D.C. United Saved a Bundle with Veron

• Yahoo Sports, Tuesday, December 18, 2007 5 PM

Who needs Juan Sebastian Veron? Certainly not D.C. United, says Yahoo Sports' Martin Rogers. Veron was a bust in the Premiership and a bust in his return to Italy, so there are no guarantees he wouldn't be a bust in MLS, too. In fact, so big a bust was Veron at Manchester United that his $56 million transfer fee caused many to call into question the judgment of the great Sir Alex Ferguson.

Veron's arrival certainly would have made a big international splash and raised the profile of the league's most consistent team, but given the Argentine's style of play, Rogers says Veron probably wouldn't have fit in in MLS.

In England, the Argentine "was seized by panic every time he was harried or hustled in midfield." After all, "time on the ball is not a luxury that anyone, especially a Manchester United player, is afforded in the EPL." Now, MLS is not the Premiership, but Rogers points out that "the pace is high and most of the players in the league are good athletes," so there's not an awful lot of time on the ball to be had. Veron, like Beckham, would have been mobbed in midfield and given little room to provide the creative spark promised by his hefty six-figure salary, which means that "maybe, just maybe, United has saved itself some trouble - and plenty of money - by Veron's last-minute U-turn."

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