Besides the raft of injuries, DC United's roster last year had three big problems: lack of depth, lack of speed, and a poor defense. Now we're waving bye-bye to Martinez, are trying to negotiate a lower salary for Peralta, and haven't yet inked a new deal with Namoff. True, we have added Janicki, but is a single USL2 defender, no matter how much promise he demonstrated, really the answer?
Of course, the front office would have to be insane not to realize this, so why do I bring it up?
Defenders may be at a major premium next year. Consider . . .
- Parkhurst departing for the Scandanavian Defender Mines
- Marshall shopping for lederhosen
- United's aforementioned issues
- Chicago potentially looking at Soumare bolting for Europe and Conde gone walkabout
- Davino departing Dallas
- Parke perhaps entertaining visions of Euro-plums
- Seattle needing to construct an entirely new back line
So where are the defenders going to come from? The draft is always a crap-shoot, and you'd be taking a major gamble to bank on a rookie filling a starting role for the entire season. Maybe MLS can pan the USL creek for gold, but will they then loosen the purse strings to obtain that gold? Or are we looking at a boatload of discovery claims on cheap foreigners?
One thing I do know: if I were a Yank defender currently toiling in the Scandanavian Defender Mines and looking for a move stateside, this would be a prime year to cash in.
This is a good point. I have a feeling there will be this season a major influx of unknown foreign stop-gaps looking for a decent paycheck before they retire.
ReplyDeleteBut wait-- how is that different from any other season?
The difference this year? Volume.
ReplyDeleteContinued expansion, lack of a decent wage for kids coming out of college, and nickel-diming the journeymen is going to leave slim pickings on the domestic front.
On the flip side, we may be seeing a lot of goals this year.