Starting with Major League Soccer then scouting football auctions. As the stuff at the top heavily cites club accounts and some friends, we’re keeping it outside the paywall. Before we get scouting, big news was breaking earlier this week as Josef Martinez future now lies away from Atlanta United, the club where he scored 98 goals with 13 assists in 134 MLS appearances.
He’s still just 29, showed he’s mostly recovered from a devestating injury and scored nine goals, four assists in 1,465’ last year. We’re about to enter the brief annual fallow period for his price so set your sights lower than the current 0.250 Ξ.
MLS GK Roulette Drops The Ball
Toronto FC’s rebuild remains moving apace with both the presumptive starter and deputy seeing contracts expire and the club itself declaring they will not return for the 2023 season.
Goalkeepers Alex Bono and Quentin Westberg, defender Doneil Henry and midfielder Noble Okello will be out of contract at the end of the year and will not return to TFC for the 2023 campaign. Henry remains under contract with MLS after LAFC waived him on July 3, 2022, and he will be eligible to go through Waivers again.
Toronto is hardly the only MLS team which will be reexamining it’s starting GK position this off-season with as many as 11 clubs facing decisions regarding expiring contracts and/or exercising options.
Richard, @SorareUSA, absolutely crushes MLS news and updates and his account remains a must follow. This is his handy sheet of all the GK in the league and their current contract stats.
Key names to watch include Minnesota United No. 2 Tyler Miller who is a starter-quality back-up to Dayne St. Clair. With DSC firmly in the No. 1 role is it, finally, time for the Loons to let Miller leave and get starts?
The David Ochoa to DC United move this summer made a lot of sense for the highly touted young GK and there are still more chapters to unfold here.
Should Ochoa re-sign with D.C. United for the 2023 season, RSL will receive an additional $300,000 in GAM, evenly divided between the 2023 and 2024 seasons ($150,000 each year). Should Ochoa be transferred outside of MLS during the 2022 season, RSL will receive $300,000 GAM in 2023. Real Salt Lake hold a 25% sell-on fee, should D.C. United permanently transfer Ochoa outside of MLS.
The ‘keeper is Sorare U23 eligible until June 30, 2025 but had a very inconsistent start to his DC United career.
The clear impact is that club legend Bill Hamid is out of contract after 279 MLS starts for the club and unlikely to return without a path to playing time. He’ll be 32 when 2023 kicks off and could have as much as another decade of MLS ahead of him and certainly another 3-5 years as an established starter.
If you’re thinking he might be a target for the new expansion club in St. Louis, think again as they’ve inked Roman Burki, age 31, to the most lucrative deal betwixt the stix in MLS.
Leagues Cup 2023
MLS and Liga MX have also announced a new Leagues Cup competition which will be a month-long tournament running from July 21 - August 19, 2023 and include all clubs from both leagues. The tournament follows a traditional Group Stage followed by knockout rounds, and will have three CONCACAF Champions League spots available for the top performers because this is a CONCACAF sanctioned tournament.
From there? The whole thing gets a little CONCACAFy so go read the full rules - like ties + penalty kicks + some teams only play twice in the Group stage + seeding is weird + ALL GAMES including those between two Liga MX teams will be played in MLS stadiums + more crap! The Leagues Cup isn’t currently listed as a Sorare-scored tournament but given both participating domestic leagues are scored, the sanctioning body has other Sorare-scored tournaments, and all games will be played in stadiums equipped to facilitate data collection I would hope this one is added soon.
Ok, let’s scout some Weekend Auction action.