Charlie Davies to sign with Hammarby...

One of the highest rated players coming out of American College Soccer this year is not going to be playing in MLS anytime soon. Charlie Davies of Boston College has decided to test his ability in Europe. The talented Junior from Manchester, New Hampshire will be be flying to Sweden today to sign his contract with Hammarby of the Swedish Allsvenskan according to Marc Connolly.

This is the type of player MLS needs to be able to hold on to. He has been dazzling college soccer fans for the past three years and almost everyone who sees him play says his skills are top level. If MLS could sign a few players of Davies' caliber each season the quality of play would no doubt continue to rise. It comforts me to know MLS didn't sit by idly watching Davies cross the pond. Connolly reports that MLS put a lucrative offer on the table. In this case I suspect Davies' ambition is taking him to Europe. Good luck to him. I was hoping to get to watch him first hand in 2007, but I guess I'll just have to wait.

More and more it seems to me all roads lead back to MLS for top American soccer players. Rumors of Brian McBride returning to MLS and Claudio Reyna joining for the first time make me realize that Americans are apt to love their country and want to play their sport here at some point. So we may miss some of their prime years. We got to see Eddie Pope's prime and I have no doubt more Americans will follow in his footsteps in the future.

Then again, Davies may find he can't cut it in Sweden and he'll pull a Jovan Kirovski in a couple of years. Who knows, by then we may not want him here.