Report: Sporting Set to Re-Sign Feilhaber

Reports tonight should bring some good news to Sporting Kansas City fans as Jeff Carlisle is reporting that Benny Feilhaber is set to spurn offers from abroad and return to Kansas City in 2017. Carlisle reports that while the length of the deal is not known, sources tell him that Feilhaber is set to get a raise to somewhere in the $500,000 to $600,000 range.

That raise in salary would see Feilhaber jump into the designated player range for Kansas City. Sporting at the moment have all three of their designated player spots filled with Roger Espinoza, Diego Rubio, and Graham Zusi. The club also has Matt Besler and Dom Dwyer making over the designated player threshold according to the MLS player union numbers. Obviously if the salary is correct, that means Kansas City is going to likely be paying down someone's salary with GAM/TAM to make room for Feilhaber's new salary or they'll be moving one of their designated players to make room.

To re-sign with Sporting, Feilhaber looks set to turn down an offer from Israel Premier League side, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the same club that had been interested in acquiring Feilhaber at the European transfer deadline back in September, but Sporting rejected the deal. According to Carlisle, Feilhaber and Be'er Sheva had a verbal agreement on a contract, but a significant raise by Kansas City in their offer convinced Feilhaber to stay in Kansas City.

At the same time, Sam McDowell with the KC Star is throwing a little bit of cold water on the rumor tonight, saying that there is no deal in place or signed.

Feilhaber has enjoyed probably the most successful stretch of his club career with Kansas City, recording 38 assists and 24 goals over his four years in KC. Twenty eight of those assists and 17 of those goals have come in the last two years alone and fueled calls by many fans for Feilhaber's return to the national team.

The big question with any deal for Feilhaber will be the length of the contract. While Feilhaber doesn't have a ton of miles on his legs due to minimal playing time earlier in his career, he still turns 32 before the 2017 season kicks off. The worry has to be about a drop off in production, but given his play over the last two years most of those concerns should be put at ease. This is at least a start to getting KC to be a competitor in 2017, maintaining your best players like Feilhaber his key.

Heineman Confirms Interest in Everton in August, No Longer

It looks like the rumors of Robb Heineman and Sporting Club purchasing an EPL team can be put to bed for at least the short term. Last night after Sporting's game against the San Jose Earthquakes, Jeff Carlisle got further quotes from Robb Heineman concerning the rumors of Sporting Club's interest in Everton FC.

In the interview, Heineman confirmed that when he and Mike Illig were in Liverpool in August for the Duncan Ferguson and talked with chairman Bill Kenwright about an opportunity to purchase the club. Heineman says that they "had a good talk, learned a lot, but the timing probably just didn't work out really well for us."

It's certainly something that seems to be a disappointment for many Everton fans who want Kenwright and the current board out. But Heineman did mention that there were apparently other interested parties.

At the same time Heineman did not rule out a move by Sporting Club in the future to purchase an EPL club. With all the money in the EPL from the TV contracts and the capital of Cliff Illig and Neal Patterson, Sporting Club certainly has the capital to purchase a club.

Jersey Sponsor Coming Thursday?

KC is one of only two teams in MLS to never had a jersey sponsor, along with the Colorado Rapids.  The question with Sporting KC has usually been why they're waiting.  The team has one of the best stadiums in the country and a team that is doing extremely well, one would assume that KC should be able to get a jersey sponsor.  But KC has been selective as they've looked for a deal that they feel works for them.

That selective process sounds like it's coming to an end.  Rumors over the past few weeks have really picked up on KC adding a jersey sponsor to the front of their jersey.  Back on January 4th, Robb Heineman added to the rumor by saying "I think you'll like the draft."  With KC only having the one pick in the draft it seems unlikely that the statement would be in regards to the draft itself.  The assumption is that liking the draft will come from something else. 

The assumption has grown into it being related to a jersey sponsor.  The past few weeks one name has leaked out a few times, Ivy Funds.  I've seen the mutual funds company mentioned by a few different people as a potential sponsor in the last week or two. 

The rumors of Ivy Funds have grown to the point that national soccer media is starting to pick up on it as well, with Jeff Carlisle from ESPN saying that an announcement of the sponsorship is expected on Thursday, draft day.

MLS Signs Sal Zizzo, Weighted Lottery Coming

MLS has signed another US youth international, this time it's Sal Zizzo. Zizzo is a 23 year old midfielder who had signed with Hannover 96 in Germany after a very successful U-20 World Cup in 2007. Zizzo made 8 appearances for Hannover and during his time at the club he was also loaned out to Fortuna Dusseldorf. In October of last year though, Zizzo tore his ACL and missed the entire 2009-2010 season. Zizzo will be allocated to a team via a weighted lottery. While the Wizards have already won a weighted lottery when they won the lottery for Luis Gil, according to Jeff Carlisle says that the Wizards will still be eligible for this lottery because Gil was only going to play in Salt Lake or Seattle. Also according to Carlisle the Wizards and DC United have the best chance to win the lottery for Zizzo's services. While it might be a little hard to see where Zizzo would fit in immediately, I think Zizzo would be a solid addition to the Wizards should they win the lottery.