December 29 – A solution to the employment row threatening to overshadow next season’s Major League Soccer (MLS) season can be reached, Jimmy Conrad (pictured), a leading player involved in negotiations has claimed.
The League’s collective-bargaining agreement expires January 31 and some players, including Seattle Sounders’ former Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City goalkeeper Kasey Keller, have claimed that they have been told to get ready for a lockout.
But Conrad, a defender with the Kansas City Wizards capped 26 times by the United States, who has sat in on discussions between the MLS Union and the League has claimed that a resolution can be reached.
He said: ”It’s still pretty early in the process, and I read somewhere that the talks have been contentious.
“I think that’s laughable.
“I don’t think it’s contentious, I just think there are some issues we have to sort through.”
The main point of contention is that, unlike most other professional leagues in the world, player contracts are owned by the MLS rather than the individual clubs and there is no transfer market and that before July 1, a team can waive a player without having to pay his contract.
Conrad told the American Chronicle: ”That stuff seems illogical.
“Right now, who from a foreign land is going to commit to a salary where you bring your whole family over and get cut in June and not get paid and be stuck here?
“When that does happen, what do they do when they go home?
“They tell people in the soccer community that this is how you get treated when you go to MLS.
“As an owner or for anyone involved, that’s not how I want to be represented.
“Most leagues around the world – I’d say over 90 per cent if not more – follow FIFA regulations.
“We feel that we have some cases that prove MLS does not.”
But Conrad is optimistic a solution can be found when discussions resume early next month.
He said: “Hopefully everyone can enjoy the holidays.
“Then we can get after it after the first of the year with their proposal in hand with some time to digest where they’re at from where we stand, and then we’ll have the rest of the month to sift through what we need.”
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