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Ron Waxman, sports agent and answer to the question "What is Periscope for?", took to Twitter on Saturday evening to get a few things off his chest about Fernando Cavenaghi.
The Argentine striker recently left River Plate as something of a living legend: among the club's top goalscorers of all time and part of the team that won the 2015 Copa Libertadores. The 31-year-old only won four caps for his country and had some relatively barren spells at clubs all over Europe, but he's delivered goals consistently for Los Millonarios - more than 100 goals spread over three separate stints with the club.
His last season for River Plate saw him score 11 goals in 18 appearances in 2015. That was the first time he's hit double-digit goals for one team in a single season since the last time he played for La Banda, in the 2011-12 season.
All of which is to say that he's respected player who appears to be back in the sort of form that won him that respect. And as he said his goodbyes to River Plate, much of the media speculation about his future had MLS as his next gig.
It didn't happen. As August ticked into its last week, Cavenaghi signed with APOEL FC in Cyprus.
So those were the usual baseless rumors about MLS to scare a Euro club into throwing some more money on the table, right? Not so, according to Waxman's Twitter feed:
I was incredibly disappointed that no team in #MLS was interested in signing Fernando Cavenaghi. To me it is symptomatic of MLS's problems.
— Ron Waxman (@RonWaxman) August 30, 2015
As a simple reality of physics and the usual legal structure of a footballer's contract, and a professional soccer league, Cavenaghi can only play in one league at a time (Say what? There are players who appear in USL and MLS in the same week, you say. Yes, good point. Pedant.) It's not entirely clear why his absence from MLS is emblematic of its problems, unless it is the specific problem MLS shares with every league outside Cyprus: not being able to watch Fernando Cavenaghi on the regular. Perhaps Mr. Waxman will elaborate.
He did cite Cavenaghi's recent achievements in further Twitter chat...
@RobertWFD 31 yr old who captained River Plate to trophies this year and scored 11 goals in 18 games would be bad for #MLS?
— Ron Waxman (@RonWaxman) August 30, 2015
...but there are plenty of good and accomplished players who never play in MLS, just as they never play in the vast majority of leagues around the world. In itself, not having players who have made their reputations in other places doesn't seem an insurmountable issue for any soccer league. But I digress. No reason to believe Cavenaghi incapable of success in MLS, and he's a relatively well known player who doubtless would have shifted some merchandise.
@FromTheBackline @RonWaxman @VancouverArmada As Caps & River fan, Cavenaghi lettering on my next jersey as homage to what could've been ;)
— Don McArthur (@DGMcArthur) August 30, 2015
What Waxman did detail was the identity of a couple of teams that passed on Cavenaghi, and one that was apparently not interested in the first place:
@VancouverArmada @FromTheBackline Vancouver passed.
— Ron Waxman (@RonWaxman) August 30, 2015
@ErikAbarca RSL chose to sign Martinez. RBNY were not interested.
— Ron Waxman (@RonWaxman) August 30, 2015
Interesting. Rumor mill devotees will note that Mr. Waxman's comments appear to debunk one of Spring's more surprising whispers: the notion Cavenaghi was heading to the New York Red Bulls.
Thanks for clearing that up, Mr. Waxman.