By Steven Agen
Former Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Michael Gspurning is unlikely to return stateside, quelling rumors that he would join NYCFC in their inaugural season in a recent interview with Radio Cascadia. The big Austrian indicated his negotiations with the Lampard-embattled club had broken down, and also revealed that he was on the radar of multiple MLS clubs. When asked about his connection to New York City:
“To be honest, this was a possibility, and it was not only in New York. Of course, I was following the whole movement in the league, and it didn’t work out with a couple of teams for different reasons. But of course it was a possibility and may still be a possibility.”
Gspurning intimated that MLS salary cap constraints have hampered the conversations about a second stint in the league. The offers MLS clubs are making don’t appear to be competitive with the offers he has received in Europe. For a player to make the decision to move his family across the world, doing so for significantly less than a move closer to home would yield is tough to do. With MLS set to create a new CBA early this year, it’s worth questioning if the league will now finally release clubs to pursue top-class talent like Gspurning. For now, it is clear that the restraint on finances for many American clubs makes them distant competitors in an arena filled with clubs from more developed European leagues. Gspurning repeatedly made it clear that he’d love to play in MLS, and that contract talks have broken down for more reasons than just money. However, one must question if MLS can continue to grow if it turns away talent like Gspurning. On if he’d made contact with people in the NYCFC front office:
“I wasn’t speaking with them but the agent was talking to them. I know was on the list, I know i was also on the list of other teams. But, as I said, it’s just a done deal if you sign a contract and it wasn’t going that far. Ok, it’s time to look for other possibilities and life goes on. When one door is closing another one is opening.”
At least for now, it appears Michael Gspurning isn’t returning to MLS.
Hear his full interview detailing life in Europe, reflections on his time in Seattle, and much more on Episode 24 of Radio Cascadia here.
