First?

But who cares -- this won't happen anyway.

Hopefully, he's grown up a bit. If so and he can still play, the more quality in the league the better. MLS still has a long way to go due to obvious constraints but the quality on the field is getting better and better. I'd love for Toronto to be a competitive team, their fans deserve it.

Goff,

Can you chime in on the Riquelme reports. Lots of Mexican and Argentine articles about an MLS team making a 15 million dollar offer for him. Any of this credible? Also, is any MLS team in the running for Alvaro Recoba?

I'll give him a generous 3 months before he's back to his old self.

Toronto, have you read his resume of late?

Now way an MLS team pays a $15 million fee for Ronaldinho, let alone Riquleme...

If the 15 Million thing comes through, my money is on Houston.

Quality is debatable. Sure, he can play, but...

Yay, Amado's back! This season just wouldn't have been the same without his weekly fit of petulance.

No team would pay $15 million for Ronaldinho? What are you smoking? The return on that investment would instantly make whichever team were lucky enough to get such a deal substantially better from a profitability standpoint.

I question the Riquelme rumor due to the fact that it would have MLS paying a transfer fee. Also, what changed (other than getting left out of the Club World Cup against AC Milan, which was his main focus on getting back for Boca Juniors) that would cause him to want to come here.

I'm not questioning what he could mean in terms of on-field contributions, but I'm questioning the change in the stance on transfer fees and the like.

Lastly - DP's have been, are, and will be great for the growth of this league - but this sort of spending ahead of UGLY CBA negotiations do nothing for the league's ability to say no to the Player's request for a cap increase and especially a big movement for the bottom of the roster's pay. David Beckham's annual salary would cover an almost 2.5x - 3x increase for EACH DEVELOPMENTAL slot ($6.5 million/140 Developmental Slots). Now the league can always push back saying that if you're not happy here and you can get a work permit and a job abroad go - but the league can't push too hard because MLS can't stock all of its rosters with Latin Americans.

Also - check out http://www.socceramerica.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=26153 this to see that The Don has stated that the salary cap is hurting abilities to compete on a regional/international level. I'm still a big believer in helping the league grow in a metered and controlled manner as just buying up the big Euro rosters will not a league make. There still needs to be some organic growth to it.

OT, but I notice that the three Caps photos I've seen since they made the playoffs, including the one next to Insider right now, feature the player (players?) missing a tooth.

Perhaps the same marketing strategy could be used with DC's pro women's soccer team when that league resumes play.

Any word on the shirt sponsor for D.C.?

Is the news about Thierry Henry to Seattle and Riquelme to D.C./Houston/N.E. credible?

@Bethesda, MD

Steven let us all know that it's an on-going process with a foreign automaker but that other parties could still be in the running. The time table for an announcement is off in the distance rather than imminent. He posted it yesterday.

Don't worry - we know people don't scour the comments like others but there's your info.

Any word on the shirt sponsor for D.C.?

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Can people stop asking this same damn question in every thread?!? I'm sure Goff will happily pass on that information as soon as it becomes available -- he doesn't need the extra prompting.

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