Welcome to the “Big Leagues” Mr. Kreis

By: Rocky Cole | July 9th, 2009

Well, sort of “the big leagues”. What I am getting at with the preceding comment is that one of the fascinating things about world soccer is the behind the scenes work that a professional soccer team’s manager and front-office has to do throughout the year to keep a viable team together. Case in point: Yura Movsisyan’s move to Randers FC of Denmark. While soccer is rightly called “the beautiful game”, it is also the “serious business”, and that goes for players, managers, and the countries and towns where players ply their trade. As a former player I know quite well that you cannot play at a high level forever, and while Movsisyan has played his heart out for RSL and been a big part of the team’s success in recent years, Yura understands that loyalty only goes so far and that if his career is to progress he has to follow the money and the opportunity to catch the attention of bigger teams. Thus, Europe is the place to be.

Jason Kreis put a pretty good team together this year, but as the team has improved scoring, it is only natural that players like Movsisyan would start to draw the attention of mid-sized European clubs. My bottom line: I have ab-so-lutely no problem with Yura making the move, he’d be crazy not to. The bigger question is when is this going to happen? Here are the issues I think that RSL has to consider:

1. If Yura plays for RSL until the end of the MLS season and joins FC Randers in the January transfer window, RSL gets no transfer fee because his MLS contract expires at season’s end. Is keeping him worth the loss of immediate money to use on acquisitions? (Keeping Yura hurts him because he cannot do pre-season with his new club and will have less chance of significant playing time.)

2. If RSL negotiates a transfer now, RSL can get some money for Yura and get some more strikers before entering the end of the season push? (This may be the best course of action, but how much is FC Randers willing to pay?)

3. How will the loss of Movsisyan and the addition of a couple of new strikers effect the team at this late stage in the season? And, is there anybody worth going after?

As I noted above, this is a part of the game that a lot of casual fans don’t think about. Consider it a microcosm of what Manchester United had to deal with this year with the potential loss of Renaldo and Teves. Hey, I know, Yura is no Renaldo, but it’s the same kind of thing… sort of. No matter what happens in the next few weeks, Yura Movsisyan is a professional and I am sure he will do his utmost to help the team win every time he steps on the pitch. I’d love to see him stay for a serious run at the playoffs, but if the potential transfer fee money is good and there are some strikers available that can fit into the RSL scheme, then maybe RSL should let Yura move on and wish him the best.

This is why Jason Kreis gets paid the big bucks, right? Standing on the sideline and sweating through game tactics, heck, anyone could do that. Figuring out what is best for the team long-term, well, that is what a successful manager does year-round.