Blaise Nkufo, Sounders Part Ways: At Least It Ended Quickly
by Jeremiah Oshan on Mar 16, 2011 11:09 AM PDT
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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Rather than toiling in some kind of purgatory, potentially training separately from the team while trying to find a more suitable place to play, Blaise Nkufo is simply gone. In start contrast to the Freddie Ljungber situation of a year ago, this one was over before most of us even knew it had begun.
We can all be mad that it happened at all. We can be disappointed with the timing. But if we accept that this was going to happen sooner or later, this is definitely the preferred method.
Kasey Keller, who was also one of the first players to express his disappointment with Ljungberg, had a similar reaction to Nkufo's sudden departure. But he too seemed to appreciate the fact that the situation is, at least, over.
"He left us a little high and dry, which is a little frustrating," Keller said after Tuesday's First Kick loss to the LA Galaxy. "But we have a good squad. It's not about people who aren't here or people who don't want to be here. It's about the team that is here and that stepped on the field today."
What happened, exactly, is probably unlikely to ever be known. Unlike Ljungberg, who had at least formed some relationships with fans and local members of the media and was thus inclined to keep talking after he left, few people in Seattle outside of Steve Zakuani seem to have made any kind of meaningful connection with Nkufo. By most accounts, he was an upstanding citizen, a fine teammate and a solid human being, but he never seemed particularly inclined to engender good will with media or fans. His likeness may have been all over the team's marketing efforts, but his thick French accent made public appearances more difficult. There's no question he had fans here, but it wasn't because of anything he was doing aside from playing a solid target forward and scoring the occasional goal.
What this does do, at least in the short term, is live a somewhat sizable hole in the Sounders' roster. O'Brian White seems like a capable back-up, someone you're happy to turn to in a pinch, but he's so far unproven as a starting caliber forward. I'd be perfectly happy to turn it over to Nate Jaqua, but he has yet to participate fully in practice and still might be a few more weeks away from being match fit.
This does open up the possibility of bringing in another DP, but that would probably have to be someone who's currently out of contract, someone like recently signed Vancouver Whitecaps DP Eric Hassli. Realistically, it's unlikely the Sounders get any big-name replacement, at least until the end of the European season.
If the Sounder do,go the DP route, it's hard to see them going after a big-name European, anyway. More likely, it will be someone in the mol Fredy Montero, a younger player with less track record and more upside. Maybe it's someone whose DP status is at least partially tied to a transfer fee, like Alvaro Fernandez.
Unfortunately, there are a lot more questions that we have answers for right now. Hopefully, that will change in the coming days.
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Do we get cap money back here? How much?
Wondering if we could bring in someone from overseas with that.
$335K was, I'm pretty sure, Nkufo's cap hit
since it happened before the season started, we get the cap space back (which I think was the reason this was such a last minute thing).
They don't have that space yet
As of the team release the team, Nkufo’s agent and League are trying to figure things out. Transfer Window closes Apr 15
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But they will, right?
I mean, once the whole negotiation is over, long before the transfer window ends. Otherwise why do this an hour before First Kick? Ahhh, those fun MLS rules again.
they have the space
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by Jeremiah Oshan on Mar 16, 2011 11:18 PM PDT up reply actions
I think
Seattle should take their time instead of trying to rush things to find someone now.
I kind of agree, kind of disagree
OBW should be given an opportunity to start. After New York, our schedule gets a bit easier this month and so I’m not so worried about who the TF is. Ultimately, I think this means Jaqua becomes “the man” making space for Montero – but we need another competent striker to fill the MASSIVE gap left by Nkufo.
I think we DO need to move quickly – we should try and have someone in place by April 15, if at all possible. This is the year when Sigi said “its now or we break up the core” – I don’t know if that still holds after Nkufo’s departure, but if it does, we need a striker who can actually put the ball into the back of the net for more than just half a season.
Especially once USOC and CONCACAF matches start.
We aren’t deep enough up top to compete in those matches AND MLS. It’d be nice to have whoever is playing in those matches have more than a handful of weeks together (i.e. if we waited until the June transfer window).
Of course
there is that issue.
Its also about having cap flexibility if we nap a new DP now that’s 335k vs half of that if we bring a new DP during the summer transfer window allow Seattle also bring someone else in as well.
On the other Seattle could bring someone in that doesn’t involve a DP but also doesn’t involve a high salary.
Remember last year when we rushed to find someone when Jaqua was hurt while we wait for the arrival of N’kufo. Well noonan didn’t work out. That why I’m saying i think we should take our time.
But i’m not sigi or Adrian. They will decide on whats the best choice should be.
The pickings will be slim
The FO would either need to find an aging vet on a free or engineer some kind of trade with an MLS team. I don’t like any of those options. The quality of target forwards in MLS is pretty bad. You can probably count on your fingers the number of target forwards in the league who are worth bringing to Seattle. And none of those players are going anywhere.
Why does it have to be on a free?
Having a DP slot clear means the team can sign a player with a transfer fee. And since it’s the destination league’s transfer window that governs whether a transfer is possible, we could theoretically sign anyone on the planet that wants to come here (and the Sounders can afford).
Nos Audietis
I thought it was because the European window was closed, so we can’t get anyone under contract. I could definitely be wrong however.
Boo! Tomorrow AM. I want all things now!
Players can go out, they just can't be brought in
by Aaron Campeau on Mar 16, 2011 2:01 PM PDT up reply actions
The broadens the pool significantly
Does anyone know any good target men in Europe or South America currently on the outs with their teams?
Actually, he recently said he will retire at age 33 so he won't "cough up blood" trying to keep up.
Then again, Ibra bleeds green, not red. Even so, I don’t think he would ever even consider going to a lower league, too much ego.
La Vecchia Signora Forever!
Seattle HAS to move quickly if it is a player out of US League system
if a transfer, as the Window closes in a month
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
a
month isn’t a lot of time to find someone they like and bring them here.
Presumably they already have people in mind that they've looked at it in the past
If they’re starting from scratch, I totally agree that they should forget about it and have Henderson spend the next few months scouting someone for the midseason window.
Or they could send Diego Forlan’s fiancee some flowers and a nice card.
Nos Audietis
That's
the thing its hard to say what they have in mind or not looking at it from a fan perspective.
I think I understand your sentiment
Would you say “If there is a real opportunity, move fast. If not, don’t force it.”?
that was easy
ok folks, debate over, back to work!
What about the Diego Forlan rumors
He still wants to leave Atletico.
by Soccer Island on Mar 16, 2011 12:58 PM PDT up reply actions
What about the "We don't have 15 mil euro rumors?"
Oh wait, those aren’t rumors.
La Vecchia Signora Forever!
It's really hard for me to have any kind of strong negative opinion about this...
…until Nkufo actually says something publicly. (He hasn’t right? And that’s weird, right?)
There’s just so much about this situation that we don’t know, I don’t know what to really believe. I mean, Sigi is saying that Blaise was very professional about it, but is it all that professional to sign a contract with someone and then leave over differences in tactics or playing time with the coach? (Which is the only thing that I have really heard to explain this.) Was Blaise not happy with the physical nature of the league? (I wouldn’t really blame him, but his agent should probably have warned him about that if that was something Nkufo was worried about, right?
Certainly if I showed up at a job, and it wasn’t what I expected, it would be hard to put my heart into it, but at the same time I’d feel some obligation to my co-workers. I have very mixed feelings in that I generally think that the players should have some say over how their career goes, but I also think that it’s fair to say he let his teammates down, and it’s hard for me to not fault him there. It’s not like Sigi was moving him to centerback or asking him to re-invent himself as a right mid, or even to come off the bench. And I don’t think he would have been asking Nkufo to do anything ethically questionable like dive to get more fouls called on him.
I’ve spent a fair bit of time reading DC United blogs (Goff’s Soccer Insider in particular) over the last couple of years to try to get a different team’s perspective on the league, and it does seem like it is a common problem for foreign players to have trouble adjusting to MLS. In Ljungberg’s case, I felt that he was overall a very positive force for the team, even through his last season, but I also felt like he was kind of waiting for the league to adapt to him rather than the other way around. I don’t get that impression from, say, Leo Gonzalez. If I was into generalizations, I might even say that it seems less risky to bring a player to MLS from Central or South America rather than from Europe, at least if they have played in a top-flight European league. How often has a big-name Euro DP worked out in MLS? Beckham’s stint with LA has to be mixed-at-best in terms of success. Henry hasn’t been in the league long enough to say much. Then there’s Ljungberg, and I’m not sure who else there’s been.
In the end, I think that I don’t know enough to blame anyone here (and I’m not that interested in blame anyway), but I am certain that I’m disappointed in Nkufo for bailing on us like this and for not even bothering to say anything publicly about his time in Seattle. (Again, I haven’t missed anything here, right? He hasn’t said anything like “I always felt supported by the fans here in Seattle and feel bad that I’m letting them down in a way, but I had to do what was best for my career” or something like that? Or anything?)
by ubelmann on Mar 16, 2011 12:57 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
He won't say anything publicly
I can almost guarantee it. He just doesn’t speak with the media. Never has, never will, in all likelihood.
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It could be family related
Sometimes someone makes a decision for the good of the family. He might have just decided he can’t do another year. Since it seems like Vancouver isn’t interested…this might be the end of his career.
BTW – If a coworker suddenly decided to quit to move closer to family I would be totally fine with that. I would probably want the usual 2 weeks notice, but in this case it’s better to cut ties now than two weeks into the season.
That was kind of my impression
I don’t think he’s holding out for a transfer to Celtic. I kind of think he’s done unless the Caps nab him.
If his family was that big of a deal, why sign here in the first place?
And why the shroud of secrecy? If Blaise said he was leaving to be closer to his family, I could respect that, but he’s not even saying that.
And even then, I would be pretty annoyed with a coworker who signed on for a year-and-a-half-long job, only to quit halfway through for a reason that could have been foreseen at the outset. Of course there are always personal things that could change (maybe someone in his family is ill and getting worse), but I think in that case the Sounders would be emphasizing that Blaise wanted out for personal reasons. And if that was the case, the Sounders would be emphasizing how they really wanted to keep Blaise but they respected his decision to be closer to his family (or whatever.)
I would probably want the usual 2 weeks notice, but in this case it’s better to cut ties now than two weeks into the season.
What was preventing Nkufo from chatting with Sigi two weeks earlier? I’m okay with Nkufo looking out for himself, but he should look out for his teammates, too, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that he could have done both in this case.
Even if Blaise just issued a press release saying that he didn’t want to discuss the details of his departure, I think I would feel more comfortable with this. He could acknowledge that he left the team high and dry (Keller’s words.) For him to just ignore the situation doesn’t sit well with me.
by ubelmann on Mar 16, 2011 3:36 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Good Points
I would also like to see a short statement from Blaise, but I’m not going to hold my breath on it.
People can't always plan family circumstances ahead of time, unfortunately.
I’m willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt on that sort of thing. Especially if, as some suggest, he’ll retire if he can’t play in Vancouver. If he was just doing this for money, it would be a different story.
It would just be easier for me to accept if he made some vague statement
He could say that he wanted to be closer to his family, without having to justify that at all (he’s been in Europe for so long, it would be easy to understand), and it’s so vague that it would tell us practically nothing about his personal life. Like I said, he wouldn’t really even have to say something detailed or meaningful, but just acknowledging that this decision makes a difference to, say, people who spent a bunch of money on Sounders tickets would be appreciated, I think.
I'm sorry, but the whole chronology doesn't make sense...
If it was something like a family situation, and SSFC knew what was going to happen several days in advance (as Sigi and/or Adrian stated), why didn’t they announce it then, instead of one hour before the season opener? And why did someone leak the initial reports that Nkufo was being held out of the game because of an “incident” at practice that day, forcing the Sounders to go into denial mode? If you know he’s going to leave, period, why first say that he will merely not be starting the upcoming game? Why didn’t the Sounders, if they needed to explain Nkufo’s absence while things were still unsettled, simply handle it with the usual press release about a player tweaking this or that, so having to miss the game, instead of dropping a bombshell on the fans just before First Kick?
Sadly, I have to assume that the initial rumor had at least some truth to it — that, although the Sounders may have known that Nkufo was unhappy and thinking of leaving, there really was an incident (between him and Sigi?) that afternoon that resulted in Nkufo being benched and demanding to be let go. I also have to assume that a lot of this played out in the two hours or so between the “out of the starting lineup” and the “no longer with the team” statements were released.
i think this too.
earlier this year my brother had neurosurgery, we had two weeks notice. my dad the day he found out quit his job so that he could be with the family more.
things like this happen and if i were him i wouldnt want everyone to know if something was wrong with him.
jeremiah or dave, or anyone that really knows
does it have to be a free? A lot of people keep talking about how there are no good frees available, but does it need to be a free for a dp? The fee wouldn’t really count against cap anyway so what’s the difference? I don’t know the transfer rules all that well so any insight would be great. My vote is replace him sooner over later and to get a good tf…or get a proven goal scorer
A sky of blue, a sea of green...(or claret)
I'm not Dave or Jeremiah, but ...
… I’ll chime in. Even if there were a chance to purchase a player’s rights from outside the league (which should be okay as I understand it, since the only relevant transfer window is the one which applies to the league to which the player is moving), who would it be? European and South American leagues are entering their stretch runs; presumably the only players we’d be able to get between now and the end of the season are those who are out of favor at their current clubs.
by Kenneth Jung on Mar 16, 2011 2:03 PM PDT up reply actions
Or possibly a player in the reserves at a bigger club
by Aaron Campeau on Mar 16, 2011 2:04 PM PDT up reply actions
like that guy with Leeds?
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Mar 16, 2011 2:29 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Err...
… I feel slightly unclean asking this, but … are there any J-League players who would fit the bill? And, if so, would we be OK with trying to sign them?
I have long wondered why we dont see more j leaguers here
This would be a weird time to sign from there for sure, but I don’t see any real reason why not?
by chrisperry1983 on Mar 16, 2011 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Here's what I can tell you...
The Sounders are definitely going to try to use this DP slot. They, and all teams, have a constant running list of players they are targeting. I certainly can’t guarantee that they are going to sign someone soon, but they will try to sign someone as soon as makes sense. I, too, am under the impression that it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a free, but it would have to be someone that is not currently in the plans for their team.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
i figured
they would so the question would they try to sign one of those players on their target list this transfer window or wait until summer?
I think that if they could do it now, they would
I don’t see any reason that they’d risk waiting until midseason to do something if they could do it now. But, they might not be able to do it now…
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, North American soccer editor SB Nation and of course follow me on Twitter
by Jeremiah Oshan on Mar 16, 2011 2:40 PM PDT up reply actions
If the Sounders have a chance to do it now...
…I don’t see them waiting until mid-season. I would assume they learned something from the Nkufo situation last year about how it’s not a good idea to go with a mid-season signing and have to wait until half the year is over and hope you can recover from a bad start.
Everything I read
About Morales indicates he’s a winger, or a second striker – i.e. somebody who plays off the front man. It seems to me we already have two of those guys.
What this team needs is a target man who can hold the ball up, play with his back to the goal, and win balls in the box in the air.
Anybody know of any?
Is Rosales any good at free kicks?
I would say that the Sounders could also use a free kick specialist. Plus, we’ve already had one of our withdrawn forwards go down with injury, who’s to say we won’t have more? And I dare say that Rosales wouldn’t need to be very good to have been a better sub than Levesque for Flaco last night. Depth is a good thing.
friberg is
a free kick specialist Seattle came almost close to scoring off one.
Why did Alonso take so many of the free kicks, then?
I’m honestly asking. It seems like Alonso’s free kick abilities are well below average. If Friberg is that great, why isn’t he taking more of the free kicks?
there
a number things i tend to question. Maybe friberg is being used for shorter FK? shrugs
IIRC Alonso only took free kicks
once Friberg was out.
Friberg never came out.
It was Fernandez, White, and Zakuani who got subbed out.
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Are we so sure we need another target man?
We may have been underwhelmed by OBW, but he seems like a perfectly capable backup, and Jaqua’s certainly talented enough to be an MLS starter. He might even be Nkufo’s equal, and it does kinda sit heavy with someone taking up so much cap space on the bench.
It really stung yesterday because our second-string TF was out with an injury, but if I’m looking at an alternate-world depth chart where Seattle went into the year with some cap space, a DP slot, Jaqua starting and OBW backing him up, I don’t think my first impulse would be to sign a highly paid TF.
A good question
… but I think the answer is at least a qualified “yes”. We created enough chances last night to come away with a better result than a loss. Our defense was solid; our central midfield connected the dots well enough; our wingers (ok, Zakuani) created chances; hell, OBW even did well to get himself into scoring positions. What we didn’t have was a finisher — someone who could efficiently convert chances into goals. I don’t know that that is necessarily what we mean when we say “a target man”, but on last night’s evidence that’s the area in which this team is currently lacking against top-level opposition.
by Kenneth Jung on Mar 16, 2011 9:33 PM PDT up reply actions
What I wanna know is
Why the hell aren’t we going after Randy Moss or Larry Fitzgerald? I mean, come on Sounders! It’s the hip new way to run a MLS team!
Did I hear Freddy Adu?
Someone is thinking really loud…
by PeterJH on Mar 17, 2011 1:42 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
I'm
done with the aging Europe vets. I think Seattle should look elsewhere for the TF replacement if they are aiming to use a DP to fill the hole.
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