3 April 2008
More On Henry To Seattle
Posted by Drew Epperley under: MLS; News and Rumors; Seattle Sounders FC .
Last week I mentioned a fun little rumor about Seattle’s MLS club trying to get in talks with Thierry Henry to come and play in the MLS next year. Apparently more press is taking note of the rumor and are even sticking their noises into it a little more.
Media from across the pond are starting to take note on this rumor. Both The BBC and the Sun are mentioning it in their rumor sections.
Out of Seattle, an article talks about how the new owners would love to get their hands on Henry and even his teammate at Barcelona Ronaldinho.
“Thierry Henry is one of my favorite players of all time. He has spoken in the past about coming to MLS to play soccer,” co-owner Adrian Hanauer said. “I am now in a position with the Seattle franchise to consider such a player. It would be irresponsible of me not to explore and consider a possibility like this.”
“If they want to get a designated player, I certainly can take the lead on that. Let’s go get Ronaldinho,” Hollywood producer and co-owner Joe Roth told Kickoff magazine in reference to Henry’s Barcelona teammate and two-time FIFA world player of the year.
“I’ll pay him $25 million a year and put him in a movie.”
Certainly this club will have the deepest pockets that the MLS has ever seen, even more so than AEG and the LA Galaxy. To say that one of these two or someone else along the same lines couldn’t come and play in Seattle may be a stretch with the money that these owners in Seattle can throw at them.
Now I know its a little crazy to talk either one of these two coming to the MLS anytime soon but the possibility is there for this club to make a big time splash before coming into this league. We know the impact that David Beckham has had but either one of these two would intantly put the MLS on the map in American sports more so than it ever has been before. Not to mention you can bet that their highlights would actually make SportsCenter on a normal basis.
Obviously bringing in one of these guys would kill off any chance of some Americans coming back across the pond to play for the new club next year. Guys like Kasey Keller and Preston Zimmerman have mentioned how they would like to come back home and play for their local club.
More than likely neither one of these guys will come to the MLS to Seattle but it doesn’t sound too ridiculous at this point to say that they never will play in the league. Will we see some big name players to Seattle? I think so but which big name(s) will they bring in? They have the local support already in ticket sales and will soon have their identity when they reveal their name and logo next week. This could be a very interesting club to watch take shape over the next year. If you are in Seattle or that area this sounds like an exciting time to me to get on board with this club if you already have not.
One Comment so far...
RHYbread Says:
4 April 2008 at 5:29 am.
Shunsuke Nakamura to Seattle in summer 2009 assuming Celtic picks up his one year option at the end of the current season. There is a rather strong Japanese population in Seattle proper and King county overall. Barely 31 at that time, there shouldn’t be any questions about his ability to perform and make an impact.
Personally, I hope he doesn’t go there only because playing on an expansion team is a horrible way to play out the twilight of your career.
