MLS Preview: Five Old Faces In Five New Places

The five most important transfers of the offseason.

1. Freddie Adu, Real Salt Lake. "Old" might be stretching it but Adu's been around for three years now and is rapidly approaching the end of his tenure in MLS. If he's is going to fulfill the hype lavished upon him when he entered the league at 14 before bolting to Europe it has to be now. Adu was traded to Real for a major allocation and can finally take on a full-time starting spot in the attacking midfield role he is best suited for. Real will build the team around his skills; now is the time to shine.

2. Luciano Emilio, DC United. The virtually unknown Brazilian striker -- any Brazilian who still carries around two names is most definitely Not A Big Deal -- was rescued from the Honduran league by the crafty DC United management and immediately responded with three goals in the home-and-home opener of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. With Adu gone and fan favorite Alecko Eskandarian traded to FC Toronto, the burden of partnering with Jamie Moreno -- admittedly not a massive one -- falls to Emilio.

3. Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago Fire. If anyone needed a reason to hate the Fire, here you go. The decrepit Blanco is a Mexican national team legend with 25 goals in 95 appearances, including the most recent USA-Mexico friendly in which he looked like a less talented version of Ronaldo in all the bad ways: the guy waddled. Blanco's not just a prominent member CONCACAF's dirty little sister program, he's it's prime offenders. The guy dives like a submarine.

So why is he important? He has the sort of ball skills not often seen in MLS. His array of flicks, tricks, and dribbles are without peer in the league, and though he is old and duck-like he figures to have a late-career revival a la Youri Djorkaeff, which I think is very important for you to know that I spelled correctly on the first try.
4. Claudio Reyna, New York Red Bulls. Last seen dawdling on the ball in the Ghana game and giving away the USA's chances for advancement out of the Group of Death, Reyna rejoins longtime coach/soulmate Bruce Arena -- last seen killing the USA's chances for advancement out of the Group of Death -- in New York. For those upset with the USMNT's performance during the World Cup, this constitutes a reason to hate New York, which is always good in a league that generally inspires all the passion a well-peeled carrot does. Though he looked immensely old and slow in the World Cup, Reyna was the first American to find real success in England for a reason. Arena will ride him hard... metaphorically. New York will go about as far as Reyna takes them.

5. That Beckham Guy, Los Angeles Galaxy. While Los Angeles may be the perfect place for the celebrity edition of David Beckham, at first glance it seems an odd soccer pairing. Beckham is basically a ponderous winger who happens to be amongst the best in the world at crosses, free kicks, and corners; the Galaxy's other main star is Landon Donovan, a fast break kind of striker who is 5'8" on a good day and is not exactly known for his laser headers. The Galaxy did import former Chicago Fire striker Nate Jaqua -- a relatively towering 6'3" and a borderline all star the past couple years -- to get on the end of exquisitely placed crosses, but he won't have much time to adapt to them: Beckham doesn't arrive for another three months.