DC United have denied they are about to sign Ryan Nelsen,
despite British media reports linking the Queens Park Rangers
vice-captain with the MLS club.
The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Nelsen was retiring
from professional football to pursue a player-coach role at
DC United, where he played from 2001 to 2005.
"There is nothing going on at our end," a DC United club
official told the Herald on Sunday. "It is all just
speculation and absolutely false."
DC United coach Ben Olsen also told American media that the
reports were "100 per cent not true".
That slightly contradicts earlier statements from Olsen, who
apparently told a fans' question and answer session last year
that the club had previously been interested in Nelsen but
struggled to match the wages on offer in the Premier League.
Fellow MLS club Toronto FC has also been mooted as a possible
destination for the All Whites skipper. The 35-year-old has a
close association with Kevin Payne, the recently appointed
CEO at the Canadian club. Payne was in charge at DC United
during Nelsen's spell there, which included an MLS title in
2004, and is an unabashed Nelsen fan.
Former Ipswich town and England striker Paul Mariner is head
coach at Toronto FC after previously being in charge of
football operations. Mariner is said to be under some
pressure at Toronto, after the club went winless in its last
14 games of the 2012 season and finished bottom of the
Eastern conference (DC United finished second).
Nelsen would, the theory goes, step into the assistant coach
role but have a faster route to the top at Toronto than at DC
United.
Nelsen's return to America has long been mooted. He was said
to be on the verge of signing for DC United last January,
before a last-minute offer from Spurs was presented to his
agent. He was also said to be close to a US move at the end
of last season before former QPR manager Mark Hughes took him
to Loftus Road.
"I loved my time in America," Nelsen told the Herald on
Sunday last year. "I met my wife and still have plenty of
friends there and it set me up for my career. It's a way
better league than it was when I was last there and I would
love to go back there one day."
If Nelsen was to move to the MLS, he would have to take a
significant pay cut. The American league has a salary cap of
US$3 million ($3.6 million) and DC United's highest paid
player earns US$650,000 ($781,000). Nelsen is believed to
earn around $100,000 a week at QPR.
Though there may be other factors, the timing would be
unusual. Any club would have to pay a transfer fee to land
Nelsen now, whereas he would be a free agent at the end of
the season.
However, it was current QPR manager Harry Redknapp who took
Nelsen suddenly to Spurs from Blackburn when Redknapp managed
the London club. It was also Redknapp who shifted Nelsen on
to QPR after only eight games for Spurs - a month before
Redknapp found himself without a job.
Another issue is the 2014 World Cup. The All Whites are just
one point away from qualifying for November's winner-take-all
play-off with a Central American nation.
The ideal would be for Nelsen to keep playing at the highest
level possible before those clashes.
The worst possible scenario would see Nelsen retiring from
international football. Without the influential No6,
qualifying for Brazil seems much more difficult for the New
Zealand side.
"I'll be available as much as I can," Nelsen told the Herald
on Sunday last year when asked about his All Whites future.
"I want to keep playing at the highest level for as long as I
can and being at the World Cup would be unbelievable - but
I've always said if I can't contribute to a level that I am
happy with, then I will walk away."
- by Michael Burgess
-NZHSUN
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