Noonan free to shop around

Revolution won't pick up his option

Forward Pat Noonan could be the next player to leave the Revolution.

The team has informed Noonan it will not pick up the option on his contract this year, making him a free agent who can negotiate with teams outside Major League Soccer.

"This is a great opportunity to try to go overseas," Noonan said yesterday from US national team training camp in Carson, Calif. "Hopefully, this camp will continue to go well and I'll move on from there."

In five MLS seasons, Noonan has played 137 playoff and regular-season games and scored 42 goals, tied with Joe-Max Moore for second on the all-time Revolution scoring list behind Taylor Twellman. Noonan missed most of the 2006 season with injuries, then signed a contract (for $225,000) last year and scored nine goals in 35 games in all competitions for the Revolution. Injuries caused Noonan to miss the '06 World Cup but he has returned to the national team and is preparing for Saturday's US-Sweden exhibition match.

"Last year, I was at the end of my contract but I was hurt, so teams lost interest because they hadn't seen me play," Noonan said. "And a big part of me wanted to re-sign with the Revolution and try and win a championship.

"But this is their choice. I was not expecting it. They understand what I bring to the table, and I've done it the last five years. I've had a couple injuries, too many, but at the same time, I wouldn't expect that after one year of a new deal they would not pick it up.

"I missed a decent amount of games over the last two years but when I go out on the field on any given day, I bring a good attitude, good work rate, and good skills. Hopefully, I can move forward. I'm definitely excited about the opportunity."

Earlier this month, the Revolution lost midfielder Andy Dorman (St. Mirren), who was tied with Noonan as the team's No. 2 scorer last season. A transfer offer worth about $2.5 million for Twellman to move to Preston North End in England was turned down by the team and MLS last week. In the last year, the Revolution have also lost Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Daniel Hernandez (Puebla), and Jose Cancela and James Riley (expansion draft).

If Noonan fails to find another team, he could return to the Revolution.

"His option was not picked up, but we are in discussions to try to bring him back," said Revolution director of soccer Mike Burns. "He is obviously someone we want to bring back. He is free to sign outside the league and that is a risk we are well aware of. But we hope he makes the decision to come back to play for the Revolution."

Noonan, 27, hopes to use the US-Sweden game as a stage to attract interest from foreign clubs.

"I wanted to come into camp ready to go," Noonan said. "Camp is going well and I am staying focused and looking to see if clubs are interested. I'll take it day by day and, hopefully, get a chance to show what I am capable of. You never know if it will increase interest if I go out and play well.

"This is the first time things have started to change [with the Revolution]. Maybe after getting to the final three years in a row they are looking for someone to come in and bring a championship. I thought we could have done it with the guys who are there.

"But, no excuses, we had the opportunity three or four years in a row and maybe they are looking to make that next step. We had a good locker room, good coaches. It's going to be tough leaving a great team, but this is my best chance to go overseas on a free transfer."

High price to pay

Preston North End's proposed $2.5 million transfer offer for Twellman would have been the fourth-highest amount paid for an MLS player, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The top transfers, according to league figures, have been Dempsey ($4 million), Stern John to Nottingham Forest ($3.5 million), and Tim Howard to Manchester United ($3 million).

"This was for $2.5 million, but it could have gone higher with incentives," according to the source. "That would have been very close to what the league received for Tim Howard and it's more than DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey."

Twellman, who has scored 101 goals in six MLS seasons, has one year remaining on a guaranteed contract, plus two more option years.

But MLS rules make it difficult to replace top-level players such as Twellman. The Revolution would receive 60 percent of the transfer fee but would not be allowed to spend more than $500,000 of it to purchase a replacement. This spending limit hampered Revolution attempts to replace Dempsey last year, with Robbie Fowler turning down New England's offer to sign instead with Cardiff City.

Market activity

The Revolution have been attempting to contract players from Argentina. But MLS teams will have to scramble to purchase top talent from South America. Last week, Valencia paid $26.5 million to Boca Juniors for midfielder Ever Banega, 19. Boca has released Uruguayan forward Carlos Bueno, 27, who scored once in 10 games after joining the club from Paris Saint-Germain . . . Martin Galvan, 14, became the youngest player to perform for a Primera Division Mexican club when he played for Cruz Azul in the Interliga tournament last week. Pachuca's Victor Manon, who was 14 when he entered against Cruz Azul in the 2007 Apertura season, is the youngest to have played in a Primera Division game.

Pick and choose

The Revolution will have five picks (13th, 17th, 27th, 41st, 55th) in the MLS draft and five more in the supplemental draft Friday . . . Among the players participating in the MLS combine in Fort Lauderdale were Matthew Britner (Brown University), Geoff Cameron and Lukasz Tumicz (University of Rhode Island), Ryan Cordeiro and Julius James (University of Connecticut), Sherron Manswell (Boston College), Pat Phelan (Enfield, Conn., Wake Forest), and Michael Videira (Milford, Duke). Cape Cod Crusaders forward Ricardo Pierre-Louis (Lee University) and midfielder Dan Stratford (West Virginia University) were also in the combine, and former Crusader midfielder Andy Wright (West Virginia) turned down an invitation to sign with Scunthorpe United in England. Two Argentine players were also in the combine: Maximiliano Damiano and Lucas Fernandez. Uruguay's Jonathan Sabbatini attended as well.

Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at fdellapa@globe.com