MLS to PNE: Jog on! (updated)

In another sign that the American league is headed in the right direction, Major League Soccer has twice denied English club Preston North End’s attempts to secure New England striker Taylor Twellman, according to Yanks Abroad.

According to YA, PNE, cellar dwellers in England’s Championship division (second-tier), offered a $1.5 million for Double-T, and then upped the offer to $2 million.

This is the right move for MLS. The league cannot allow itself to become the farm system for lower divisions in Europe. As one of MLS’s stars, it would be a ridiculous decision to allow Twellman to move to English obscurity.

It would hurt the league, in terms of removing both consistent scorer and a recognizable face, and it would hurt the national team because the no matter what some pale-faced, peanut-brittle-toothed Brit says, the quality of MLS is far superior to England’s Championship and it’s not as far away from the EPL as one might think.

But according to Washington Post uber-blogger Steve Goff, Twellman's not happy and claims the offer rose to $2.5 million. He quotes Double-T in a recent post:

"I want to go. It's perfect timing. It's the right club and, being 27, it's the right time to go to Europe."

"When I ask MLS, they say the Revs rejected it. When I ask the Revs, they said it was MLS. Look, you're not going to get more than that for a guy like me, who is not always with the national team. It's a good offer. Anytime a team wants you that bad, of course you want to go."