Ok, here's the deal on Figo - he's been rumored as an MLS target for a long time. Somehow, I'm still not expecting him. Call it a hunch, but he's been pursued by MLS before and has never really seemed that interested. It takes a certain kind of player to make it in this league, and I've never seen the aloof ones who acted like they were too good to be here have much success.
So even when the press in Portugal jumped over the "Figo to Galaxy" story, I didn't get that excited. TFC and the Revolution would seem to want Figo more, but the Galaxy is an easy name to drop these days whenever a player wants to get more money out of wherever they actually want to go.
That's the way the Borgetti used MLS, no doubt, as leverage to get a better deal out of the Mexican league team he eventually signed with. It doesn't make the players bad guys, it just makes them aware that they have a limited amount of time in a playing career and they have to choose carefully where to spend it.
I'm always more inclined to believe a player will come to MLS when he has expressed more than a passing interest. Figo, when he was in the U.S. in 2005 with Real Madrid, never seemed that excited about the option. I suppose he could have changed his mind since then. But the latest comments from his agent (granted, agents play the money game even more than the players) don't make me think that Figo is on his way to the league.
I went out on a limb and called Beckham coming to MLS before the deal was complete. I'm not doing that for Figo.
Don't be so sure, A.C. Figo is just the kind of player the Galaxy would sign: a big name w/international cachet who's over the hill (and, no, I'm not saying that Beckham is over the hill; I'm saying that Abel Xavier is).
ReplyDeleteThe only things preventing the Galaxy from signing Figo are the salary cap, the international-player limits and the designated-player limits.
Right Joseph ... and we all know that MLS is famous for rewriting the rules on the fly.
ReplyDeleteHow's his leg? What's the expected timeframe for his return to action? June?
joseph --
ReplyDeletecorrect me if i am wrong but didn't the MLS just add an internation player slot? additionally, if the G's were to get a DP slot from another team, that would surely involve trading away talent. i am fairly sure PV and his 130k salary have expired, so all the G's would have to do is trade away 200k worth of players to have necessary cap space. which is what i would expect to have to give up for a DP slot.
seems to me there is nothing stopping this deal from happening. and i will say this, if X is over the hill that is just fine with me, he still is one of the best centerbacks in the MLS even at his age.