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Bruce Arena didn't mince words this week when he called the MLS Discovery Lists process essentially a "sped up blackmail job". As he reaches for his checkbook to pay the certain fine to the league for his comments, he'll at least have consolation in knowing he's totally right. The system's got to change.
When the Galaxy signed Sebastian Lletget this past week in an attempt to improve an ailing midfield, the team announcement included a short clause saying they acquired the right to sign him "from the New England Revolution in exchange for $50,000 in Allocation Money." This seemingly innocuous phrase in the announcement represented the process that drew Arena's ire, and rightfully so.
Later in the week Chris Megaloudis, a player agent, tweeted out more details from the process to sign Lletget and what he thought were some suggestions on how to fix the broken system.
A few details/thoughts around Lletget/discovery process. Very frustrating process to say the least. pic.twitter.com/bFoSOXxruC
— chrismegaloudis (@chrismegaloudis) May 13, 2015
How To Get Away With Blackmail
Based on the tweet above, it seems there is a simple recipe in place to get away with blackmail in MLS:
- Have no conversations with a player or agent.
- Don't actively scout said player.
- Let player take part in preseason with club you'd like to blackmail.
- For good measure, make sure player misses two months in the process. Why just make money when you can also keep the player sidelined from his previous team?
- File Discovery List claim.
- Laugh all the way to the bank with $50,000.