Kenny Deuchar Underpaid? So is Bill Gates!

I ran across Martin Roger's list of MLS underpaid / overpaid players from last week. I didn't mind that he cited John DiRaimondo over Nick LaBrocca despite LaBrocca appearing in every game for the Rapids this year. Nor was it his puzzling claim that Brad Guzan has "gone right back to work for Chivas". Yes, Guzan's been playing but he's had a few howlers.

What caught my eye was Roger's listing Real Salt Lake's Kenny Deuchar as being underpaid. His reasoning? Deuchar is "a proven goalscorer". More so, his salary is "low for a British import". Please, Mr. Rogers, take some time to watch some games. What has Deuchar done in those to show you he's underpaid? 2 goals in 6 games? Something more than that?

Citing Kenny Deuchar as a "proven goalscorer" is either knowingly misleading or, worse for someone who is supposedly an expert on the game, flat out ignorance. In his entire career, Deuchar has only scored 6 goals in 15 games in the Scottish top flight. All of those games were this year for the Scottish Premiership in his career. At that they were for Gretna, a club that's gone from having financial problems to being on the verge of going out of existence. A club that a couple weeks ago put out a team almost entirely composed of loan players from England's lower leagues. A club that had loaned Deuchar out to lower league teams until later in the season when financial problems had worsened and Gretna was losing players on free transfers (couldn't afford wages; missing payments).

6 in 15 isn't bad but it's not prolific. What about Deuchar's other years? Those were spent in the lower leagues of Scotland and a bit of time in England's 3rd division. But he scored loads of goals there? Yes, he did. But what's important to point out that he only played a couple handful of games in Scotland's 2nd division. Kenny Deuchar only scored 2 goals in those games. All of his other games and all of his other 90+ goals were all scored in Scotland or England's 3rd division or lower.

On the verge of turning 28, Deuchar has been playing for a long time. Despite all that time he not only hasn't managed even one complete season in an arguably mediocre league, the Scottish Prem, but hasn't managed a complete season in the next division down. Even more sparse than his time in those leagues were his goals. Jason Kries and Real Salt Lake's fans may be hoping they've found a diamond in the rough. But so far the only thing that's for certain is that Kenny Deuchar is better than the last striker Real Salt Lake signed for $105,000, Luis Tejada.

>>Link for previous post pointing out Deuchar's lack of experience in upper leagues<<.

Davis Is Wrong About Kenny Deuchar

I'm not sure where Steve Davis got his numbers on for Kenny Deuchar his recent column looking at Real Salt Lake's upcoming 2008 MLS season. He says that Deuchar has scored 10 goals in his last 21 Scottish Premier League matches. The thing is Deuchar hasn't played 21 matches in the Scottish Premier League! This year with Gretna is the first time that he's played in the Scottish Premier League. While 6 goals in 15 games for Gretna, including a recent brace against Beasley's Rangers, Deuchar is 28 years old. He hasn't racked up the stats refer to in Davis' column. Worse he's spent nearly a decade in the lower leagues in Scotland just to get a shot in the Scottish top flight.

Kenny Deuchar spent a large portion of this season on loan at St. Johnstone in Scottish Division 1 (2nd division). The year previous, when Gretna was in the 2nd division, he spent the last 2/3 of the season on loan at Northampton in League One (England 3rd division). Previous to that his numbers look great but much of that time was with Gretna and East Fife in Scottish Division 2 (3rd div.) and Scottish Division 3 (4th Div.).

Not having a sparkling CV doesn't preclude Deuchar from doing well in the MLS. But he hasn't hit the numbers Davis refers to nor does it seem like that in a maturing MLS Deuchar is going to be the guy to net goals for RSL. That may not matter as Kreis is likely looking for a foil for Findley and Espindola. But if he fails to put in decent performances don't be surprised to see Deuchar concentrating on medicine (he's a doctor) and RSL making a mid-season trade for another big body to put up top.