Denilson Does Dallas

By: Bob | August 24th, 2007

Up to this point, the designated player singings in MLS have been pretty big news. Think: David Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna. With the exception of the oft-injured, unibrowed US national team captain, the designated players have already had an impact on their teams and on the league. Will that be the case with designated player number five?

The newest designated player to join the cast is Denilson, who will become the first designated player for FC Dallas. The Brazilian midfielder becomes the fourth World Cup champion to play in MLS. He won the big trophy with Brazil in 2002 but he hasn’t played for his country since 2003. In fact, the career path of Denilson has been on the decline for a number of years.

In 1998, Real Betis broke the world transfer fee by paying $40 million to buy him from Sao Paulo. You know that MLS isn’t shelling out anywhere near to $40 million for him, so what has happened to his career since then? Well, after a number of lackluster years at Real Betis including one in which he was loaned to Flamengo, he ended up with Bordeaux for a season where he played well and then demanded a boatload of money that teams in Europe balked at paying. That’s how he ended up in the money-rich, quality-poor league in Saudi Arabia.

And now he is in MLS where FC Dallas hopes that he can regain at least some of the form that once made him a player in demand. It is too early to predict whether or not this will be the case, but it is an interesting move nevertheless. Denilson is not a household name in the United States so he doesn’t add much in the way of marketing value. He does, however, fill a gap in FC Dallas’ midfield, but at what price? Will the Hoops regret spending big bucks (in MLS terms) for a player on the wane when they probably could have acquired another capable international player at a cheaper price?

One thing he hopefully can provide is a bit of entertainment. He is not shy about being flashy on the pitch — in fact he can be downright entertaining if you like a player who holds the ball too long — nor is he shy around the media. Witness his quote about fellow designated player club member David Beckham: