MLS Transfer Rumors: Montero, Szetela, Ngwenya, de Guzman

By: Laurie | July 25th, 2009

We have a common theme for our transfer rumor post today. All of our rumors and transfers and non-transfers deal with the same question: How the heck does MLS get (and keep) young, talented players?

First, the done deal: Danny Szetela is back in the States and on the roster for DC United. Twenty-two years old, Bradenton grad, played on the 2008 US Olympic squad. Started his professional career in Columbus back in 2004, went to Spain’s Racing de Santander in 2007 but didn’t click, loaned to Italy’s Brescia where he did fairly well but not well enough for a purchase after a managerial change. Not offered a contract in Spain, so back to the US he comes.

“I liked it there at Brescia, but for family reasons I needed to come back closer to home. I hope after a couple years I’ll be able to return to Europe to play again”, Szetela noted.

In other words, MLS is a temporary home until he can re-enter the bigtime in Europe. Probably.

Soccer by Ives gives us a bit more — (click on the link for the best recap I’ve found of Szetela’s story):

“It’s important for me to come back home to America and get my confidence back and get back to playing,” Szetela said. “I don’t see my time in Europe as me not making it because I did play well enough to play before Brescia changed their coach.

“Now I’m looking to get back to that level and keep getting better,” Szetela said. “If I do that I know I’ll have another chance to back to Europe.”

Common story: Player does well in MLS, makes the jump to Europe, sees no playing time and then sees his form drop. (See: Adu, Freddy, among others.)

Is the MLS-to-Europe-to-MLS-to-Europe revolving door a solution? Do we just take them back, patch them up and send them off again? Is that the best we can do?

Next up, Canadian Julian de Guzman. De Guzman is one of the rare North Americans who has found success in Europe. A couple of weeks ago I reported the rumor that Toronto was considering trying to lure their prodigal home by offering de Guzman a Designated Player spot at Toronto for loads of money. (Although probably not as much as originally reported.)

Since then I’ve swapped emails with the original interviewer, Gary Moody of International Soccer Network, and he’s given a little more perspective. Julian’s original quote:

“Toronto did come up with an offer, a very lucrative offer, but at the moment I have not made a decision yet. Personally I want to stay true to myself and my eyes are still aiming toward Europe, preferrably Spain.”

And Gary’s thoughts on the original quote:

I have to say that it seems highly unlikely that he will sign with Toronto. His body language and demeanor (along with his words) suggested that MLS is not his first choice.

Sigh. If we can’t lure young players in their prime back even with Beckham-esque DP money, what will it take?

(That’s not a rhetorical question. If you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them.)

Next up on our list? Zimbabwean-born Joseph Ngwenya, who looks like he could be one of the next MLS returnees. (Confession: I always loved Ngwenya. He had a spark in MLS that was fun to watch.)

He left the US for Europe in 2008 (his second try at Europe), but bounced from Austria to Germany to Turkey without ever quite finding a home. And now he’s interested in coming back to the US. (I think Houston still holds his MLS rights?)

Of the players in this post, Ngwenya is my biggest question mark. Is the chasm between MLS and lower-to-middle leagues in Europe really that vast? Or did he just happen to land at clubs that didn’t have the right openings? Or is my memory faulty and he’ll have a hard time making it here too? What happens next for Joseph Ngwenya?

Last but not least, we have the Colombian phenom, playing for Seattle, new to MLS this year, Fredy Montero. Currently the second-leading goal scorer in the league.

Rumor this week was that he could be headed to Fulham ASAP. At least according to the same British tabloids that tell us that a prepubescent boy fathered a child and Posh Spice has cellulite.

(So seriously, who could doubt?)

The rumor took on a little more gravity when SkySports offered up an interview where Fredy reportedly said

“I have been in touch with officials of Fulham since six months ago and now that they have got in touch with me again I find the idea of playing at their team in the next season interesting,” he said. “I haven’t spoken about this situation with the officials of Seattle yet but I suppose that once they receive a proposal there will not be any problem. Because I am interested in this chance they will not bring me any problem.

Hmm. This was news to the folks in Seattle. But now Fredy has totally cleared everything up.

Montero claims to have never said anything nor had recent contact with Fulham.

“It’s incorrect,” Montero said after Thursday’s Sounders FC practice at Qwest Field. “I haven’t done anything. I’m relaxed and content here in Seattle, happy with the Sounders. My head is totally focused on MLS and the season with the team. Apart from that, my job is here.”

Montero said there was never any contact six months ago with Fulham about the possibility of going there. He signed with Sounders FC in January. [...]

“I’ve got people around me who are working on those things and know what a transfer means,” Montero said in Spanish. “The possibility of me going or not going lies, with all due respect, to the owners of my rights. For my part, I’m here to play, and I’m focused 100 percent with the Sounders and moving forward in the league.”

Okay, then. Everything clear? Especially that “The possibility of me going or not going lies, with all due respect, to the owners of my rights” part? Particularly given that nobody seems to quite know who actually owns his rights? (Rumor is that he is at least partly owned by a third party, a la Carlos Tevez, in violation of FIFA statutes.)

Contact with Fulham? No contact with Fulham? Trade? No trade? Deal? No deal?

Who knows? All we can say is that he’s here for now.

But the bigger issue of the Montero situation is this: Should MLS simply accept their role in developing talented foreign players for European clubs, letting them go as soon as higher money beckons? Is the league in essence just a feeder league? Or can something be done to keep these players here?

What do you think about these players and their past, current and future roles in MLS? And when will things change?