Palmer-Brown Transfer Almost Done

Buried in the announcement of the new collective bargaining agreement and the announcement of Kansas City's new primary jersey was some news that could turn out to be quite big regarding Sporting KC and their youngest player, Erik Palmer-Brown. During yesterday's media day before the unveiling of the jersey, Robb Heineman said that the long rumored move by Palmer-Brown to Italian giants, Juventus looks like it's going to happen.

Heineman said that there was an 80 percent chance that Palmer-Brown ends up making the move to Turin. It seems that the deal is basically done and it's just a matter of finalizing everything. A deal would be the finalization of over a year's worth of rumors about the Italian club being interested in the US youth international. Most of the rumors have come out of Italy, from what writer, so much so that I'd gotten to the point of ignoring most of his posts on it, waiting for other media to report it with actual quotes from someone on either side of the situation. I'd never doubted that a deal could be done, I just grew tired of the consistent non-news of the guy's reports on the deal, which were basically the same thing over and over.

With the deal though, Heineman said that Juventus would likely loan Palmer-Brown back to Kansas City for a period of time after the permanent transfer was completed. Similar to the situation with DeAndre Yedlin, Tottenham, and the Seattle Sounders, where Yedlin finished out the 2014 season with the Sounders before moving to join Spurs in England. I think that'd be a good move for both Palmer-Brown and the club to get him to stay on. An arrival in Italy would just see him immediately loaned out to a club in the lower divisions of Italy so might as well keep him in a comfortable situation for a while longer.

My assumption is that the move would occur this summer once Palmer-Brown is 18 and the Italian summer window opens.

For me, I'm still a little torn on this move, I think it's a great potential move for Palmer-Brown, a chance to go abroad and be signed by one of the big clubs in Italy. It's also a great feather in the cap of the Sporting academy which will be able to say that they trained a player who went on to be signed by Juventus to a contract. On the other hand I don't want a player with Palmer-Brown's potential to get lost in Juventus' system (just take a look at all their loans out) and have his development stall out while being loaned from team to team. That said good for him on the potential move and fulfilling a dream of playing abroad.

The Palmer-Brown/Juventus Rumor Continue

The transfer rumors surrounding Sporting KC's youngest player, Erik Palmer-Brown and Juventus continue to swirl. Today, ESPN's Marc Stein reported that "Juventus have moved a step closer to signing" Palmer-Brown. It's a continuation of a story that started last month when it was reported that Sporting turned down a $1 million bid for the teenager by the Italian giants.

At the same time, reports out of Italy at that time had stated that Juventus and Sporting had agreed to a deal that would see the defender move to Italy when he turned 18. Sporting has continually denied that a deal was in place, and earlier this week in a Twitter Q&A, Robb Heineman, when asked if Sporting had agreed to sell Palmer-Brown, said "Noooooo."

But agreeing to sell and negotiating are two separate things. The team has admitted that Juventus has approached Sporting about Palmer-Brown though.  In fact tonight when asked about the ESPN article, Heineman admitted that Juventus is in Orlando watching him.

@BradShapiroKC as straightforward as possible.  They r here in Orlando watching him, and we've not agreed to anything.  And not motivated 2
— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) February 22, 2014

So while Heineman says that the team is not motivated to make a deal with Juventus, the fact that the Italian club came to Orlando to watch Palmer-Brown in preseason, speaks volumes to their interest in Palmer-Brown. What it also means is that this rumor is not going to go away.

Sporting KC Player News

Some player news regarding Sporting KC from today and this weekend.

Update on Palmer-Brown and Juventus

Sporting KC has said that they have no comment on the rumors of Erik Palmer-Brown going to Juventus but that hasn't stopped the Italian press from continuing to talk about the move.

The newer information from Italy follows much of the same information that came out originally. The deal according to the Italian media will be finalized after the current transfer window. Palmer-Brown will apparently stay with KC until he turns 18, at which time he will head to Juventus. This is mainly because of contract rules in Europe that are designed to protect players under 18. Players under 18 cannot move to a club in Europe unless they have an EU passport. The only other way a player could get to a club in Europe without an EU passport is if the player's parents get a job in Europe. But obviously that would be looked at more carefully if Palmer-Brown's parents magically got a job in Turin. So unless Palmer-Brown has an EU passport that hasn't been mentioned, he likely can't move to Europe yet.

The Italian media was also saying that the transfer fee was $250,000 but could increase depending on Palmer-Brown's playing time for Kansas City.

Myers Status

The status of Chance Myers is still up in the air. Sporting KC's right back is currently out of contract. Sporting KC have made him what they believe to be a good offer and the ball is in his court now. At this point though, it does not appear that Myers will be coming back.

Talks between SKC & out-out-of-contract Chance Myers ongoing. Remain apart on $. Hearing Myers could explore options in Germany/Scandinavia.
— Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) January 24, 2014

Following up on the Vancouver RB chase, source tells me Caps made inquiry for Chance Myers, but Myers wanted more $$. #vwfc
— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) January 26, 2014

According to the above Tweets, Myers is looking for more money than what Kansas City has offered. According to the Players' Union salary release, Myers was on a base salary of $105,000 last year. My guess for what Sporting offered is that it was somewhere in the $150,000 range. That would put him just above former teammate, Michael Harrington, who made $140,000 according to the union.

Part of me is wondering if Myers is trying to get himself closer to the $200,000 mark. The likes of Richard Eckersley, Sean Franklin, and Heath Pearce are all making over $200,000 according to the Union. Eckersley and Pearce both made over $300,000. If that is true, I'd say that you let Myers walk, you don't want to lock that much up in one of your wingbacks. (Notice that Franklin and Pearce was left available in the re-entry draft and Eckersley was just traded by Toronto.)

Medrandra Still to Return?

Colombian midfielder, Jimmy Medranda hasn't been part of Sporting KC's preseason so far this season. From reports in Colombia, Medranda has been playing for his club, Deportivo Pereira in their preseason games ahead of their season. The assumption was that since Medranda was playing with his Colombian club, he was unlikely to be returning to KC.

Back on Saturday though, this was posted by a journalist in Colombia:

Jimmy Medranda quiere continuidad en los Estados Unidos, seguramente no estará en planilla el martes. @DeporPereira
— Edwin Herrera (@edwinjj5) January 25, 2014

Basically is says that Medranda wants to return to the US and would likely not be on Pereira's roster/payroll come Tuesday when it'll be announced. Medranda, the 6th youngest player to appear in a league game for KC could bring even more competition for spots in preseason. He'd compete with draft picks, Alex Martinez and Reinaldo Brenes for a spot on the roster.

Sporting Turn Down Juventus Bid for Palmer-Brown

Well this is surprising news to wake up to this morning. According to Grant Wahl over at Sports Illustrated, Sporting KC turned down an approach by Italian giants, Juventus for home grown defender, Erik Palmer-Brown.

Surprised may be a bit of an understatement for me when reading this. Not that I doubt Palmer-Brown's talent, the 16 year old has spent time with both the U18 and U20 national teams this offseason, so he clearly has talent. It's just not every day that you get a $1 million bid for an MLS player, let alone a teenager.

I've already seen a number of people say that Sporting should have taken the deal because there's no guarantee that Palmer-Brown will be worth it in the future.

On the other hand I completely understand Sporting wanting to keep the defender. Another local talent that the team has brought up, a US youth international, someone that the team could build around for the future. Or if he has continued success for the US youth teams, the fee that KC could command for him could be higher than $1 million.

Of course it may not all be on Sporting rejecting the bid. Palmer-Brown may not want to leave for Europe at this time. Either way this news is surprising for all the right reasons in my opinion. KC is developing talent that is good enough to catch the eye of big European clubs, but at the same time is wanting to keep the player here to help the team.

UPDATE

Word out of Italy tonight appears that there is a deal done between Sporting and Juventus. The deal would see Palmer-Brown stay with Sporting until he turns 18 (without an EU passport he can't transfer to a European club until 18). Once he turns 18 he would move to the "Old Lady."  That article though appears to show that the transfer fee would be $250,000, quite a bit lower than the $1 million that was quoted by Wahl in the original article.

I've never seen Palmer-Brown play, but I'm very interested to see how this plays out this year. I'll be interested to see if he stays in KC and gets on the bench and potentially plays in some USOC games. Or if he goes to Oklahoma City and plays on loan with the Energy this year.