TFC salaries from MLSPU website

[Trident]

In way, it is amusing when we are talking about overpaying players by thousands of dollars.

Overpayment is overpayment.

Try and get the mosst bang for your buck.

[ag futbol]

As much as everyone was wanting Mo to start looking at players outside the leagues of Britain where some bargains might be found, I don't think anyone was suggesting these leagues should be those of Slovenia and Latvia. As someone who has seen a number of Russian 1st division matches (2nd tier) live, there are quite a few players at this level who could be useful signings for a MLS team. However, they should have signed a Russian 2nd division player who was a steady starter and key player for a decent side not a guy who has bounced around as a sub for various teams between stints in where, you guessed it, Latvia. With proper scouting I am certain you could get a much better Russian 2nd division player than Usanov for the same salary, ie. a guy who could be a steady MLS starter.

Do you think it's simply that they need that extra incentive to jump to a league like MLS? (not being condescending here, just curious)

I agree, while you can find useful players on an MLS level practically anywhere i'm not sure what possessed us to look in Latvia.

[Guest Ed]

I was enjoying this thread until I read about Attakora planning on going to England. Another promising career down the toilet?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I agree, while you can find useful players on an MLS level practically anywhere i'm not sure what possessed us to look in Latvia.

I suspect some people also had those sorts of attitudes about scouting players from Liberia until George Weah emerged on the scene. I find it hard to believe that paying players between 60 and 110k is leading to accusations of overpaying players. That would be League Two struggler or Blue Square Conference level money in an English context and very few players from that sort of level have ever made the grade in MLS. Preki preferred to go to Slovenia and Latvia because it is easier for an MLS team to compete financially in that sort of context for players that can be expected to start regularly in MLS. Other places he could have looked for similar reasons are the Caribbean and some parts of Latin America.