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View Full Version : O'Brian White - No MLS offer



Corpand
12-19-2008, 11:20 PM
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/12/the-mls-grapevine-notes-on-van-den-bergh-tracy-and-white.html#more
You would think that at least TFC would have somehow approached him. Weird.

Cambridge_Red
12-19-2008, 11:23 PM
Lots of time until the draft...

werewolf
12-19-2008, 11:26 PM
A torn ACL in Oct...he will be Rookie of the Year...in 2010.

rocker
12-19-2008, 11:57 PM
i don't understand how he could have received a contract offer when there's a draft...
Generation Adidas is not for guys graduating, right? it's for underclassmen who want to quit school and start as a pro.

Roogsy
12-19-2008, 11:59 PM
Who knows how this upsidedown system works.

Maybe teams submit contract offers ahead of the draft and players already have salary expectations and the draft simply determines where they go?

Just speculating...it's a completely weird process for me. I am looking forward to seeing some of the Academy kids start making it up over the next few years as opposed to drafted players, who I feel are not advanced enough coming out of the college system.

TorCanSoc
12-20-2008, 12:03 AM
I heard about O'Brian White wanting to get his education. Dude!? You're good. Pro teams want you. Take the opportunities when given. No shame in shooting for the tops of the sport, failing to do it, then going back to get your degree at 22 years old. No shame at all. But if many top people have said you have the goods to go pro. Do it !!!

Andrea Lombardo is that guy. I heard he paid his way to Juventus. Tried out, and made the Academy side. Comes home, plays with the U20, then makes it onto TFC. Fails to make any real progress, gives it up and goes to York for an education.

Good for him man. We need 100 kids like him every year. 1 of them is going to be a Cristiano Ronaldo.

Shakes McQueen
12-20-2008, 12:39 AM
Gotta feel bad for the kid - what a horrible time to get saddled with such a lengthy, potentially permanently damaging injury.

I still hope Toronto FC take him on board with a cheap contract, and give him time to heal.

He must want to cry, being as good as he is, having looked forward to this draft for God knows how long, only to have circumstances conspire against him. Now he has his agent trying to publicly drum up offers.

I can feel for him.

- Scott

VPjr
12-20-2008, 03:03 AM
As I understand it, guys like White (who are seen as definite 1st Round picks) will be approached by MLS in advance of the draft to gauge their interest in either playing in MLS or testing their luck overseas....this is especially true of the Seniors (like White) whose MLS contracts will count against the salary cap (as opposed to underclassmen who get gen adidas contracts, which do not count against the cap).

if a guy like White indicates that he's inclinded to go to Europe or elsewhere to try to land a gig, MLS will advise clubs not to take the guy in the 1st round (remember Joseph Lapira last year....BTW, where the hell is he now???)

In White's specific case, the knee injury might be spooking the league. Maybe they have determined that his injury is really bad and its in the member clubs' best interest to not draft this guy in the 1st round because the amount of salary that would have to be offered would be better used on a player that has a hope of playing in 2009.

This is all just speculation.

At the end of the day, O'brien White is a very unlucky player who made a wrong decision last off season to return to Uconn. he would have been a gen adidas player, and he would be earning 6 figures per year for about 3-4 years. Now, he's gonna be lucky to make 50-60K/year on a 2 year deal (with club options after that) assuming he can even get someone to draft him in the 1st round.

James Oliphant
12-20-2008, 06:14 AM
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/12/the-mls-grapevine-notes-on-van-den-bergh-tracy-and-white.html#more
You would think that at least TFC would have somehow approached him. Weird.

It's the league, not the team, which makes the approach. Not even the league on the team's behalf.

ensco
12-20-2008, 08:38 AM
remember Joseph Lapira last year....BTW, where the hell is he now???



Nybersund in Norway 2nd division. He had 8 goals in 23 games.

http://www.sundet-fotball.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=26

Interesting though - I can't find him on the team roster page. Could he be coming to MLS/TFC ....?

http://www.sundet-fotball.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=21

jloome
12-20-2008, 02:14 PM
The disturbing part to me is that White, whether he's good enough or not (and it's debatable), could've taken a Generation Adidas contract two years ago, which guarantees a scholarship to finish school after your playing career is done. So he wouldn't have lost his education, just deferred it.

Bad advice from someone, unless he was assuming he'd go to Europe first.

jloome
12-20-2008, 02:17 PM
Nybersund in Norway 2nd division. He had 8 goals in 23 games.

http://www.sundet-fotball.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=26

Interesting though - I can't find him on the team roster page. Could he be coming to MLS/TFC ....?

http://www.sundet-fotball.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=21

He started on fire but had a lousy second half of the season, apparently. Given that it's the Nor. second division, which is on the whole below MLS, that's not particularly impressive, given he's 22.

Jamaicanadian
12-24-2008, 12:11 PM
The disturbing part to me is that White, whether he's good enough or not (and it's debatable), could've taken a Generation Adidas contract two years ago, which guarantees a scholarship to finish school after your playing career is done. So he wouldn't have lost his education, just deferred it.

Bad advice from someone, unless he was assuming he'd go to Europe first.

I've read this sentiment a couple of times on this board........

I always thought that Generation Adidas contracts were offered only to Americans :noidea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_adidas

Maybe OB is considered an American as well as Jamaican as well as Canadian (TFC) LOL!

VPjr
12-24-2008, 12:58 PM
^ OB's biological father supposedly lives in the US Northeast (possibly in Connecticut).

this might be enough to qualify him for Gen Adidas status.