Futbolred.com has a new article today on Colombian Fabian Castillo and his move to FC Dallas. This one has quotes from both the President of Deportivo Cali and the player himself. The quotes confirm what FCD Academy coach Oscar Pareja said a couple days ago, that FCD has purchased half the player's pass, although there is a new mention of a three year contract.

What I find a bit more interesting is something I actually expected, and that's the dropping reported purchase price. A few days ago it was $800,000 for half the players pass. That's a number that brings words like "unprecedented" and "are you kidding me" when speaking of a 18 year old player and a move to MLS.

Now this newest article says around $700,000 for the purchase of half the pass AND the contract for the player. Is that $700,000 for the two things combined or just the former? Where exactly is the pause in that sentence?

It won't surprise me in the least if and when we learn how much this transfer is really for, that this reported number is an agent generated number to pump up his client and the actual terms are far less.

I'll explain.

Let's say the player gets paid $150,000, a number I would actually believe, that's $450,000 over the three years. Combine that with another $200,000 to buy the pass, and presto... "around $700,000"... If you see what I mean.

So I'm still taking the money reported with a grain of salt. If the reported price seems crazy for MLS, that's cause I expect that number will turn out to be crazy.

I still look forward to seeing the young man in person though.