We all knew this was coming after his performance in the Olympics in London, but now rumors are starting to slowly come out about clubs that are interested in acquiring the services of Sporting KC midfielder, Roger Espinoza. Today during half time of the Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy game on ESPN2, Alexi Lalas said that he'd spoken with Espinoza's agent and that the Honduran has offers from 2 EPL side and some La Liga sides as well. There's also this article from Goal.com linking Espinoza with Athletico Madrid, Mallorca, Sevilla, and Getafe.
The debate becomes whether KC should hang on to Espinoza through the season and possibly see him go on a free, or cash in now and get something for him even though neither Julio Cesar or Paulo Nagamura can replace Espinoza in the midfield. If Espinoza does leave at the end of the season, KC at least has the chance to make an offer to Espinoza to attempt to keep him in KC. Should KC do that, they'd retain his MLS rights as a former MLS player returning to the league. If KC were to sell him for a transfer fee they would lose his MLS rights should he return to the league, he would go through the allocation should he return in this scenario. If KC were to sell him, they would get to keep 2/3rds of the transfer fee while 1/3rd would go to the league.
The other option is that he stays in MLS, that KC works out a deal that will allow him stay in Kansas City. The question is how much is he worth? Is he worth designated player money? Quite a few fans will say yes, but the league also has to agree to the contract and I'm not sure that they'll agree to a DP contract for Espinoza.
That is the key debate to have over the next few weeks while the European window stays open. Do you cash in now and lose your ability to bring him back in if he doesn't succeed abroad, or do hold on to him until the end of the season, make an offer, hoping to keep him and if he doesn't, let him leave on a free but retain his MLS rights?
Espinoza certainly has his eyes on a move abroad and honestly I wouldn't hold him back, he'll be successful abroad. I would personally hold on to him until the end of the season, and make him a reasonable offer so that if he returns you retain his rights. His transfer fee isn't going to be huge, so KC won't get a ton of allocation money to work with, and on the off chance he doesn't take off in Europe I'd rather have him back here in KC than somewhere else playing against him.
Might as well keep him until the end of the year, I dont think any money gained for a trasnfer would got to the roster anyway. With no moves to really improve the team this year, it would be a pretty big bummer to lose our best player for the rest of the season for what in the end will be nothing in return.
ReplyDeleteSituation sucks, box to box midfielders with his kind of talent dont grow on trees, and dont sign contracts with MLS as free agents. He will not be replaced, would be really hard to do so.