Sydney battling to hold on to gun imports Mierzejewski and Buijs

Polish winger Mierzejewski, 31, and Dutch defender Bujis, 29, have both shimmered this season with the ruthless Sky Blues well on course for back-to-back A-League crowns, adding substantially to their market values.

While Mierzejewski is in the first season of a three-year contract, Buijs is only tied to Sydney for the remainder of the campaign, and he is eyeing a potential move to Asia.

Both are under the umbrella of the salary cap, with Sydney’s foreign marquee spots occupied by Bobo and Milos Ninkovic.

It’s understood that Mierzejewski, who has been in sublime touch with eight goals in 12 games after an injury-interrupted start to life at Allianz Stadium, is on $450,000 a year.

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His representatives believe he is worth six figures, arguing he has become a domineering A-League force with performances which have revived hopes of a Poland recall at the FIFA World Cup in Russia in five months.

He has 40 caps but has been in the international cold for over four years.

Buijs, who joined Sydney as an injury replacement a year ago, continues to add to his unyielding reputation but is seeking to maximize his remaining years at the elite level with a lucrative move to Asia at season’s end, unless Sydney can triple his $180,000 salary.

It’s a conundrum for coach Graham Arnold and the club’s technical director Han Berger, with Sydney having nine players coming off contract, including skipper Alex Brosque, Ninkovic, Alex Wilkinson, Bobo, David Carney and Matt Simon.

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Club legend Brosque is also considering his options, with the club likely to offer a downgraded one-year extension to the 34-year-old who has played all but one of Sydney’s 15 A-League games this season.

Should he feel undervalued, he could simply opt instead for retirement at the conclusion of his contract in June.

The Sky Blues remain light years ahead of the competition in terms of value-for-money talent recruitment, and Arnold is already planning new signings for next season to stay ahead of the pack.

Defender Michael Zullo and goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne this week inked contract extensions, with the Sky Blues five points clear of second-placed Newcastle Jets going into Sunday’s clash against Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2018/01/13/sydney-battling-hold-gun-imports-mierzejewski-and-buijs

Mierzejewski JUST SIGNED a 3-year deal. How can there possibly be a risk of losing him??

I thought that also and "His representatives believe he is worth six figures,"

450000 is 6 figures perhaps it's meant to be 7

I would let Buijs go. He's been in the shadow of Wilkinson for 2 years, and isn't really that good. He's also too young for BR!

the problem of who to leave out of the ACL squad might have just solved itself

Everyone has s price and if the Polish does well in ACL he may have some Chinese coming for him.

In saying that, with the cap it may be hard for SFC to replace him with a player on $450000 salary. SFC wouldn't be able to spend the sale money on their squad except for marquee/s.

Good deal by Arnold.

Fucking salary cap. No way Bujis will be offered $600 000, not that he wouldn't be worth, just impossible.

Meirzejewski we will at least get money for if he goes but again, would just be a loss to the league because of the salary cap.

Oh well, at least we have hundreds of juniors running around in the NPL who are just as good.

if they put the decimal and cents he could be on 8.

This argument begs the question of whether SFC would be willing or able to afford these players at $600 000 and a million.

"Had the club not continued to spend more than $2 million per-season on marquee players, Sydney would likely have turned a profit this season for the first time."
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/sydney-fc-chief-executive-tony-pignata-leaves-2017-aleague-champions-20170510-gw17zo.html

What makes you think Sydney's owners are in it to make money?

Of course there is a limit that clubs will spend relative to the resources they have/can generate but there are some clubs that could and would pay a lot more than the current cap. Restricting players to a minimum wage when they are surpassing every metric just doesn't work, they deserve increases on the back of their performances.

Of course they are not. They haven't made a cent yet. But there must be a limit to what they are willing to commit. Who are we to spend their dollars at a whim? They may be willing to splash out on paying those two players even more money. My guess is they are not willing to go that far. But I am only guessing, as are you, and all those MV fans who think their club would spend big if the salary cap went away.

They would more than likely offer the players increases based on their performances and then if the players got bigger offers somewhere else they would cash in on them. Bujis might want $600k but you might offer him $300k, more than that and you probably look elsewhere. Meirzejewski you might say, "look, you are doing better than expectations we want to upgrade your contract to $600k" to keep him happy, if someone wants to pay him $1mil then say "no worries, we can let him go for $1.5mil"

It's how football works.

That seems more like my argument than yours. It seems to me that so many people just want to pay the players whatever without considerations for the financial realities. They seem to think that if the salary cap went away then clubs would retain all their favorite players.

Not really, my argument is that it's ridiculous that you cant offer a team that has broken records won 3 trophies and lost one game an increase because of a salary cap, not that every team would suddenly spends millions on players.

Perhaps, without the salary cap, champion teams would break up more quickly as players demand higher wages that clubs cannot, or are unwilling to, afford?

At least they would be paying what they can afford.

Look, I don't particularly support the salary cap, I just don't think that removing it will be the panacea that people seem to think. It just gives me the shits when people say that removing the salary cap will fix the player drain from champion sides etc. it doesn't logically follow.

Let's just get rid of the cap. I suspect club won't spend much more than they do already and it helps to keep us properly competitive in Asia.

Ill be happy enough to hold on to Adrian till seasons end. Far too good for the 450k hes on.

We've basically already said all there is to say about the salary cap. Is there any other league on the planet that actively attempts to punish teams that set the highest standards? 

Got love how people atill find ways to lay the boot into us for something or other

there a lot of talk about the salary cap but surely the pole is outside of it?

No
Bobo and Ninokovic are the marquees.
The polish dude takes at least 2 squad spots.

I would be interested to see, if the league became independent and run by the clubs, what the vote would be on the salary cap. Expect that MC and Newcastle would be definite get rid of it votes, and maybe MV. The rest I am not so sure.

interesting. i thought you could have 3. still only 2 marquees... that sucks. he's probably the best import i've ever seen in the league. 

im unsure how they have their current squad under the cap.

if the clubs buy the players cars and pay the rent for them etc. does this come under salary?  how is sydney getting around it?

There was an article about it recently.  Basically everyone who is not a starter is on minimum money.

I hope they keep them.

Watch Ninkovic, Adrian and Bobo strut their stuff in the final third is a delight to see.

Buijis is pretty unique too. A CB that takes set pieces and has an attacking nature to add to his repotoire.
Would surprise me if other a league clubs try and nab him.

Sydney FC would be in favour of scrapping the cap because of a situation like this.
Perth would want to get rid of it considering how they were punished for exceeding the cap several seasons ago, when they were having a great season.
CCM would want to get rid of it based on Charlesworths other stances like support for promotion and relegation. If scrapping the cap meant eliminating the floor too then Charlesworth would be a definite yes.
Not too sure about Greg Griffin and Adelaide United, although given Griffins desire for more opportunities for the owners to make money would open the door to support for scrapping the cap, if it meant that AU could have more control over their squad which would allow for more cheaper players and the chance to keep players that would otherwise leave if the cap was in effect (like Goodwin, Kamau, Djite, etc.).
WSW are a question mark (although I imagine the majority of their supporters are in favour of getting rid of the cap, given how they would be one of the clubs that could benefit the most from being let free).
Brisbane Roar are doubtful, especially with how terrible the owners have been. I cannot see the Bakries being willing to allow more clubs in the league to outspend them and build far superior squads considering how skimpy and ineffectual they have managed the Roar.
Wellington Phoenix are most likely against it because it would be the final nail in the coffin for them, but they have bigger problems than the salary cap (or lack thereof) to worry about. They seem doomed, cap or not.

That would most likely mean that 6 clubs are definitely willing to scrap the cap, 2 are uncertain, 1 is doubtful, and 1 is against (but that club looks doomed regardless). Definitely a majority could push the case for eliminating the cap and can directly benefit as a result.
 

Back when they were at their peak I'm sure they would have liked to keep Berisha but could not keep him due to the salary cap. 

Griff would definitely be pro cap. It allows us to keep developing talent while also being able to compete for titles and also stops cashed up east coast clubs poaching our talent. If there was no cap, all of our talented youngsters would leave for richer clubs which would mean we are punished for producing talent as we wouldn't be able to keep our squad together.

Also none of the players you mentioned left because of the cap. Goodwin was going to Europe regardless, Kamau signed for City before he broke into the team. (He was promised more game time there) and Djite had a buy out clause in his contract and received an offer he couldn't refuse. His replacement Baba Diawara is better anyway.