MLS 101: How did Maurice Edu finally secure his move to Philadelphia?
MLS clubs think creatively in the transfer market. The novel thinking comes out of necessity: the unique structure of the league requires outside-the-box tactics to secure the services of desirable players. No deal in January typified this approach quite like Maurice Edu's protracted move to Philadelphia.
Edu spent most of January trying to find a way to end his time at Stoke City and sign with the Union. Philadelphia laid the groundwork for the deal by acquiring the top spot in the allocation order from D.C. United and clearing salary budget space by including veteran defender Jeff Parke in the package. Those measures placed the Union in a position to accept Edu's reported seven-figure demands and make him a Designated Player.
MLS scuppered those plans by expressing concern about meeting Edu's asking price. It is well within its purview to do so: it must approve every player signing. The reluctance to satisfy Edu's initial ask – explained in greater philosophical detail in a previous post on the FOX Soccer blog – stemmed from a desire to maintain a salary structure called into considerable question when Toronto FC signed Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe. Edu's demands – reasonable as they were given his Premier League wages – simply fell outside the comfort level within the league office.
Union boss John Hackworth worked with CEO and operating partner Nick Sakiewicz and MLS to find a way to bring Mo Edu back to the league.
Instead of allowing the initial hesitancy to end the negotiations entirely, the four involved parties – the two clubs, MLS and Edu – devised a more complicated solution to ensure everyone left the table satisfied.
The potential permanent transfer morphed into a 12-month loan deal with an option to purchase. By changing the structure of the deal, Stoke City presumably assumed a portion of Edu's wages (depending on any loan fee paid) to facilitate his exit from the club. Stoke's decision reduced the overall salary commitment required from MLS and the Union (directly liable for any amount in excess of the maximum salary, though the salary budget charge can be defrayed by allocation money) and squeezed Edu within the acceptable wage parameters. Most importantly, the compromises ensured Edu would not need to take a substantive pay reduction in order to complete the move.
All parties eventually finished off the finer details and paved the way for Edu to join the Union as a Designated Player before the close of the January transfer window. The move may have caused a bit of controversy along the way (particularly after he proceeded through the allocation process as a Designated Player), but it ultimately yielded the desired outcome for everyone involved.
