Columbus defender Chad Marshall has bucked a few growing trends by signing a multi-year extension with the MLS champs. The center back rejected an offer to join 2.Bundesliga leaders Mainz 05 in order to stay with the Crew.
To be blunt, I like Marshall's call here. Aside from Mainz, he seemed to have only mild interest from Denmark and Germany, despite being available on a free transfer. He surely could have waited into January and drummed up more interest, but instead made the mature decision to re-sign with MLS.
In doing so, he:
- Allowed himself to stay in comfy Columbus. Comfy is good for a player.
- Got a fat raise. Naturally.
- At least theoretically ensured he will get a chance to go for an MLS Cup repeat (there is still the summer window, after all).
- Assured that MLS will garner a fee when better Euro-opportunities come along, presuming he maintains a level of excellence consistent with this season to attract heightened interest.
- Realized "Hey! I'm only 24!" - which is young for a center back, especially one not noted for a speed game. There is no big rush for Marshall to go abroad, and that's good to see. He isn't trying to prove anything and is calm enough to wait for the offer he can't refuse.
Considering current economic climates and MLS' noted hardball tactics at the fee negotiating table, it was also a gutsy move by Marshall. Nowadays, American players looking to hop the pond salivate over the expiration date on their contracts (side note: I'm still working my bit about that topic, decided to expand it... arrival now TBD).
It's becoming quite common among MLS Defender of the Year winners, and accomplished backliners in general. Michael Parkhurst (2007 award recipient) recently made the switch from New England to FC Nordsjælland. Two-time winner Carlos Bocanegra moved to Fulham on a free transfer, and 2006 winner Bobby Boswell may soon leave Houston by the same route.
That doesn't even include the likes of Dynamo fullback Wade Barrett, FC Midtjylland's Danny Califf, Blackburn skipper Ryan Nelsen and retired defender Greg Vanney - each of whom had at least one Best XI honor in pocket when they left for Europe on a free transfer before the age of 30.
The other notable exception to the defecting defender rule? Jimmy Conrad, who at 29, stayed in Kansas City rather than suiting up for Norwegian giants Rosenborg. Of course, JC had already enjoyed a cup of Euro-coffee with current Polish tabletoppers Lech Poznań.
Getting back to Marshall, I can probably guess who feels like the real winner in all of this: Crew fans. Try telling them there's no such thing as a Christmas miracle...
- Greg Seltzer
[Photo: Getty]
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7 comments:
It's nice to finally see an American defender get a high salary from MLS. While everyone likes to see attacking play with plenty of goals, the one thing that holds MLS's reputation back is the lack of quality defending throughout the league. With the expected future expansion of the league which will further dilute the pool of good defenders, here's hoping that we see this type of activity more often in the future.
Any idea on how Marshall and his agent weighed this move versus the risk of the upcoming CBA negotiations with MLS?
Greg - great blog BTW. I'm loving your transfer gossip. Top shelf stuff, keep it up.
even though i am a fan of sending our players abroad, i am ok with marshall staying.
on another note, have you put up the americans-to-europe article on s365? i have been waiting for it and if i remember correctly it was promised to us for friday. get to it.
Thanks, George. I have yet to be able to talk with Chad, but I'm sure I'll get to him at some point in the offseason.
@ Evan: No, that bit did not go up yet because, as I noted in this post, I decided at the last minute to expand the story if I could. I'm going to try to get a few more people to talk about the situation. In other words... that article is on hold for now, but it will eventually appear, probably within the next week or two.
I'm leaning on Marshall having a bad agent. And I realize who is agent is. But Motzkin (sp?) has never struck me as someone who is competent. Well, aside from getting a bunch of stupid US soccer players to sign with him.
Marshall just took a job from another American. And gave up a lot of money that could have been used to give his team mates bigger raises. Columbus and US soccer just lost here.
Marshall lost because he is stuck in MLS again.
Besides Motzkin, I wonder if people are backing away from him due to his concussions.
greg, fair enough. i think the fact of no major soccer being on today and the window opening in a couple days has made me antsy. great stuff, keep it up.
I obviously can't describe what avenues Rich Motzkin explored this time out, but I will remind he did get Cory Gibbs to F-word, Landon Donovan to Bayer & Bayern, Jozy to Villarreal, Freddy to... in other words, he's not THAT poorly connected in Europe. And his east coast partner repped Dempsey, Wolff, Howard and others in moves abroad.
I saw a BigSoccer poster raise the concussion question (can't remember who... sorry!), which obviously could have factored into how much interest he was getting.
Or perhaps some clubs felt Marshall should produce back-to-back seasons of '08 caliber before getting serious about him?
I'm not sure any of your examples are good choices for saying Motzkin does a good job occasionally.
The players really need to find better representation. Their careers are short. Motzkin has no clue what he is doing. Although, he's not the only one.
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