The K-Wiz Keep Conrad!

By: Michael | March 5th, 2007

“I think he’s still in Kansas, Toto…”

I Can’t Believe I Almost Went to Europe…

Despite rumors he might go to Europe with Lillestrøm (Norway) or – as I discovered in the linked article – with Standard Liege (Belgium), where fellow American back Onguchi Onyewu plays, Jimmy Conrad has inked a four year extension with the Wizards. As I have said earlier, keeping talent like Conrad (especially as he is beginning to make a name for himself internationally) is huge for both Kansas City and the MLS.

In the official release on MLSNet, KC official Peter Vermes made the vague happy statement that should accompany such a wonderful extension: “Signing Jimmy to a new four-year deal solidifies our commitment to establishing the premier organization in MLS… Jimmy is not only a quality soccer player, but also an extremely valuable person within the Kansas City community, and we are pleased to say that he will be with us for the long term.”

…And Coach Onalfo added his own warm fuzzy feelings to the mix. He even added Conrad will be the captain for the foreseeable future; considering he’s on the captaincy rotation for Team USA and the leadership for the Wizards has come out of the back during the past half decade, I say ole Jimmy boy is the perfect choice to wear the arm band.

Tangent:
Conrad is so clutch lately it almost makes me regret trading him for Edson Buddle and cash the first time I played Football Manager 2006, except for the fact that in FM06, Buddle scores a whole lot more than he does in real life and Conrad can be replaced by veteran Galatasary defender and proud Croat national Stjepan Tomaš quite easily on free transfer.

A Bit Curious:
As was pointed out on a BigSoccer.com discussion, there is no mention of salary anywhere in the press release. The Kansas City Star really went out on a limb and provided that “[Conrad] recently agreed to a new four-year contract with the Wizards that will pay him substantially more than his old deal, which paid him $125,000 last season and had two years remaining.” “Substantially more”… MLS is the king of vague news sources. I’d be curious to find out the exact numbers.