The Toronto Star: TFC's hands tied by meddling MLS

[Grizzly]

Agreed, this is MLSE attempting the woe is me defence.

They could have signed Kevin Mckenna but wasted their time on the Swede.

I have it from a very good source that McKenna was shopped to all the Canadian teams but the money he was asking was not anywhere near what one can pay for a player of his calibre in the MLS salary structure. McKenna was substantially overpaid by FC Koln when they signed him, well above the going rate in Germany for a player of his abilities. Koln was desperate to promote at the time and went on a spending spree. His contract had appearance clauses (and Koln had so many injuries at the back that they had to play him) that automatically extended it to 2013 so it seems like he was not willing to take a pay cut to come home. Koln would like to be rid of his contract and has shopped him a bit so would certainly release him if someone were willing to take his salary on.

I do not know how Mellberg has been playing recently but in his prime he was a world class player while McKenna even in his prime was a 2nd Bundesliga player who could perform as a sub in the 1st BL (or play effectively in a bunker defence like at Cottbus). Mellberg may or may not be too old to splash a large amount of money on but McKenna is only 2 years younger and nowhere near his quality. Splashing a lot of money on a 32 year old McKenna would be a lot worse decision than splashing a lot of money on a 34 year old Mellberg. Both could certainly play in MLS but the question is would they be worth the salary. At least in Mellberg's case it may have been a gamble worth taking but I doubt it in McKenna's case. I think one could criticize TFC for not finding other good alternatives to Mellberg but McKenna was not the good alternative.