I think MLS transfer and salary cap rules are becoming more and more of a joke, the whole reason they supposedly have their little sandbox league where teams can't spend money freely is to promote parity in the wake of the Cosmos dominance... yet all the real superstar signings seem to get channeled to specific markets. Teams should be able to conduct their own business in the transfer market already, the league looks Mickey Mouse.
Portland really got shafted here... not only did they circumvent the allocation process and bypass Portland's claim on Dempsey (they called it a "DP" exemption) but apparently the league also paid the full 9 million dollar transfer fee on behalf of Seattle.
That said Seattle isn't getting a steal here, almost 7 million a year for Dempsey is a huge overpayment imo. I loved him at Fulham but he's no world beater and I think MLS is over hyping him.
Watched TFC win two in a row last night, Laba is looking like a really great player, even moreso given that he is only 21 and Osorio is a solid player as well. Good couple of central defenders in Caldwell and Henry. Might finally have a solid spine and a platform to build on.
Only drawback is that they still seem to have some really bad players in their 11, that Lambe guy is atrocious and Nelson appears to be playing favourites a bit with his fellow NZer Brockie who is also not an MLS quality player.
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