UPDATE #4 (7/19/12):
Brian Sciaretta at Yanks-Abroad.com reports that the transfer fee has been agreed to between MLS and Stoke City (several outlets reports this as well). No firm numbers, but I've read $2.5 million a lot. Personal terms between Cameron and Stoke are reportedly close to being worked out and an appeal hearing for his work permit has tentatively been scheduled for August 3rd.
Cameron doesn't automatically qualify for a work permit, so the appeal is the next step. It's the same process Tim Ream went through last season.
UPDATE #3 (7/17/12):
It appears Geoff Cameron is on the verge of finalizing his transfer to Stoke City. At last this is going to be resolved. It's important to note that personal terms and work permits must still be worked out, but it's looking like the deal is on the verge of getting done. Congrats to Geoff!
Stoke & MLS made enough progress for @GeoffCameron that he's been allowed to begin negotiating a deal with EPL club. Congrats, Geoff.
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 17, 2012
And click here for Ortiz' blog post on the matter, which is not much more revealing than the tweet, but has a nice picture of Geoff.
And here is more from Ortiz on a Cameron-Clark "trade."
UPDATE #2 (7/17/12):
It's the never ending story! Where's Falcor?!
According to Chris Canetti No decision on Cameron today. Seems like urgency is setting in to get things resolved. For Cameron and the team.
— Darrell Lovell(@DarrellLovell) July 17, 2012
UPDATE (7/16/12):
Not much to report. The two sides (Stoke & MLS) apparently had more discussions and they continue their slow dance. More discussions tomorrow according to Ortiz.
Nothing new on MLS-Stoke talks for @GeoffCameron. Sides spoke today and hope to speak tomorrow to see if they can narrow down open issues.
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 16, 2012
According to Cameron on Glenn Davis's show tonight:
"League, Dynamo, and Stoke will have conference call tomorrow to work on transfer."
So yep, that's it.
ORIGINAL POST:
In 2008, the Houston Dynamo drafted an unhearalded player from the University of Rhode Island with the 42nd overall pick in the SuperDraft. His name was Geoff Cameron and today, the Dynamo (well MLS acutally) have agreed to transfer Cameron to Stoke City of the English Premier League for a reported amount just under $3 million. An official announcement about the deal will come next week.
Or not.
Within minutes of Sciaretta's story going up, Jesus Ortiz is now reporting MLS has not agreed to any deal. Ugh. Ortiz says MLS sent a counter offer to Stoke today.
MLS hasn't agreed to sell Cameron yet. "It’s definitely not true that MLS has agreed to sell Geoff to Stoke City," Canetti said.
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 13, 2012
More Canetti on Cameroni: "League officials will continue to talk to Stoke at least through the weekend to see if a deal could be reached."
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) July 13, 2012
Basically, we're back where we started...in a holding pattern...waiting. Further tweets from Ortiz seems to tell a story that has MLS trying to convince Cameron to stay with the league and Stoke not budging past a transfer fee in the range of $2 million.
So, who knows? The only thing for certain at this point is that this sucks and the single-entity system is a major pain in the ass.