Early this afternoon Jason Sherlock (22) will step off the flight from Dublin and be whisked away to Foxboro to join the New England Revolution for a trial period that could lead to a lucrative new career. And while the striker's arrival in the US does not figure to be accompanied by much fanfare, his departure from Ireland will attract considerably greater interest.
A dual star with the Dublin football team and Premier Division National League soccer side UCD, Sherlock came to prominence as a scoring forward with firstly the 1994 Dublin minors and more particularly the Dublin senior team which defeated Tyrone for the 1995 All-Ireland championship.
Sherlock leaves Ireland the leading scorer (with four goals in 18 league games) on a UCD team which (not unlike the Revolution) hasn't scored many goals.
The deal put in place on Monday brings him to the Revolution's on a trial basis. Sherlock will train with the team in the Patriots' practice bubble tomorrow, and then fly with the team to its Orlando training camp on Friday. They then move on to Pensacola on February 16th, and then to Mexico for further preseason training in March, but Brian O'Donovan, general manager of the Revolution, expects a decision will be made on Sherlock before the team leaves Orlando. "Right now it's more of a look-see from both sides," he said.
"It's purely invitational at this point," said Sherlock, who said that he hadn't even discussed potential contract terms yet.
O'Donovan, who negotiated the arrangement with UCD manager Tony O'Neill, said a transfer fee would likely be involved were the Revolution to sign Sherlock, but added that the situation is further complicated by his ongoing negotiations with other foreign players.
Each Major League Soccer team is allowed five imports, and while Revolution currently have just one, Dutch defender Richard Goulooze, O'Donovan is earnestly negotiating with four others - one each from Portugal, South America, Central America, and another European. (Argentinians Alberto Naveda and Leonardo Squadrone, both waived after last year, no longer count against the foreign player allotment, but their guaranteed contracts do count against the Revolution's salary cap figure.)
Were all four to be signed within the next 10 days, there might be no room for Sherlock in any event, and while at the moment he would be the Revolution's property (as a "discovery" player), there is the risk that by exposing him in Florida, where a number of MLS teams will be training and playing each other in practice matches, and then not signing him, New England could conceivably wind up losing him to another club.
