Jones’ Fate Is Still Undecided
There is no guarantee that Cobi Jones will return to the Galaxy even if he accepts the contract offer that has been made by Major League Soccer.
Sources said that Jones this week had made up his mind to stay in MLS rather than continuing to pursue options overseas, but Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said Thursday evening that does not necessarily mean the U.S. national team winger will be in a Los Angeles uniform this season.
It’s probable, but not definite.
“Right now I want to wait until I get back to the States and have a chance to sit down with all the people involved and see what our options are,” Schmid said from Japan, where the Galaxy is in the midst of a three-game Asian tour.
“I’d like to talk to Cobi and see where his thoughts are at. He wanted to explore other possibilities and I need to see if he’s going to continue to explore other possibilities. Are we a home for the near term or are we a home for the long-term?”
Under league policy, terms of Jones’ contract will not be revealed, but it is believed he is being offered a four-year deal worth about $600,000 a season, which would make him the highest-paid American player in MLS.
It also would put the Galaxy well over the league’s salary cap and, very likely, would cause the team to trade captain and defender Robin Fraser, possibly to the Colorado Rapids.
Jones was in Florida with the U.S. team Thursday and was not available for comment. His agent, Cory Clemetson, said only that talks are “progressing.”
Schmid has said that Fraser would be traded only if Jones signs, and indications Thursday were that Fraser, one of only four original Galaxy players still with the team, was resigned to leaving Los Angeles.
“I know I’m going somewhere,” he said. “I just don’t know where.”
Colorado Coach Tim Hankinson acknowledged that Fraser is a player he might be interested in acquiring.
“There’s no question Robin is a quality player,” Hankinson said from the Rapids’ hotel in Portugal, where the team is in preseason training.
“Without too many question marks, he’s the best defender in the league. The issues of salary cap in L.A. are obvious issues. We tend to be a little bit more salary-flexible right now, so it’s something we’ll look at.
“Nothing has been decided and nothing has been discussed, really, in the last month. If anything does happen, I’m not so sure it’s ready to happen [right away]. We’re in Portugal and they [the Galaxy] are in China.”
Actually, the Galaxy left China Thursday for Tokyo, where it will play Verdy Kawasaki of Japan’s J-League today in the second game of its Asian trip.
Fraser, 34, the league’s 1999 defender of the year, did not accompany the team on the trip because he is recovering from shoulder surgery.
A trade to Denver, however, is logical. The Rapids, like the Galaxy, are a Philip Anschutz-operated team; therefore, Fraser would be kept in the fold, so to speak. Second, Fraser played in Denver for several years, leading the Colorado Foxes to two A-League championships. His wife, Ashley, is from Colorado.
“Maybe the league will move in our direction and allow us not to have to move somebody,” Schmid said. “I don’t know.”
Complicating matters is the possible availability to the Galaxy of U.S. national team forward Landon Donovan of Redlands or Guatemalan striker Carlos Ruiz. MLS is trying to borrow Donovan from Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and is also in talks with Ruiz.
