Red Bulls and Chivas USA Swap Agudelo For Pearce
There was a buzz going around Red Bull training as rumors were flying around about a potential trade in the works with Chivas USA. Some thought it was going to be for Rafa Marquez, as some thought a change of scenery would be good for him, but that was not the case.
The New York Red Bulls have wasted no time to make a deal to help out their situation on defense. They acquired Heath Pearce from Chivas USA in exchange for budding youth forward Juan Agudelo.
Ives Galarcep reported on his site as well as for FoxSoccer.com that Chivas USA will pay a portion of Pearce’s salary, and will also receive a significant amount of allocation money, so they will bring in some new players in the upcoming summer transfer window.
The consensus has been that the fantastic production from Kenny Cooper since being traded to the club gave the Red Bulls a great partner for Thierry Henry. Besting his goal totals from last year on the Portland Timbers, Cooper has looked strong, making fantastic runs to convert chances.
Now with Agudelo being sent to the West Coast, what does that mean for the Red Bulls going forward? Henry will make his return on Wednesday, May 23rd against Chivas USA at Red Bull Arena - and some possible tweaking is in the works.
Rumors are that former AC Milan defender/midfielder Alessandro Nesta will sign a two year deal with the Red Bulls once the window officially opens. With this move, will Dane Richards move up top with Cooper for their road trip to Montreal, with and Jan Gunnar Solli playing in a natural midfield position? Does this signal the end of Roy Miller playing as a starting left back for the club, or will Pearce be positioned as a center back with Markus Holgersson (since Wilman Conde might face a suspension from his current run in with the Fort Lee Police)?
It’s a real shame not to see Juan Agudelo grow into the player he can be for the Red Bulls. It also seems that Chivas USA needs forwards. At the moment it looks like Agudelo will reunite with Juan Pablo Angel as the striker partnership, as they were in New York two seasons ago.
Red Bull supporters saw him convert his first goal with the US National Team on a road trip to South Africa at the end of the 2010 season, then his first MLS goal in the 2011 home opener against the Seattle Sounders, then a Thierry Henry like goal at RFK against DC United that’s still being used in Adidas commercials.
Right now this trade helps the Red Bulls solidify their defense. There might also be a glimmer of hope that the Luke Rodgers situation may be rectified. If that is the case, then expect the firepower to become even better as the club competes in the US Open Cup as well as the MLS Cup Playoffs.
19 Responses to Red Bulls and Chivas USA Swap Agudelo For Pearce
This seems like a real dumb move. YA, lets trade a good YOUNG
forward for a defender and to free up some money so we can get an
OLD geezer from Italy. I might just stop rooting for the RedBulls
and root for my local PDL team and see if the Cosmos come along.
doesn’t make much sense considering in a couple years NY Red Bulls
could have gotten a pretty good transfer fee for Agudelo. I
mean,….where else in the world of soccer do you hear about teams
sending away their best young talent unless its for a good transfer
fee? Are transfer fees not worth it in MLS? How much does the team
get and how much does MLS take?
Not trying to rip on you, but have you ever seen Pearce play ? You
should be evaluating what they DID get for him. Right now, I don’t
think guys like Daniel F want his teams owners to have more money.
Seriously that is just stupid. If I were him that would be the LAST
thing I would want for NY. They are trying to win a championship
for a change AND run a biz, not just run a biz like most of soccer.
Charles, It would be like trading a young Steven Gerard for a 35
year old Rio Ferdinand.
Hmmmm, seems more like trading Agudelo for Pearce.
I thought this guy was America’s biggest prospect. Why not loan him
out to another MLS team…? Oh wait, MLS owns all contracts and
players play for MLS and not clubs!
I know, sweet, now he can play….and he can play where I can see
him. Man, I am glad smart guys set up this league. MLS
rocks……..Sounders-Chivas May 26th !!!!
If they were not going to play Agudelo ( and they were not ), this
is a good trade for NY.
this just confirms the kind of insular league that MLS is. There
are no incentives really to develop talent. Top young MLS players
will always have their eye on Europe. So the incentive to develop
players is the return of $$ you get for transfer fees. Ideally
clubs would then use that $$ to better their current roster and to
continue to develop talent. Look at Altidore. The transfer fee was
10 million. That alone would pay the wage budget for 3 years. Or
they could put it back into youth development and come up with with
3 more Altidores. But because clubs don’t get the transfer fee $
and instead it just goes to MLS, there is no incentive to become
part of this situation. Hence, MLS is an insulated league in
conflict with the rest of the football world. What’s so maddening
about this is how much it hurts our national team prospects. When
your professional clubs don’t have the incentive to develop talent
and don’t get the transfer fee $$ when they do, it is only logical
that they will their $ elsewhere.
MLS Press Release - Thursday April 8, 2010 Also interesting in
today’s news was information regarding how transfer fees are split
between the clubs and the league. Home Grown Player: * Club
receives 3/4 of transfer fee revenue and the League receives 1/4
Generation adidas players & non home grown players acquired in
the SuperDraft: * 1 Year of service: 1/3 to Club and 2/3 to League
* 2 Years: 1/2 to Club and 1/2 to League * 3+ Years: 2/3 to Club
and 1/3 to League All other players: * Club receives 2/3 of the
transfer fee revenue and the League receives 1/3 This provides
additional enticement for clubs to sign promising homegrown
players, as they will be rewarded with a larger percentage of
transfer fees should they move on to foreign shores.
Good to know. I think this is a change. The league is getting less
and less collective, which is good. That is not to say it wasn’t
smart to start as a single entity.
i made a mistake when i said 10 mill would cover wage budget for 3
years. I was just going by what the salary cap is. Yet, we know
many teams go over it with DP.
Bartleby: Making a statement that is false then building an
argument around that statement is lunacy. You said. “But because
clubs don’t get the transfer fee $ and instead it just goes to MLS,
there is no incentive to become part of this situation” Seriously?!
I realize that MLS Talk is full of people who don’t watch MLS but
even Tijuana Robert and Bamaman don’t buy that.
Shawn, i meant to type that they don’t get all of the transfer fee.
My argument is still valid considering that MLS also prevents how
many homegrown players a club can sign.
My two cents. I read a article that made sense to me. Rbnj are not
looking at this (how ever stupid it may look) from a long term
view. they need a championship now (though I hope those stupid
energy drinks from Jersey never win) so to get a versatile strong
player for one who barely get any playing time seems like a good
trade. That is if you measure it in the short term. Rbnj can
function just fine in attack without agudelo they need depth in the
back which again they will get with Pearce . From a business
standpoint for red bull anyway they could be shooting themselves in
the foot for one they could be loosing a future poster child for
red bulls stupid brand cuz the whole point of red bull being a
investor/operator is to advertise red bull not because they
actually care to compete in mls. more importantly though they could
be losing a future transfer fee although I agree mls is a super
insular league and clubs only get some of the fee. IMO so long as
teams are not truely independent and and are allowed to compete
freely there won’t be any true inventive to develop talent. Cuz in
the end clubs get the short end of the stick and mls wins Cuz they
own all the contracts
NJRB should of just loaned out Agudelo while giving him playing
time but still retaining ownership.
And that would have helped their pathetic D how ? They had three
guys capable of starting at forward, and terrible D. They were not
going to trade Henry, Cooper wasn’t worth anything and Agudelo got
them Pearce.
Trades are for MLB
I would have been playing Agudelo all the time and rather than
pickup Cooper, would have focused on D this summer, but Backe has
it all under control.