REPORT: Hamdi Salihi Targeted By D.C. United
by Martin Shatzer on Feb 1, 2012 10:01 PM EST
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PrintD.C. United already drafted a guy named Lance Rozeboom this year. And now they may soon have a player nicknamed The Bomber.
Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner is reporting that United is negotiating with 28-year old Albanian striker Hamdi Salihi, who has spent the last two and half years with Rapid Vienna of Austria. Conversely, Black And Red United is reporting that Rapid manager Peter Schoettel sounds like a complete douche.
Salihi scored 46 goals in his first two years in Austria, which is a ridiculous strike rate, but just three this season. Is he slowing down, or has he fallen out of failure? Well he's only started four out of 18 matches for Rapid, coming off the bench eight times. Salihi has also scored nine goals for the Albanian national team.
What is his connection to United? Rapid Vienna also happens to be the past club of United midfielder Branko Boskovic. They played together there in 2010. Surely Salihi wouldn't be on United's radar if not for a Boskovic recommendation.
Salihi had been targeted by both Rangers and Celtic of the Scottish Premier League last month during the transfer window, but neither club was able to reach a deal to bring him in. Salihi's contract with Rapid is reportedly ending this summer, so acquiring him would not be easy for United. Still, D.C. needs to fill the hole left by the departure of Charlie Davies at the top of the lineup. Salihi would be expensive, maybe even requiring a designated player contract, but he could be the guy to put this team over the top this year.
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Another possibility...
United scouting might have seen Salihi while scouting Boskovic. It’s possible that Bosko recommended him, but he might have been on their radar already.
I don’t think he would require as much as Bosko got. Bosko was a regular on the Montenegro national side, while Salihi supposedly is used chiefly as a sub for Albania, a lesser team than Montenegro. I think it’s reasonable to assume DCU has serous cap room. even with DPs already on the roster.
Based on last year’s salaries (and the 335k cap hit for each of 2 DPs) — Just over 1.6 million (in descending order of wages) for DeRo, Boskovic, Wollff, Pontius, Santos, Cruz, Morsink, Woolard, McDonald and Brettschneider — yes, McDonald got a raise, and we can figure in 5% raises all around (except DPs) — buit for argument’s sake I’ll say 10% as a rounding error. So. we’re at $1.7 million. — without figuring in the remaining allocation which would lower that back to at most 1.6 million.
This leaves 1.1 million for 6-8 others. They include Russell — made 134k last year, but Goff wrote he’s taking a major paycut — so, probably between 80-100k, Dudar — 200k? Let’s be generous and say 225k. Zayner made 70k last year. I’ll give him the same this year. Does Svard make the team? I’ll guess 125k. King maybe moved to budget — with a raise, I’ll peg him at 50k. Kitchen — still listed as GA — but we kept reading he’d graduate — so toss in another $150k. Saragosa made 120k in 2009. Maybe he gets 100k now?
They would have over $2 million to distribute among 16-18 players, most of whom make less than $100k.
Even with those generous numbers — and I’m not sure about Kitchen’s status (his 150k is a big bite), there’s roughly $300k left….and it could be higher with smaller numbers for the unknowns, and allocation dollars. That ought to be enough to bring in an Albanian striker.
he is not a sub
He is one of Albania’s top strikers. He is a starter for Albania together with Italy Seria A Siena’s Erjon Bogdani. Salihi scored a beautiful goal a year or so ago, against Montenegro in a Albanian victory(wanted to put that in there, since you said Albania was a lesser team to Montenegro :)
check out the goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmkW1KwkoIs if you wanna skip the other 4 goals, skip to 2:45 and you will see his winning goal.
again against montenegro
In 2010 in Montenegro, Albania won 1-0 thanks to another goal by Salihi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKBWXrioazk&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Montenegro
Was a significantly improved side during Euro qualifications. Neither team qualified for the knockout rounds, but Montenegro had a better record in a group of comparable quality to Albania’s.
by Karlito Vargas on Feb 2, 2012 12:36 PM EST up reply actions
Albanian?
If you want beef then bring the ruckus.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 2, 2012 12:56 PM EST up reply actions
King is already on budget
Signed better deal about 3/5 of the way through last season. Probably still in the $50k range, though.
Writer on SBN's DC United blog Black and Red United | @ChestRockwell14 | KEEP UNITED IN DC
by ChestRockwell on Feb 2, 2012 1:28 PM EST up reply actions
Zayner...
By DC standards, Zayner may as well live in his Mom’s basement bcuz 70K is almost nothing. That said, I doubt DC will give him more than last year, or even an equal amount. Zayner’s a good player and I hope he stays, but if I were him I’d sign for just 1 year (if offered) and roll the dice for next year that I get playing time).
by Eric David Ruenes on Feb 2, 2012 9:47 PM EST up reply actions
oops
Disregard this line:
“They would have over $2 million to distribute among 16-18 players, most of whom make less than $100k.”
On the other hand....
While I suspect the team has more than the $335k left in cap room for another DP, if he gets a DP deal, things might get complicated for some other players. If he gets DP money — more than $335k - and Stouffer implies that’s a real possibility - he does become much more expensive to the team of course, which will have to pay the excess. To get a third DP, the team would alsohave to pay a $250k luxury tax, on top of whatever the transfer fee would be. Also, while there’s enough cap room, I wonder about any transfer fee. Somewhere I read that a percentage of transfer fees are applied to the budget cap. Rapid wanted $750k from Celtic. I’m sure DC United could get him for less than half that amount, with the Euro deadline having passed. Still, it will bump up against the $400-500k or so that I suspect they have left (assuming I’m in the ballpark on Dudar, Saragosa and Svard — but I could be lowballing the cap room). If they sign him, it might put the squeeze on one of the trialists.
according to albanian newspapers
Salihi was available for 450-500thousand euros, he was supposed to go to Rangers, but the team is in financial problems, and would not allow their manager to spend money on incoming players. The reason why Salihi is worth that little, is because he has 6 months left on his contract. He started falling out with his coach because he would not agree to sign a new contract.
It was 500 thousand pounds, not Euros, and that ws the fee
Not his salary — that was the transfer fee his club was asking
missing data
One thing missing from the equation in $$$ income, is what the revenue streams are. I think that is important because we don’t know how NBC Sports contract money was divided up. We don’t know how much $$$ in real numbers the club made/lost off of the increased price of season tickets. I just want to unerscore that there’s a piece to this equation that we really don’t understand…
by Eric David Ruenes on Feb 2, 2012 9:52 PM EST up reply actions
The test
Of whether this franchise truly wants to be ambitious. If they go after this guy with credible money, it will at least let us all know our faith is not squandered on a derelict side only interested in filling gaps.
Thank you for that
That video is making my mouth water. This guy is a classic poacher, which is exactly what United needs. Please, let this be more than rumor…
With a guy like this to feed, I don’t really care if the Bosko-DeRo-Pontius triangle is rotated clockwise or counter clockwise.
"Is he slowing down, or has he fallen out of failure?"
Did you mean favor?
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Competition with China?
I’m also seeing that Salihi is linked with a move to China , with most of the articles making that the focus of the transfer talk. Apparently Changchun Yatai F.C., a team out of Changchun and north of Beijing, is currently negotiating for Salihi’s services.
In the one article that did mention D.C. United, it suggests that the team is the second choice behind a move to China. Regardless, the articles say that the team is “looking for a solution” for Salihi and say that he has no role in their future.
Adding to the Salihi role (or lack thereof), he’s been stapled to the bench as a sub virtually all season so far (his last start was in September).
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his first choice is not china
According to what I’m reading, China is not his first choice. He is trying to find other places to play before he can accept the China offer. They are however offering $1.3 million for 3 years (tax free) to the player.
Signed.
Welp, apparently the USA wins out of China. DCU has just released the news that they have signed Salihi to a DP contract. I’m glad to see that the team isn’t messing around, they are going for it this season.
We got him
He’s a Designated Player, which makes both of our DPs from the same former club. Not sure if that’s happened before in MLS history. Oh wait, duh, just remembered Henry and Marquez from Barcelona. Anyway, it’s exciting news, and hopefully this is how we replace Davies’s goals. Our top line is looking better.
Now, we get the fun prospect of a (presumably) Muslim player named The Bomber in our nation’s capital.
and we have our DP striker
Can’t wait to see what this guy can do. Ok, now I’m excited for the season.
by madavis on Feb 2, 2012 2:39 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
the bomber?
Mr hamdi should probably shouldn’t bring that nickname with him to the capital..
by MrBaker on Feb 2, 2012 3:30 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
:P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8E_zMLCRNg
The New York Yankees are still the Bronx Bombers. I think he’ll be okay.
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