Photo by Fergal of Claddagh

The Los Angeles Galaxy, looking at its rivals for the MLS Cup and seeing them focus more on acquiring American players overseas and trading amongst themselves, decided to make the big-named signing by acquiring Irish international Robbie Keane from Tottenham.  The cost of the contract is huge, rumored to be roughly $9.75 million over two years with the Galaxy sending about £3.5 million in transfer fees.  Obviously, this means Keane will be a designated player, which I will discuss below.

Keane’s resume is spectacular, and I would encourage all Barclay’s Premier League rookies to take a look at his extensive resume on Wikipedia.  He’s in the top-10 all time in league goals scored, captain of the Irish national team, and has played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs.  The transfer is also historic because (as LAG Confidential points out) this is the first time an MLS team has paid a transfer fee to a BPL club for a player.

So where does Keane fit in?  Obviously one of LA’s designated players has to go, and unless I am missing a team dynamic here, that player will be Juan Pablo Angel.  The former Aston Villa striker and Red Bulls terror has been an absolute failure in LA, so he will be looking to reinvigorate his career elsewhere.  Initially the rumor was that Philadelphia would try to grab him but now the hot rumor is Chivas USA is his destination, if for no other reason than the Goats has refused to sign anyone else this season.  The trade, reported by Fox Soccer’s Ives Galarcep, has yet to be officially announced but is likely to be soon and we can then share what exactly LA will get for him.

Is Keane the magic bullet for LA to win the MLS Cup in a year when the game will be played on their home turf?  Keane is certainly an upgrade over Angel if for no other reason than Angel contributed nothing.  But to assume Keane solves all of LA’s problems is delusion.  Playing for West Ham last season Keane contributed little, scoring two goals in nine appearances for the relegated club and failing to be the offensive threat the Hammers thought they were acquiring.  Spurs had been shopping him but received little interest except from Leicester City, so the Galaxy’s offer was certainly a welcome one.  This is not to say Keane does not have some goals left in him – he is only 31 and scored 16 times for Celtic just two years ago.  But fans expecting a thoroughly dominating player may be disappointed.

This transfer however does have two very interesting subplots for the Galaxy and MLS. The first is that this deal is the first between the Galaxy-Spurs soccer partnership.  If you remember back in February, the two teams discussed a new partnership that would allow players to potentially move back and forth between the two as well as provide some cross-marketing opportunities.  This is the first player move between the two, and I had thought at the time that this could potentially lead to young Galaxy players going across the Atlantic more easily.  We will see if this will lead to young Galaxy players getting a chance in London to play at a higher level, and what impact such a swap system would have on MLS.

The other subplot is that LA is again falling back on their model of team building by signing the big name.  This site has not been shy in criticizing the Beckham model for team building and how the Galaxy have not won an MLS Cup with their English superstar.  Most teams, lacking the pizazz and money of LA, have turned their international player acquisitions to Latin America, U.S. national team members, or, in the case of the Philadelphia Union, both.  The results have been telling – Los Angeles and New York (who also likes to make sexy international signings) have not won an MLS Cup since they went acquired their big name international stars.  If Los Angeles fails to win an MLS Cup with Keane, does it further signify that MLS is a league that eschewed star power?  But what if this is the signing that leads the Galaxy to an MLS Cup?  Does that change the championship-winning business model and force other teams to try and sign their own big names to keep up with LA?

Sounds off with your Keane and Galaxy thoughts below.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!  While the United States paused work to celebrate the holidays, MLS was busy receiving come hither glances from foreign soccer stars who, seeing Thierry Henry and Beckham’s success in the U.S., have decided that coming to American to finish their career would be most beneficial.

The most recent, and possibly biggest name, is AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who told Voetbal International this weekend that he would like to finish his career in a nice place in the U.S. before retiring.  Previously, the striker had said AC Milan would be his last club, but indicates he would love the chance to make a little extra money playing in America in the future.  The Swede would be a great get for MLS, as he is one of the world’s best goal-scorers and a bona fide star.  His play early in the 2010-2011 Serie A season almost single-handedly kept Milan in the scudetto race as well as the Champions League.  The one problem is his current contract runs through 2014, so if he does honor his contract it will be a long time before we see him in an MLS uniform.

The second big name is Chelsea forward and former French international Nicolas Anelka, who is under contract in England for the next two years.  Anelka has made the rounds in international football, playing for (in addition to Chelsea) Arsenal, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid.  Another incredibly gifted striker who even at an older age (he would be 33 in 2012) would be a major contributer to an MLS team.  And he has an American soccer connection – his brother is former AC St. Louis coach Claude Anelka, who told a French soccer site “More and more players want to go playing over there. United States represents something. It makes you dream.”

A third potential international looking to make an American move is someone very familiar to national team members.  Most recently of West Ham, Mexican-international Guillermo Franco is looking at all international options, including MLS as reported by Jeremiah Oshan.  His status as unsigned makes him a promising prospect to play in the U.S., and there are clubs that could use his services.  But he is also looking at the Middle East and wants to retire at Monterrey, where he was a star in the Mexican league.

Finally, the MLS site mentions that Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu has possible interest in an MLS move.  While Mutu is an immensely talented player, the Romanian is coming off a drug suspension and Fiorentina has indicated they do not want to resign him when his contract is up.  His baggage may be too much to take on for an MLS club.

These are some big names rumored to be considering MLS and it shows the appeal of the U.S. soccer league.  But who do think would be the best addition to the MLS?

For the National Basketball Association, it has been a turn-around of a situation it has long held advantage of.  In the last couple of weeks, the league has seen several current players or draft picks decide to turn down the chance to play in the NBA in order to move to, or stay in, Europe, and more are rumored to be considering the same.  What makes this unusual is that these are late first-round picks or, in the case of Josh Childress, a career 11 point, 6 rebound per game player.  In other words, not players existing on the league’s fringes.  What has caused this?  One reason is an increase in money available to European clubs from richer owners.

But there is a second reason, and its one that is also set to take a bite out of Major League Soccer as well.  Darren Rovell, sports business expert for CNBC, called it a potential ‘great equalizer’ in player salaries.  That reason?  The recent steep decline of the US dollar.

Certainly, the US dollar has traded unfavorably with the Euro, the standard currency of most of Europe, for roughly the last six years.  However, it has now quickly reached a level that seems shocking to believe.  At this time in 2006, the going exchange rate was around $1.25 to 1 Euro.  Now, the exchange rate stands at $1.57, a jump of over 30 cents during that time span.

How does this affect MLS?  Two ways.  First, it makes it cheaper for European clubs to match up or exceed the salaries that MLS offers to its players.  Currently, the maximum salary allowed in MLS for a non-designated player is $300,000.  Two years ago, equalling that salary took just over 238,500 Euros.  Last year, it would have taken 218,800 Euros.  Today, matching the league maximum will only set a club back 191,300 Euros; a greater than 12% drop in the last year, and a 20% decrease over two years.

Second, it makes it cheaper for European clubs to make large transfer offers for higher-end talent.  Last month, Jozy Altidore transferred from New York Red Bulls to Spanish side Villareal for $10 million, the highest fee ever paid for an MLS player.  On the day the contract for the move was completed (June 11th), 10 million dollars was the equivalent of 6.4 million Euros.  Go back to the same day last year, and that same $10 million would have cost Villareal 7.5 million Euros instead.

With less currency needed to match salary demands and transfer payments, there is now less risk and more upside than ever before for European clubs to make deals for MLS talent.  And recent transfers show that clubs are beginning to pounce.  Just in the last month, we had the Altidore deal.  Elsewhere, FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja is reportedly being scooped up by Romanian side Steaua Bucharest, while teammate Kenny Cooper is being hunted by multiple clubs.  And Brad Guzan, for the second time, is awaiting a move to England’s Aston Villa.  Go back to this past off-season, and you’ll see a lineup of European travellers that includes Bryan Arguez, Chris Gbandi, Eddie Johnson, Pat Noonan, Clarence Goodson, and Nate Jaqua, who all jumped to bigger money at Fulham, Hertha Berlin, Austrian side SCR Altach, and three different Norwegian clubs.

The good, and bad, news is that the exchange rate, in current trading, looks to remain flat for the next 18 months.  Futures contracts trading today for December 2009 have an exchange rate of $1.53 per Euro.  That means the price won’t get cheaper for European clubs, but it also means that the current discount on MLS players will be available for the forseeable future.  So, MLS now faces two possibilities: either increase the amount of money it is spending to keep its current crop of players, or accept that European clubs will continue to scour the league for more bargains in the forseeable future.  Either way, the current currency crunch will leave a heavy mark on the league for years to come.