. He and his wife Danielle have already bought an apartment in New York City and while he may not be the blockbuster acquisition Mateschitz would prefer, MLS could certainly stump up the cash to pay off the balance of his City deal and cut a nice paycheck for him to reunite with Bruce Arena.
Spotted at RFK last Saturday to watch the D.C. United-New England match was Fulham coach Chris Coleman and his assistant Steve Kean. On their radar screen is Clint Dempsey, who certainly lived up to the occasion by scoring an classy, opportunistic goal as the Revs downed D.C.
Demspey declined an opportunity to train with Everton last winter to prepare for the U.S. national team's January training camp. According to sources and published reports, MLS has already turned down offers from Charlton Athletic and West Ham United for Dempsey, whose contract expires next year.
The sad saga of Eddie Johnson continues. Coach Brian Bliss has suspended him for the balance of the season, so he will finish the 2006 season with a meager tally of three goals. Kansas City acquired him from Dallas during the offseason in the hope he'd be sold to a foreign team after the World Cup and they'd get back the allocations they exchanged for him; instead, unless he can be offloaded, the Wizards will be stuck with his maximum salary and a player plummeting in value.
The league can be commended to signing him to a lucrative deal, but in this case, it gambled way too much on a risky venture, and seems to have been badly stung.