Loaned Out

In case you people who only pay attention to the Premier League, La Liga, Seria A and the Bundesliga arguably one of the top 10 football/soccer leagues just kicked of the other day. I am talking about the MLS (Major League Soccer) and don’t give me that crap about it being a horrible league, when was the last time you actually watched an MLS match?...I thought so. One aspect that is different from North American sports leagues and European leagues is how players switch teams. In North America players get traded from one team to another for other players, or when their contract runs out they are free to sign with any team they want. In Europe players are sold for millions of euros, and very seldom when a contract runs out they can sign with another team as in North America. In the NBA, NHL, or MLB when a player is not producing as they are expected or are young and just need more playing time they are usually sent down to the minor leagues to the parent clubs minor league affiliate. In Europe what they do is they loan players out to teams, sometimes to ones in their own league sometimes to teams in other leagues.

Landon Donovan

In the past couple of years players have been load out from the MLS to clubs in Europe from January till the start of the MLS season. In Europe the season runs from fall to spring were in the MLS the league runs from spring through the summer and into early fall. Because of this players can not be loaned to Europe at the start of the European season since the MLS season is on its last few weeks and in the playoff run. The next time the European transfer window is open is in January when it is also the MLS off season. Another problem with the MLS is that it very rarely sells players, they wait until someone’s contract runs out. Based off of this there is about a two month window when a player can go on a loan from the MLS to Europe.

David Beckham

In the past there have been only a handful of players that have been on load to a European club from the MLS. David Beckham went on load to A.C. Milan twice the second time ending in an achilles injury, Landon Donovan went on loan to Bayern Munich which had mixed reviews but his two stints with Everton were very successful. Robbie Keane was loaned to Aston Villa and Thierry Henry was back at his old club Arsenal. These two spells were very successful but how would players who are not superstars do in the Premier League or the Seria A? Will this become a new trend? Will clubs take a player on a two month loan as a trial period and then try to sign them at a later time if everything turns out fine?

I think that it is a great opportunity for players form the MLS to make a big splash but they still now that there is no pressure on them since no matter what happens after two months they will be back in the U.S.