Friday, May 18, 2007

Questionable salary?

Last year, Landon Donovan and Claudio Suarez shook hands for the press while Frank Yallop watched.

This week, though, Landon singled out Claudio Suarez and questioned his salary. It was an innocent question on my behalf. I thought it was interesting that the Galaxy has the league's highest payroll and Chivas USA has the league's lowest payroll and they are playing each other on Sunday.

I started to ask Landon about that and I said something like "you guys have the highest payroll and Chivas USA has the lowest."

And unprovoked Landon said "No they don't. Claudio Suarez making a hundred grand? I don't think so."

So of course being the good journalist that I am (or try to be anyway) I asked Claudio Suarez what he thought about it. I played him the recording and asked a Chivas PR official to translate it to him because I didn't want Claudio to think I was embellishing it or anything. He just laughed about it and said they could compare tax returns if Landon wanted.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Donovan making derogatory remarks against a Mexican. There's a shocker.

A.C. said...

Actually, it's something of a compliment. Donovan clearly believes Suarez is worth more than one hundred grand, given his accomplishments and iconic status.

He has a point - I mean, Suarez did go to the last World Cup - any Mexican player who did that would probably demand a high fee.

L.B. said...

Perhaps, but Claudio is based in MLS. And what's the going rate for an MLS-based World Cup defender that did not play in Germany?

Chris Albright's salary is at around $142,000, slightly less than Claudio Suarez's.

A.C. said...

Ah, but Albright wants to play in his home country, no? It's not a stretch to think that usually players are lured away from home by salaries that are higher than par. I mean, usually that's what Mexican stars get - more than the norm. I mean, Blanco didn't even make the WC team, and check out his hefty salary.

Chivas USA is no doubt getting good value with Suarez. He's their last "name" Mexican player, and they didn't have to shell out that much.