The reasons are mixed on a couple guys, either personal, lack of playing time, being waived by a club, or things didn’t work out like they had hoped in Europe. But it is interesting to see a notion that some guys are keen on returning to the league that they got their start in.

We all know about Brian McBride so there won’t be a need to go into that talk right now.

But other names are floating out there like Pat Noonan, Josh Wolff, Nate Jaqua and Joesph Ngwenya. Plus there is always speculation surrounding a few older guys like Eddie Lewis or Kasey Keller coming back to the States to finish out their days.

So it got me thinking, even if some of the talk is just talk what if these guys do indeed come back? Now some may still have some player rights with their former clubs and others may not. I would pretty much assume that all but maybe Wolff still have rights with former clubs though it wouldn’t shock me to see Kansas City owning Wolff’s rights when it is all said and done here.

The questions are mainly 1) Would these guys be willing to return at a cheaper rate (presumably) so they can get actual playing time? 2) Would these guys like Noonan, Nqwenya give up on a Euro dream to return? and 3) How exactly will MLS handle such a flux in returns this summer if this does indeed happen?

Look, I am all for these guys (though I expect Keller and Lewis to remain in Europe for another year) to return to MLS and get the proper playing time that they need. It looks kind of silly for Bob Bradley to be using guys like Wolff and Jaqua when they weren’t getting any playing time with their clubs and that they are both currently out of contract. The second part is another topic for another day though I think.

If the former clubs own the rights would they trade them or would they make room? I honestly could see New England trade Noonan’s rights away if he does come back. I couldn’t see Houston trading Ngwenya or Jaqua’s though. If KC has Wolff’s rights you better believe they won’t even think about trading him unless they can get a better deal out of it from another club in terms of players, which won’t happen.

All players would make their former teams or any other team better if they return.  I wouldn’t be too shocked to see some of them come back for the remaining part of the season and then try their hand at getting another gig across the sea in the winter. That doesn’t sound like too bad of a deal to me if I were a club like KC or Houston.

What do you all make of these possible returns?

According to Bernando Fallas, the Houston Dynamo are prepared to go all out an convince the striker to return to Major League Soccer from the Austrian Bundesliga where he hasn’t exactly had the best of times.

“There’s been relatively limited contact (with Ngwenya),” Dynamo president Oliver Luck said Monday. “There’s been a little bit of e-mail traffic back and forth, but there is no indication that he is interested in coming back. But if he does express interest, that’s certainly something we would consider seriously.

“If the season is over (in Austria), we need to be on the phone with him.”

The roadblock may still be convincing him to return though. But after four months in Austria, Ngwenya probably wants to get back on the field and play consistently. During those four months, he wore Karnten uniform in just one game. With the season coming to a close last week, Karnten finished next-to-last in the standings.

Ngwenya would easily get the playing time that he deserves and the Dynamo would be able to pay him more than he got last year with the club.

It’s all just a matter of how badly the guy wants to play here. There’s no real word on if he will remain in Austria or try his luck elsewhere this summer in Europe.

We know the reasons for Houston wanting him back but I think if I were him I would give it another go in MLS for the rest of the year and then try to go back to Europe in the winter. For a player, playing time is everything.