INCOMING/OUTGOING: It's TRANSFER TIME! MLS Transfer rumors Pt.1

Hello, greetings, Happy New Year, Feliz Ano, etc...

The transfer window looms large, opening tomorrow and many an MLS fan are likely wondering "who we gonna get?" so that means one thing and one thing only: Rumors!

MLS Rumors has learned from Sean Wheelock and other sources that one "almost Beckham-like" transfer to an MLS club (most likely New York) is likely to happen.

So this will be the first part of a series pointing out all the transfer rumors.

Here's what we have so far feel free to add to this list. We have assigned ratings to each rumor.


Figo to LA Galaxy or Houston Dynamo
Rating: 5 (Very good)


This rumor is being reported by multiple sources as a done deal worth $3.5 million USD.
AEG has already signed off on it and a press conference is being arranged as we speak for later in the week. I suspect this may be the transfer Sean hinted at. We'll see. Since Houston is being sold I don't see AEG acquiring Figo for Houston. He is LA bound most likely.


Ronaldo to Red Bull New York
Rating: 3 (quite possible)



Have they finally acquired their target? We'll see. Ronaldo has been linked to a return to Brazilian side Flamingo but there is the constant Ronaldo to New York rumor popping up. His fitness is an issue and he may be worried about returning to Brazil as they are less than kind to idols who return and do not perform up to their name.Sources say its about 50/50.

Andriy Shevchenko to DC United
Rating:3 (possible)


This rumor keeps poping up. We know that Shevchenko has expressed interest in playin in MLS next year with most articles placing him in New York or LA. We however think that his wife who was a factor in his move from Italy to the Premiership is also a factor in his inevitable move to the states. Her family resides near Washington, DC so that makes DC United a likely destination if they want him.

Maciej Zurawski to LA Galaxy
Rating:4 (good)


This rumor just won't go away and it makes sense in an LA kinda way. How they would fit Figo, Zurawski, Donovan, Beckham and Pavon under the salary cap will be uh....interesting.

Darren Huckerby to LA Galaxy
Rating: 2 (not likely)



This rumor is looking less and less likely as days go by.

Jose Fonseca to Chivas USA
Rating: 2 (not likely)
Sources in the Spanish speaking media are reporting this deal as being very close. ..Sources close to Chivas USA say it's not happening.

More to come in the next days.

EXPANSION: UPDATE -Vote in favor of Miami Soccer stadium passes 9-4 in favor.

Just an update on a previous post. The council passed the measure 9-4.

COMPETITIONS: 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup Draw

Here it is:

Quarterfinal Series First-Leg: 11-13.03.2008 Second-Leg: 18-20.03.2008		Semifinal Series First-Leg: 01-03.04.2008 Second-Leg: 08-10.04.2008		Final Series First-Leg: 22-24.04.2008 Second-Leg: 29.04-01.05.2008
Pachuca CF (MEX)
CD Motagua (HON)
D.C. United (USA)
Harbour View FC (JAM)
Atlante FC (MEX)
Deportivo Saprissa (CRC)
Houston Dynamo (USA)
CSD Municipal (GUA)

Host First-Leg

EXPANSION: Miami Fusion FC to return to the league in 2011?

This is no longer really a rumor but it is interesting. We at MLS Rumors had been getting rumors emailed to us for the last couple of weeks about a soccer stadium being voted on for the Orange Bowl site. Today apparently the items related to it have come up for a vote and one has already passed, the other is being voted on as we speak. If approved Miami like St. Louis will jump to the head of the line. It would be very hard for potential investors and the league to pass up the opportunity to put an MLS club in one of the largest media markets and a diverse community such as Miami. We know that Don Garber, MLS Commisioner and MLS president Mark Abbott have been in Miami recently. We also know that this plan for a $100 million stadium would in effect be nearly assured if today's vote is positive in favor of the plan for the Orange Bowl site. As for investors,the news is that several are invested including Traffic Sports, owners of the USL club Miami FC and organizers of Copa America. We also know that Argentine superclub Boca Juniors has mentioned their interest in Miami. It should also be noted that in January of 2006 MLS filed a new trademark for "Fusion Miami FC" and it was published for opposition May 29, 2007.

Word Mark	FUSION MIAMI F.C.
Goods and Services	IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: printed matter, namely, posters, decals, trading cards, stickers, bumper stickers, paper flags, paper banners, printed paper car flags, printed paper signs, media guides, souvenir programs concerning soccer games, yearbooks, event admission tickets, magazines featuring soccer IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: wearing apparel, namely, t-shirts, shirts, shorts, pants, jackets, sweatshirts, hats, sweatsuits and footwear
Mark Drawing Code	(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code	01.05.04 - Sun with rays but neither partially exposed nor with facial features 26.17.13 - Letters or words underlined and/or overlined by one or more strokes or lines; Overlined words or letters; Underlined words or letters 27.03.05 - Objects forming letters or numerals
Serial Number	78803491
Filing Date	January 31, 2006
Current Filing Basis	1B
Original Filing Basis	1B
Published for Opposition	May 29, 2007
Owner	(APPLICANT) Major League Soccer, L.L.C. LTD LIAB CO DELAWARE 420 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York NEW YORK 10018
Attorney of Record	Alan Blum
Prior Registrations	2387460
Disclaimer	NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "F.C." APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN
Description of Mark	"The mark consists of sun rays surrounding the words FUSION MIAMI F.C.".
Type of Mark	TRADEMARK
Register	PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator	LIVE

Rumors Rating: 5 (very good)

COMPETITIONS: CONCACAF Champions Cup First Round matchups shakeup?

Ahead of tomorrow afternoon's CONCACAF Champion's Cup draw, a source states that this year's competition may have a new wrinkle: One or both MLS sides facing Mexican clubs in the first round. Apparently, according to this source, this past year's SuperLiga's popularity and interest did not go unnoticed by Jack Warner and company, so the competition this year may try to draw attention to its opening round matches by featuring MLS vs FMF opposition. Additionally, it was stated that this format would allow a greater chance for one of the CONCACAF minnows to progress through the tournament for its final installment.

Source also states that the logo for the new CONCACAF Champions League will be unveiled tomorrow.

Rumors Rating: 1 (poor)

Our take is that this would be a very silly thing to do if CONCACAF were trying to build interest in the competition. But it would not be the first silly thing CONCACAF has done with our region club competition. Of course with this being the final Champion's Cup and with the CONCACAF Champion's League beginning in the fall of 2008 one has to wonder how much they care? Also why would they unveil the logo for another competition at the draw for this one? Answer: They wouldn't.

NEW DIRECTION and RATING SYSTEM

Wow. What a week it has been.


After six months of MLS Rumors we have decided to do a few things to enhance this site.

1. Accreditation for published rumors. We liked the positive feedback regarding this. We will continue this practice where rumors have been reported elsewhere in the mainstream media.

2. Better followup of non-published sources. We have had a LOT of rumors sent to us anonymously as well as through some of our sources within the US soccer scene. Often we went to print with no followup on a particular rumor. From now on we will follow rumors as if they are stories as we did with the Veron to DC saga. With the transfer season just starting up this will be important.

3. We plan to institute a rating system. This is a big deal. Not all rumors are equal and we realize that some people exMLS Rumors to be a news site. We are not. Nevertheless we will institute immediately, a ranking system for the veracity of rumors from our unpublished sources. It will run from 0-5. 0 = not a very good rumor and 5 = excellent rumor with multiple sources published and unpublished.

One thing the Veron saga and others have taught us is that mainstream publications do watch our site and in the case of the Veron story that Sports Illustrated went to press with, this resulted in a circular news story based primarily on rumors from this site and others.
The rating system will help avoid that possibility in the future.


4. We want your input. IF YOU HAVE A RUMOR, please send it to the address above. You can be anonymous. We will look into it and if we deem it good enough, publish it. You are part of what makes us run. We have good internal sources but are always looking for more as we can not be everywhere. There exists a small team that keep this site going. some of us have better sources from time to time than others.

5. This site is going to have a new look. We plan to keep the design clean but the generic blogspot look will be going away eventually.

We want to remain THE place to come for a centralized collection of any and all rumors to do with MLS, its clubs and players. Other MLS rumor sites have come and gone but we remain dedicated to that thing that keeps us interested in futbol in between the games. That has always been our aim and we will not change this. Rumors about MLS are are one and ONLY focus and will remain so.
We hope you like Rumors. We are here for you and the sport and league we love.

NOTCOMING: Juan Sebastian Veron (UPDATE 4)

Well if you have not heard the news yet, it seems Veron is not coming any time soon and is staying with his club Estudiantes. What could cause him to change his mind you ask? We're not sure but we will stay on this story if anything else breaks but we think this ship has sailed.

What about that story that was on Sports Illustrated's site and the AP wire? Seems that they read a story from this site which had read our blog. They then published a story which seemed to confirm what we had been hearing. Circular journalism at its best.
(See also: Edgar Davids to FC Dallas)

Check back later tonight and tomorrow for important information on the direction of this blog in the future.

INCOMING: Juan Sebastian Veron (UPDATE 3)

Multiple media sources are reporting that, as we stated previously Juan Sebastian Veron has signed with DC United and MLS for a price between $3-$4 million dollars. The price we have heard was he signed for $3.6 million dollars over 3 years but we could be wrong here as we have no independent confirmation of this.


With this deal Veron becomes DC United's first designated player and the latest Designated Player to sign with an MLS club. The next thing will be his official unveiling which matches our earlier post regarding the timeline of his arrival in America. (See our time line below).

INCOMING: Juan Sebastian Veron (UPDATE 2)

We have recently learned that Veron's deal is worth 3 million dollars.

INCOMING: Jared Borghetti to Kansas City? Chicago? Colorado?

Multiple reports including ESPN Deportes radio and Steve Goff are reporting the Mexican International, Jared Borghetti will be following the path of Blanco northward and he has been linked to multiple clubs. Any chance some MLS club can sign Oguchi Onyewu ??

Gold Coast Galaxy? - Australian A-League side to be branded after Beckham Boys.

As happened in the past with South Africa's Jomo Cosmos being branded after the highly successful NY Cosmos of the NASL, A-league's newest expansion club on the Gold Coast is likely to be branded after Los Angeles Galaxy.

The oddest thing about this branding as opposed to say Jomo Cosmos and Real Salt Lake is that, well LA Galaxy were not exactly a good side recently failing to miss the MLS playoffs two years in a row and falling 5-3 to Sydney FC on a recent friendly.

One has to wonder if the Gold Coast has its own Socceroo version of Alexi Lalas.

In other news, Landon Donovan was recently quoted as saying he would not mind playing in the A-League.

Hmmm.....

OUTGOING: Bobby Boswell from DC United. INCOMING: Zack Wells from Houston Dynamo.

The Wasghington Post's Steve Goff has broken news that Zack Wells will be the newest member of the Black and Red and Bobby Boswell, one of the marquee 'faces' of the club through his website, BobbyBoswell.com is packing bags for H-town. Looks like LucianoEmilio.com will have to suffice for DC United fans. Wells played incredibly well in last year's CONCACAF Champions Cup and is part of the reason we believe DC United is making moves that position them for an international cup run. DC united will be involved in 3-4 such competitions: 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup, 2008 SuperLiga, 2008 CONCACAF Champions League and potentially Copa Sudamerica 2008.

INCOMING/OUTGOING: Something Brewing in DC

Yesterday the speculation about Veron and other international transfers was pushed aside by a flurry of unexpected domestic trade activity at DC United headquarters. The Washington Post's Steve Goff reported various scenarios in play which included at one time or another:


Goalkeeper Troy Perkkins going to a club in Norway.

Christian Gomez leaving the club for who knows where

Marquee defender Bobby Boswell being traded with cash to Dallas for Carlos Ruiz who would then be traded to LA Galaxy for goalkeeper Joe Cannon in a complicated 3 way trade

Bobby Boswell being traded to Houston Dynamo for one of their goalkeepers.


Something is up in DC. It should be an interesting couple of weeks, and then the transfer window opens....

INCOMING: Juan Sebastian Veron [& others?] (UPDATE) Incl. Timeline + More

We at MLSR have become privy to the details of a timeline for Veron's arrival at DC United.

Sometime later today. Dec 12, 2007 Juan Sebastian Veron is expected to announce his northward move at a news conference and celebration of his club, Estudiantes 1 year anniversary of beating Boca Juniors and winning the trophy.


Next Tuesday Dec 18, 2007 - Veron will board a plane headed to Washington, DC

Next Wednesday Dec 19, 2007 - Official DC United press conference at RFK Stadium, where he will be presented with a jersey.

Additionally, Steve Goff is reporting that DC United is rumored to be pursuing another Argentinian, a forward with 53 caps for the Argentina national team named Claudio Lopez.

And were that not enough, we have learned from a source in Washington DC that DC United is likely in new negotiations with a Brazilian right back named Ruy Bueno Neto, whom they pursued last winter to no avail as well as with an Argentinian winger.

With the new rule changes with regards to each MLS club having 8 international players regardless of age, it seems DC United is looking at bringing in a number of experienced veterans for a potential international cup run.

It also would seem to indicate that Christian Gomez is likely gone.

Then we have the rumor about Schevchenko coming...but we'll leave that one to others.......for now.