Report: Jesse Marsch says Kevin-Prince Boateng move to RBNY "isn't happening"

Eric Giacometti covers the New York Red Bulls beat for mlssoccer.com, and he found time to ask head coach Jesse Marsch about the steadily amplifying rumor suggesting Kevin-Prince Boateng might be on his way to RBNY.

Marsch: Kevin-Prince Boateng "isn't happening" #RBNY #MLS

— Eric Giacometti (@Eric_Giacometti) May 8, 2015

That seems conclusive.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, #RBNY folk

— Eric Giacometti (@Eric_Giacometti) May 8, 2015

Don't apologize, Eric: it's your job and we appreciate you doing it.

The full quote, subsequently posted by the RBNY beat-man is telling:

For those still hungry for KPB news/rumors, here's Jesse's full quote on the matter. Make of it what you will. #RBNY pic.twitter.com/FNAHAdihv7

— Eric Giacometti (@Eric_Giacometti) May 9, 2015

Implication: the team is scanning the transfer market as one might expect any team to be doing, but there's nothing imminent pending. Of course, this is in the context of preparing for the Red Bulls first-ever meeting with their recently manufactured rival, NYC FC. So Marsch was perhaps simply not in the mood to unsettle his squad by entertaining speculation about new arrivals.

With specific reference to the Boateng matter, the conversation between coach and reporter didn't get round to the question of whether RBNY did indeed land a Discovery Claim on Boateng - as reported by Kristian Dyer earlier this week. So we don't know whether Boateng-to-RBNY "isn't happening" because the two parties tried but failed to reach an agreement, or whether the entire story was off-target from the start.

And we may never know. MLS's Discovery Process rules allow teams to make and un-make claims with minimal fuss. The only circumstances in which we may even know there was a claim at all (since MLS, correctly, considers the Discovery Process to be part of the contract negotiation process and therefore not an area of its dealings it is under any obligation to publicize) are if another MLS club tries to take over RBNY's claim by throwing down $50K in allocation money for the privilege.

And that may not even be necessary, since the Red Bulls would be perfectly entitled to move on from whatever was or was not happening with Boateng, remove him from their Discovery List, and save energy for the next high-profile target they might wish to lure to the Red side of New York. The claim may have been made and subsequently withdrawn, without any evidence for the process beyond Dyer's story and the Marsch refutation that followed.

So all we know for sure is that Kevin-Prince Boateng's rumored move to RBNY "isn't happening". Which is surely the most significant news on the subject at this moment, and for which we thank Mr. Giacometti.