VfL Wolfsburg head coach Felix Magath is preparing to rid his team of Berkeley, Calif., native Kamani Hill and Portuguese defender Alex. As a first step, Magath has cleared the pair from practice requirements and allowed them to "do as they pleased," including finding a new club, according to German news wire newsclick.de. Magath cited lack of progress as the reason for his decision. The article adds that the pair's poor performance in a reserve game last week also played a role. Hill was yanked from the game shortly after half time.
The 21 year-old forward joined Wolfsburg in October 2006, first on trial, then signing a two-and-a-half year contract. He hasn't played much for the first team--nine Bundesliga appearances as a sub, all of them last year. He's been capped by the U.S. men's national team twice (substitute appearances in friendly games, I think) and also played for the U-20 national team at the 2005 World Cup in South Korea. He has not played in MLS. Yet.
Dec 13, 2007
Kamani Hill Cast Out By Wolfsburg
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Don't look for him to come back to MLS unless he's terribly homesick. MLS seems to make it standard practice to make a lowball offer to any college star who initially turned down MLS for Europe.
ReplyDeleteI guess it is their way of encouraging young talent to stay in MLS. If they were to give Kamani a fat six-figure deal, then more young college stars would take a chance on Europe first, knowing that they can always come home and still make good money. By refusing to pay anything but peanuts to young players heading home (i.e. Taylor Twellman, Robbie Rogers), they are making Europe out to be a risky move.
Is this tactic fair? I don' think it matters. Does it work? Certainly.
However, in the long run, refusing to pay market value for domestic talent will only hurt the league.