The Lee Nguyen Saga

When the Revs re-convened for the start of preseason camp in late-January, there was a sense of new beginnings. Their first training sessions under new coach Brad Friedel and his staff were set to start and there were new faces to put through the paces. In addition to them there were guys like Diego Fagundez, Kelyn Rowe, Cody Cropper, Antonio Delamea and Claude Dielna. The usual suspects were all there. Well, save for one.

Lee Nguyen never showed up.

He still hasn't shown up.

The holdout stems from a very simple place: money. Nguyen made $500,000 last season, but he's worth at least double that. New England is notably stingy when it comes to what they're willing to pay players. They didn't have any million dollar earners last season (the highest earner on the team was Xavier Kouassi, making nearly $900k) and had no players in the top-20 highest paid players, per The Denver Post.

Here's a rundown of what Lee Nguyen has done since joining the Revs in 2012: played in 191 games, scored 51 goals (2nd-most in club history), tallied 49 assists (2nd-most in club history), has the most penalty kick goals in club history, and the 2nd-most shots, shots on goal and game winning goals in club history. He is just the second Revolution player ever to rack up at least 40 goals and 40 assists, the only other to reach that mark being Steve Ralston (42 G, 73 A).

It seems clear to me that Nguyen is an all-time Rev, probably in the top 5 to be honest (off the top of my head and in no particular order I'd probably go Nguyen, Twellman, Reis, Tierney and Ralston).

The bigger issue is that this hold out has no become extremely publicized. Given Nguyen's stature within the club, his absence was extremely noticeable, only exacerbated by the fact that he has made it clear he was unhappy with his contract situation for quite some time. After he no-showed the start of training camp, the Revs put out a statement in which they said Nguyen was in breach of his contract:

Here’s @NERevolution general manager Mike Burns on Lee Nguyen not reporting for the start of #NERevs preseason.

The club is taking a zero-tolerance approach. #MLS pic.twitter.com/HYQNQh0x7Q

— Jonathan Sigal (@JonathanSigal) January 23, 2018

After trade speculation quickly started, Revs management including GM Mike Burns and Friedel came out to say, and continue to say, Lee will not be traded, with reports saying they are not even listening to offers. Rather, they likely have an intern picking up the phone an inch when it rings and then placing it back down to end the call.

Nguyen has finally spoken on the matter, telling ESPNFC, "I hope things can work out in a manner that benefits everyone... I've paid my dues and it gets harder and harder to watch so many players on the Revs and in MLS get rewarded year after year, despite not performing anywhere close to what I have done." He also said that at this point in his career he feels like he needs a new challenge, generally something players will say when they actually complete a move elsewhere, not while they are holding out.

It's easy to say, "Just pay the man." He is justifiably pissed off regarding his status as a top player and not being paid as such. He deserves more money, that much is clear. But the situation isn't as black and white as paying him more money. He may already be mentally out of New England.

Perhaps more interesting in the ESPNFC comments than the money talk is the fact that Nguyen has asked to be traded three times this offseason, once at the conclusion of the season, once more after the hiring of Brad Friedel and most recently before the MLS Draft and combine. He has his heart set on leaving, clearly.

I can see a scenario where Nguyen gets enough cash thrown at him to keep him here, but the damage would have already have been done. He'd be another player who doesn't really want to be here. While Friedel wants Lee in the fold when putting his teams together every week and as their #1 guy on the field and in the locker room, I think the most likely scenario is that things get so toxic that we have to deal Nguyen for less than we should be getting for him.

There is no end in sight as of now, and the road only looks to be getting uglier from here. We can hope for an ending to this mess that is all sunshine and rainbows and happy tailgates on sunny summer nights, but there could be a grim reality waiting around the corner. Brace for it.


Ps-More housekeeping to come, sit tight.