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Message: [QUOTE="ZooCougar, post: 3010538, member: 296"] Call this guy up? [URL="http://www.espn.com/soccer/story/3758130/source-donovan-to-make-$250,000-by-joining-arena-league-side"]Source: Donovan to make $250k in arena league[/URL] This is going to be an interesting cycle for the USMNT. I think that we are at a real crossroads in terms of where and how American talent is developed. MLS is spending more and more as it aspires to increase it’s global prestige. At the same time, the opportunities for the young developing American player are still pretty uncertain. The MLS “Super” Draft is not an important event anymore. Few players that are actually drafted ever get contracts and many teams are trading away picks for basically nothing. The gap between college and MLS is larger than ever and growing. MLS teams prefer to develop domestic talent in their Academies and have already been complaining about really low ROI. MLS Teams would rather pay a foreign player from a foreign second division club, $350k a year than pay an American player and give him the same minutes. MLS can’t really say that it is the best place for the American player anymore. He doesn’t play and he doesn’t get paid. More players are going overseas for minutes and a much higher paycheck. This is a dilemma for US Soccer. Is it better if MLS focuses on growing the American player? Or is it better to make the league the best it can be in World terms even if it is at the expense of the American player? My vote would be for the League to keep improving and force Americans to step up their game. But that will mean that two of America’s sacred cows of soccer, the college game (adds almost no value at this point) and pay to play soccer will have to evolve. Even if you have you have 40 MLS Academies, that’s not enough to scout and serve a nation with 350M+. [/QUOTE]

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