Thierry Henry He did not have a good first season in Catalonia. There were reports that Fergie wanted him to join Man U but nothing happened at the end. "Titi" Henry better play better this year now that he's "100%" physically according to him.
Henry didn't move to United because he stated that if he were to play for another club it would be back to Arsenal or playing in Major League Soccer. He still has some years left before leaving to the States. The MLS is now the new Qatari League. lol
Exactly but the only problem is that period of time did not increase the awareness of football in that country did it?
Yeah lol. My only problem is that if the MLS want to grow as a league they should bring in young, promising players. Not old famous ones.
If MLS want to grow, they need to revenue that Beckham, Blanco, and Henry bring in, but they need it on every team. Juan Pablo Angel is a fantastic MLS player, but he's not exactly putting asses in seats. Bring Henry to New York, Nakamura to Seattle, and a Portugese/Brazilian star to New England. Then they can start offering competitive wages to young Americans and South Americans. When a guy like Charlie Davies would rather go to Hammarby than stay at home because of the money, you know we have an issue here. There needs to be a salary cap in MLS, but it needs to be high enough to offer a living wage to young Americans.
If you want the MLS to survive you have to concentrate on the city where the US national team's HQ is located as well. Where most of our youth comes from, Chicago. A city that is likely 2016 Summer Olympic Games bound. Young superstar players from countries like Argentina, Brazil, France and so on won't come to the United States because it damages their chances to play for their national team. The league isn't strong enough for them to take a chance with. Also, if we concentrate on young players from other countries, how are we ever going to get better at the international level? We have to build a stronger youth program. Also note that young players in the MLS start off making around $25,000 - $28,000. Peanuts! Also to Barmy Army, the Qatari League isn't concerned with building the sport as much as making profits off of it. That's why they have big interests in hosting the World Cup along with UAE. UAE promise air-conditioned controlled outdoor stadiums. Imagine the electric bill!
There's a ton of players from St. Louis too, and they don't even have a team yet, which is inexplicable to me. Also, the starting salary figure that M21 posted is for first rounders. Most players are on discovery contracts which are about half that amount.
I'm not with that on fan bias, I'm about helping the league grow. Chicagoland alone has more youth programs then most US states do. In terms of cities, Chicago is considered the biggest football market in the United States. No wonder anyway when you look at all of the foreigners here. Could also be why we have the largest rugby union market in the States as well. lol In any case the league can't revolve around one team, but Chicago is very important. As is New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC (as the capital you should be!) and Dallas. I remember before the site merge I was writing about revenues for MLS franchises and as of right now only LA Galaxy, Chicago Fire, Toronto FC and FC Dallas are making any type of profits with only three other franchises being two to five years off from getting there. Every other franchise is currently in the toilet and it doesn't look pretty.
