Saturday Ticker: Gibbs to join Galaxy, More on Cunningham deal and Ljungberg's price

Good afternoon all. After doing commentary for the U.S. women's game this morning on the NBC Olympics website, I will be taking a bit of a break from the site today. The (very) early morning and another early morning tomorrow means I need to get some rest today. Before I check out for the afternoon, here are some tidbits to get you through the day:

Gibbs set to join Galaxy

Former U.S. national team defender Cory Gibbs will join the Los Angeles Galaxy as soon as he passes a physical, a source with knowledge of the move told SBI late Friday.

Gibbs finalized his MLS contract on Friday and LA will use its allocation spot, currently No. 1, to grab the oft-injured Gibbs. It is still unclear just how much Gibbs signed for, but it appears the Galaxy does have the salary cap space to fit Gibbs on its oversized salary cap.

TFC paying part of Cunningham contract

Toronto FC will pay half of the remaining salary on forward Jeff Cunningham's contract. Cunningham was traded by TFC to FC Dallas on Friday. Unloading Cunningham will save Toronto more than $50,000 against the salary cap, a total that could help the team in its quest to add a new forward.

Ljungberg seeking $1.7M for rest of MLS season

Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerwey recently told RSL fans that Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg was seeking $1.7 million to play the remainder of the MLS season. Needless to say, don't go looking for MLS teams to form a line for his services.

What do you think of Gibbs joining the Galaxy? Did TFC give Cunningham away too cheaply? Do you think anybody would pay the LARGE asking price for Ljungberg?

Share your thoughts below

Comments

[Ben]

Cheers for all your MLS and Soccer Service. It's appreciated over here in Europe aswell.

btw have a look here for the Galaxy Roster Overview and Salary Cap calculation.

http://www.soccerpubs.com/boards/index.php?s=&showtopic=25483&view=findpost&p=490612

[Richard, UK]

I'd have loved to see Real Salt Lake bring in someone like Ljunberg for when their new stadium opens, but $1.7 mill for half a season? He can go take a hike. Not worth it.

[SonicDeathMonkey]

I'm not sure Ljungberg is worth that for a whole season, much less half of one. Didn't West Ham just pay him $15M to go away? What does that say about him?

[Rudy]

Maybe here in L.A. we can "fit" that 1.7 million for Ljungberg into our salary "cap".

[kpugs]

I want to see MLS publish the financial records of each team. L.A. probably has twice the salary cap as any other team and yet that doesn't ever stop them from adding more and more players you know are definitely making six figures at the very least. I hate this league.

As for Llunberg, let's see. He is worse than Angel, and that is approximately what Angel makes for an entire season. Therefore go model some underwear Freddie.

[CD]

RSL has 11 games left during the regular season.

$1,700,000/11

equals

$154,545 per game

equals

no thanks Freddie

[Ted]

http://www.mlsplayers.org/salary_info.html

Kpugs, take a look at that and do the math if you want. Or look at the link posted above.

Given teams can use allocation money to pay down the cap (ie, GBS) and Gibbs salary could be prorated for the rest of the season, I don't see how it's impossible to think LA is following the rules.

[understood]

ives you cant leave...how will we ever live without the running commentary for the mls matches tonight

[Dr. Rockzo, The Rock N' Roll Clown]

Uh.. kpugs you know that the MLS Players Union released the salaries of all it's players every year, right?

I'm not even a Galaxy fan and I'm sick of everyone saying how the Galaxy are sooo far over the cap. Does anyone else remember the tons of allocation money they've picked up over the past couple off-seasons? Why do you care, they're atrocious anyway.

[Ted]

Pablo Mastroeni just said on FSC he will wait until the end of the season to think about a move overseas.

[spencer]

RSL needs a good target forward and should get rid of Deuchar. They don't need any midfielders they already have one of the best midfields in the MLS.

[Charlie N.]

Ives; any thoughts on doing the Barclays fantasy game again?

[Pablo Chicago]

I knew the Galadies were desperate for defenders, but signing Cory is risky...then again, this is the same team that signed Xavier.

[cbr]

if freddie is asking for that much money then an MLS move isnt going to happen.
But thats the whole idea of negotiations, you start high and meet someware in the middle. If its just money that he wants then im sure some mid table Italian team will make a run for him. Torino and Sampdoria comes to mind.

Like another poster said..quit hating on the galaxy. Sure they have Donovan, Ruiz, and Beckham but outside of that they are HORRIBLE. They depend on cheap rookies and 2nd year players to fill the holes. If Buddle didnt sell his soul to the devil they'll be bottom of the west right now.

[Max]

It seems like Jeff Cunningham is being paid part of his salary by just about every team in MLS by now.

[Roberto]

Once again, the league bends over backwards to help out the Galaxitives. This cements my hatred of them and here's to them losing all their remaining games!

[Gerald]

I'm just curious, with Reyna retired and Jozy in Spain where are the Red Bulls in terms of allocations

[Felix]

I'm happy for Gibbs, I look forward to seeing him in MLS. I hope he stays healthy.

[John]

Some years ago, Earnie Stewart signed with MLS on a free transfer. DC United acquired him via the same route--allocation order and then used that allocation to buy down his cap hit for that year.

The negative is that it only works for one season. So I'm assuming that's the approach that the LAG took. But once again, they're mortgaging the future for today.

[scott47a]

RE: Ljunberg.

What do you all expect? By international standards what he is asking for is not much.

He made $163,000 a week for West Ham last year.

Of course, MLS can't afford it. But I think it's funny that MLS fans expected something less.

[MiamiAl]

I went to Amsterdam to see the US vs. Holland and Gibbs SHUT DOWN Van Neilsteroy, it was Frankie Hedjuk's error that ended up costing us as Robben blew past him to score...I am a Gibbs fan..I hope gets healthy enough to play his way back to the Nats...

[SonicDeathMonkey]

Spot on Dr. Rockzo. I'm not a Galaxy fan, but these conspiracy theorists kill me. And if you "hate this league" so much, why do you continually watch and post about it, Kpugs? I'm sure the German third division needs more fans. Go watch it instead.

[milo]

How has LAG, stayed under the cap??
MLS caters to LA.

A side like RSL imo should go ahead an use the DP on Ljungberg, why not. They have no face for thier team, it'll be good for the MLS and RSL, and it could build interest and put peeps but in seats at thier new Stadium,

[Matt M]

Milo,

Who are you kidding?

How many people that watch MLS have even heard of Llunberg?

10%?

And how many would be more likely to show up just because he was on the field?

2%?

You want to double the salary cap for a 2% increase?

Oh, I forget. He'll sell 20,000 jersey's overnight.

Let's do the math and pretend he would.

20,000 X $50 = $1,000,000

Oooh! That's almost his full salary!

Oh, wait. Half of that is material/transportation/marketing/etc.

That's still $500K!

Oh, wait. Most "BIG" stars like Llunberg would get half of the profits on their jersey's.

That's more like $250K (again assuming that he'd sell 20,000 Jersey overnight)

Incidentally, 20,000 would be half again RSL's average fanbase.

In reality, he'd sell 1,000, not 20,000.

That would be $12,500 profit for RSL.

Against $1.7 Million in salary out the door in 3 months.

Bad idea.

Anyone want to argue my math?

Feel free.

[Matt M]

by the by, he's been hurt most of the last couple years and got benched by a mid-level EPL team.

Again, bad idea.

[Enrico Palazzo]

While the league has historically bent the rules in favor of the bigger market teams, the Galaxy have acquired a lot of allocation money and their roster outside of the big three is being paid peanuts. That's how they can afford Gibbs. And that's why they are starting dreck like Vagasil, Pires, Vanney et al.

I was kinda expecting LA to trade the allocation spot for much needed depth (Dallas would seem a suitable partner), but I don't blame them for keeping him. It must hurt like repeated cockpunches watching Vanney get toasted game after game.

[Eugene]

Nobody would pay Ljungberg that much for like 12 games. Especially for a player that's had difficulty producing for the last 3 years and is injured too often. Ljungberg should look at Beckham's deal and focus less on salary and more on the marketing opportunties in the U.S. Just as a reminder, Beckham makes 4x his salary in all the marketing he does here.

[Kaiser]

Gibbs is a gamble. If healthy, he's a national team quality player who could form a good CB duo with Franklin. If he's not healthy, he's just another big salary for LA!

I guess with his job on the line, Lalas feels that gamble is worth it.

LA still hasn't addressed thier biggest need, a defensive/holding midfielder.

[Brant]

MLS won't pay Freddie $1.7mil, but someone will.

[Carl Setterlund]

I think it'd be fun and good for the league for someone to bring Freddy in. More headlines. Temporarily more star power. More buzz. More European stars taking MLS more seriously.

[Carl Setterlund]

I think it'd be fun and good for the league for someone to bring Freddy in. More headlines. Temporarily more star power. More buzz. More European stars taking MLS more seriously.

[Jonathan]

On Ljungber's part, the salary has to be a "premium" to play in a lower tier league. What are his incentives to play in MLS while there are better offers from other leagues?

[Nicole]

Ives, stop perpetuating the myth that the Galaxy are over the salary cap and get special treatment. It gets old, not to mention how it undermines your credibility.

[Ryan]

I dont see how freddie could help any team in mls. he isn't all that well known, he'll be around just for this season, will cost a ton of money that almost no team has, and has to build chemestry with a team in a very short time. besides costing mls a lot of money he probably wont produce on the feild and wont draw many fans. i'm a red bulls fan and i know a little about him but he wouldn't draw me to games.

[Dustin]

So FCD gets one of the league's all-time leading scorers for $50k and a 3rd rounder? Works for me.

Thanks, TFC!

[papa bear]

@Posted by: Ryan | August 10, 2008 at 12:43 PM

sorry for picking on you specifically but you were the last one to say Ljunberg wasn't well known, and yet every comment on the 2 threads with his name in it has included some info that only a person who actually knows the player on some level would know off hand.

Unless your assertion that the only 'troo' soccer fans are the ones on this and a few other blogs you aren't giving the thousands of people (or 'thousand' in RBNY's case) who have been showing up for games for the last 13 years very little credit for their soccer knowledge.

I wouldn't suggest that everyone walking in the gates is an expert but I think far more people know who Ljunberg is than some are giving them credit for.

I don't think that still qualifies him for $1.7 million. That is a bigger salary even in European terms. That's about 1.14 million Euros. That's above average. There is the lower tier league premium that some talked about but I think if RSL was creative and pre-sold some advertising opportunities they could get him for about $1.1 which wouldn't be a bad number for a team opening a new stadium pushing into the playoffs.

[papa bear]

pardon me, I rounded the wrong way, it's €1.13 million

[Ryan]

all i am saying is he isn't going to draw a whole lot more fans to the games then alreasy attend. i'm sure most of the fans know who he is but the purpose of the dp is to draw more fans to the gates that wouldn't normally show up and i just dont think that he can do that.