Sockers Balk on Trade to Get Veee Back

A proposed three-team trade that would bring former Socker star Juli Veee back to San Diego is being held up primarily by the Sockers.

The proposed trade would send the Sockers’ Kaz Deyna or Brian Quinn to Pittsburgh. Then Pittsburgh would send Stan Terlecki to Las Vegas and Las Vegas would send Veee to the Sockers.

Pittsburgh, which wants to trade Terlecki, favors the deal, a source close to the Major Indoor Soccer League club said Sunday. Las Vegas is hedging, but the Sockers aren’t interested.

“All I can say is, sure, we want Juli Veee back,” Coach Ron Newman said. “If they wanted my wife and my house, that they could have. They can’t have Kazzie or Quinn.”

Newman said the Sockers would not give up any front-line players, a group that includes Deyna, Quinn, Steve Zungul, Jean Willrich, Branko Segota and Hugo Perez. As the trade is proposed, Newman said the Sockers would only be willing to give up a draft choice.

Veee, who was traded to Las Vegas during the offseason, was one of the Sockers’ most popular players in his four seasons in San Diego.

“How bad do we want him?,” Newman asked. “Not too bad, and that’s not meant as a detriment to him. We’re at the top of the league now. It’s like having two Rolls Royces and somebody asking if you want a Mercedes. It would be nice. But you don’t buy a Mercedes if you don’t need it.”

Terlecki, 29, has a three-year, $270,000 contract with Pittsburgh that runs through 1987. He also gets bonus money for games played and Pittsburgh wins, but recently he has been benched indefinitely by Spirit Coach John Kowalski. Deyna, 37, the player Pittsburgh wants most, is in the final year of an $85,000 annual contract. He is seeking a new three-year deal worth $270,000, but the Sockers only want to sign him for two years. Veee, 34, has a four-year contract worth $700,000 that expires in 1988.