Oh My Nolly!

I figure it's only fair to offer up just one headline that puns the Real Salt Lake part of yesterday's big trade.

Between this and last week's USMNT coaching announcement -- and I've been meaning to gloat about how right I was about that -- the BigSoccer conspiracy theorists may have even outdone themselve. Tops, by a wide margin, is a thread positing that this announcement was timed specifically to blunt criticism of Sunil Gulati over the Klinsmann deal breakdown. Get those strongly-worded e-mails ready!

Next on the list is that this was driven as a PR move to gloss over things like the lack of a real stadium deal after the fake groundbreaking ceremony last year before the votes had passed. Following that is the suggestion that Real Madrid is somehow behind this move, because they have some sort of development deal/partnership with Real Salt Lake, and this would allow them to whisk Freddy away from under Manchester United's collective noses.

Seriously, there's so little that separates Internet soccer fans from, say, Trekkies (or, given the conspiracy angle, X-Philes), it's sometimes astounding.

The speculation that seems the most credible actually does have to do with the United Freddy did not until just recently play for, if you'll excuse some bad grammar. It may be that, through his two-week training stint with Manchester United, Adu either realized or was instructed that he need to play to his strengths, which in his mind, means attacking midfielder.

It's pretty clear from both Kevin Payne's and Peter Nowak's comments that there had developed a fundamental disconnect between the role Freddy wanted and the one available to him in DC, so at the very least, this idea passes the sniff test.

One other bit of poorly constructed BigSoccer wisdom is that Freddy will only be in Salt Lake for a couple of months before he bolts to Europe and his big payday and international fame and glory. I don't know the specifics of his MLS deal, but if they hold the contract, they're not going to let him go until they're good and ready, no matter how much he pouts. So I wouldn't be surprised if RSL might be able to hang on to him for a bit.

This, of course, is a semantic hedge. Saying I wouldn't be surprised if it happened is wholly different than saying I think it's going to happen. Just something to watch out for the next time you, say, read a Trecker column.