In late December, DC United agreed to transfer goalie Troy Perkins to Norwegian club Valerenda. Based in Oslo, Valerenga paid approximately $750,000 for Perkins. The transfer gives Perkins quite a raise--he'll more than double his salary in 2008.
By itself, the Perkins transfer is certainly newsworthy on a number of fronts, but the news last week that New England Revolution Forward Pat Noonan is making a similar transfer this season begs the question: why Finland?
Noonan's transfer to Aalesund comes three years after former Rev Adin Brown made a similar jump to Aalesund.
Now, with at least 6 Americans playing in the Tippeligaen (Norway's First Division), has US Soccer officially colonized Norway? The bigger, more serious question is whether or not we'll ever hear from these players again on either the club or national stage. It is unknown whether or not a transfer from MLS to a second-tier European league will help or hurt their chances at either a National Team call up and/or another transfer to a more prestigious league.
At present, we can only wait and see. We do know, however, that training camp started in Early January with 25 degree temperatures. Let's hope there's an indoor facility for them...
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