When the 2010 calendar year began, both Edson Buddle and Robbie Findley entered it with hopes of being able to parlay the final years of their MLS contracts into European free transfers.
As 2011 looms, both players are on the verge of accomplishing their missions despite taking very different paths to get there.
Buddle finished out 2011 enjoying a career year, an MVP-caliber season with the Los Angeles Galaxy that earned him a trip to the World Cup and now has Premier League teams (Birmingham and Stoke City among the teams linked to him) lining up to try and sign him despite the fact that securing a work permit won’t be easy.
Findley had far from a career year. His best season came in 2009, when he was the leading goal-scorer on the 2009 MLS Cup champion Real Salt Lake team. His 2010 could best be described as bittersweet. He lost his scoring touch, but earned the respect of U.S. head coach Bob Bradley, who brought him to a World Cup and played him several times despite his inability to find the net.
Now, Findley has just signed with Championship side Nottingham Forest, a deal contingent on him securing a work permit, which he should be able to get thanks to him playing 10 of 14 U.S. national team matches in 2010.
It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that either Findley or Buddle would be making runs across the pond. For Findley, a jump to England should mean a considerable pay raise and a chance to move closer to playing top-flight soccer in Europe. For Buddle, who turns 30 in May, the jump signifies the first, and possibly the only chance he will have to secure a major payday in a top league.
Findley and Buddle are following the path to Europe laid out by previous MLS standouts who bided their time in MLS hoping to play well enough to catch the eye of scouts and parlay that into big contracts. The 2010 World Cup provided an added vehicle for each of them, even if neither of them managed to score a goal in South Africa.
Are the moves to England wise ones?
It’s hard to argue with either of their attempted departures. Findley is 25 and still boasts enough speed to interest scouts (particularly when his free agent stats is thrown in). He isn’t really risking his place with the U.S. national team because Bradley has made it clear that he rates Findley, so it shouldn’t hurt Findley’s chances for a continued national team role that he’s playing in the England League Championship rather than MLS.
As for Buddle, his national team days are effectively in the rearview mirror. Even though he was the most dangerous goal-scorer in MLS in 2010, he’s too old to be a legitimate factor in 2014 and the new wave of young strikers coming through the U.S. pipeline mean he should focus on his professional career and potentially earning his first major payday after a nine-year roller coaster of a career in MLS.
Buddle has definitely earned it after delivering a career-best season in a contract year. His impressive run of form, particularly early in the 2010 MLS season, surely had scouts wondering whether his combination of size, strength and dead-eye finishing could translate to the Premier League.
A move to England isn’t a sure thing though, with a work permit being the biggest stumbling block. The Los Angeles Galaxy are banking on that being the case and will look to bring Buddle back with a new contract if he can’t. That doesn’t mean Buddle would come cheap for the Galaxy because Buddle could still find a good salary in a smaller European league where work permits wouldn’t be an issue.
Buddle may ultimately be faced with the harsh reality that a Premier League move may be unattainable because of that work pemit issue, even though he could help some teams and even though he just had the season of his life in MLS.
That very scenario is what makes MLS players like Findley jump at the chance to move abroad when they can, because opportunities are never guaranteed to come along and the window in a player’s career to maximize earnings can shrink quickly.
That’s why both Findley and Buddle are banking their careers on moves to Europe, because they could both always come back to MLS, while European clubs won’t always be interested in their services.
In other MLS news during the holiday season ...
Generation adidas class taking shape
The group of standout college underclassmen to sign Generation adidas contracts with Major League Soccer is taking shape and the 2011 class looks strong.
The University of Akron stands to be well-represented, with a total of five players having either signed deals or come close to signing deals. The national champions have lost striker Darlington Nagbe, defender Zarek Valentin and midfielder Michael Nanchoff to MLS deals, while freshman sensation Perry Kitchen and standout fullback Kofi Sarkodie both in negotiations with MLS to join the group.
Indiana striker Will Bruin, Penn State forward Corey Hertzog and Maryland goalkeeper Zac MacMath have also been signed to contracts and will be available for selection in the 2011 MLS Draft, which will take place next month in Baltimore. U.S. Under-20 striker Omar Salgado, who signed a Generation adidas contract in the fall after leaving Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara, rounds out the Generation adidas class.
Generation adidas is the program co-sponsored by MLS and adidas to sign the top college underclassmen and teenage prospects in college soccer to professional contracts.
MLS coaching searches continue
Chivas USA and Toronto FC continue to be the lone MLS teams without head coaches in place but both appear close to making moves.
Chivas USA has reportedly expressed interest in former New York and Chicago head coach Juan Carlos Osorio, who recently led Once Caldas to the Colombian League championship. One report claimed Osorio has already been hired by Chivas USA, while Real Salt Lake assistant coach Robin Fraser and Chivas USA assistant Carlos Llamosa remain candidates.
In Toronto, things have been much quieter, but sources tell Fox Soccer that one candidate with a good chance to land the job is former New England Revolution asisstant and Plymouth Argyle head coach Paul Mariner is a leading candidate for the position.
With the MLS Combine and MLS SuperDraft looming just two weeks away, both teams should make announcements soon.
Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the U.S. national team and Major League Soccer.
