End Of An Era: Union Goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi Agrees To Contract Termination
By Kevin Kinkead
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For the Philadelphia Union, the recurring nightmare is finally over.
After 13 months and just nine games, Rais Mbolhi's dreadful tenure at PPL Park is officially done.
The Union announced on Monday that the misfit goalkeeper agreed to a contract termination with the team, essentially allowing him to move to Turkish club Antalyaspor on a free transfer.
The termination gives Philadelphia an extra $350,000 in salary relief going into the off-season. Mbolhi was the third highest paid goalkeeper in Major League Soccer, behind only DC United's Bill Hamid and Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando. Add $400k from the Carlos Valdes termination, and that's about $750k in freed-up commitments this winter.
Kaleci Rais M'bolhi ve Kulübümüz arasında 24.08.2015 tarihinde düzenlenen imza töreni ile sözleşme imzalanmıştır. pic.twitter.com/MzA2yLk1aN
— Antalyaspor (@Antalyaspor) August 24, 2015
Mbolhi had long been on the chopping block, ever since he was benched in April following a shaky performance in the Union's 3-2 road collapse in Kansas City. He started five games this season before his banishment from Chester.
But that's only the beginning of the story.
In a bizarre twist, Mbolhi then returned to the United States in May, at the same time backups Andre Blake and John McCarthy simultaneously went down with training injuries. No one seemed to know why Mbolhi had returned, or who told him to come back. Union officials later told the media that there had been a "miscommunication" with his agent, and the player showed up at training the following Monday.
But even then Mbolhi still would not play for the Union, as manager Jim Curtin preferred emergency loan signing Brian Sylvestre and MLS pool goalkeeper Trey Mitchell for the May 9th trip to Vancouver.
It was obvious then that Mbolhi would never again suit up for Philadelphia. Here was a situation where the Union had just one healthy goalkeeper, and instead preferred two emergency options to their top signing from a year ago.
Curtin confirmed that notion when he spoke with Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com following the Vancouver game:
"He and I have a difference of philosophy right now," Curtin said. "He's not going to play any more games with us. He has a contract, so he'll be training by himself, separate from the team. We'll arrange for that at our facility, but it will be at a different time from when our team is training [and] he won't have any interaction with the group."
Mbolhi was signed last summer and finishes his Union career with one win, four losses, and four draws. He faced 33 shots, recorded 17 saves, and conceded 13 goals.
In fairness, the Union's defensive struggles in the spring did not help the problem in goal. The set piece marking was slack and a new look backline did not start the season on the right foot.
But Mbolhi was not well-liked in the Union locker room. He didn't mesh with his teammates and never really made an effort to do that. The body language on the field and during training was poor, and it seemed like the player was a bad fit from the beginning.
On the other hand, goalkeeping coach Paulo Grilo, who came to the Union with Mbolhi, seemed to make an impression on the younger shot stoppers. John McCarthy has spoken openly and positively about working with Grilo, whom Mbolhi met at CSKA Sofia.
This season, the media did not have access to the goalkeeper, after he told the Union public relations staff that he would not be speaking to reporters for the duration of the year. He was, however, polite and engaging when the media spoke to him on several occasions during the 2014 season. It's unclear why Mbolhi decided to remain silent this year.
Union CEO and Operating Partner Nick Sakiewicz denies signing Mbolhi last summer. At the time, Curtin was still interim manager and Chris Albright was a first year technical director. The prevailing opinion is that Curtin did not (or should not) have decision making power in that period of transition. Still, the team did not have a general manager last July, and Sakiewicz was the executive with final say in the front office.
At the end of the day, all of that is mostly irrelevant. Mbolhi was a big capture. He was an international-caliber player who was coming off a strong performance in the World Cup and he chose Philadelphia over bigger clubs that showed similar interest. It was impressive that the Union was able to attract that type of talent.
But the problem is that they didn't need Rais Mbolhi. They didn't need to spend money on foreign goalkeeping. Zac MacMath was having a decent season and the struggles that got John Hackworth fired certainly didn't have anything to do with goalkeeping. MacMath in fact saved a couple of penalties to steal points for the team, then saved a few more penalties in U.S. Open Cup semifinal shootout. Philly would go on to the final because of his performance in Dallas.
At the time, there were more pressing needs. Spending money on foreign goalkeeping is generally seen as unnecessary in the United States, where goalkeeping is our top export. The signing was seen as questionable with MacMath seemingly turning the corner and top overall draft pick Andre Blake waiting in the wings.
Add the salary cap hit and transfer fee, and it seemed like a head scratching move.
