That didn’t take long. Just hours ago news started to break about a potential Kei Kamara move from Sporting KC to Norwich City, and while we noted team and league approval were still pending, it looks like that’s been taken care of, too. Sporting CEO Robb Heineman, in a letter posted to the club’s website, explained the club has agreed to loan their leading scorer to the Canaries through the end of the Premier League season. Norwich also has an option to buy the Sierra Leone international at the end of the loan.
The letter may not reveal any earth-shattering secrets, but it’s still noteworthy. Here’s an MLS CEO taking time to outline to his fan base why his team not only let their leading scorer go but why it’s a good thing.
Possibly the key passage:
Perhaps if Espinoza hadn’t already left, Heineman wouldn’t have taken the time to outline the club’s though process, but there’s no defensiveness in the subtext. Instead, Heineman’s outlining a policy that acknowledges Major League Soccer realities, one that paints Sporting as a club sympathetic to its players’ aspirations:
Suffice to say, this view has not always been present in Major League Soccer. Among fans, there are still misgivings that MLSappears to be selling more players, but as Heineman notes in the Espinoza example, there is a downside to holding on to players for too long. Like it or not, selling players (and recouping some of your investment) is an economic reality of the soccer world.
It’s a reality that will see Kamara in Norwich through May, by which time Kansas City will know whether they’ll need a replacement. If they do, Sporting gets money from Norwich which will help them replace Kamara in the summer window. If they don’t, they get their leading scorer back.