Geoff Cameron Obtains Work Permit, Officially A Stoke City Player

It was vital for Cameron and Stoke that he finally get his work permit approved because the season is now just 10 days away. Cameron has been in Stoke and with the club since the deal was agreed to, but he couldn’t officially join the club, relegating him to polo wearing, watching and clapping. Now he has 10 days to get back to full fitness and prepare for his first season in the English Premier League.

Most believe that Cameron will get the work permit he needs to play in England. Because he had not played in 75% of the United States’ matches over the last two years, he is not guaranteed a work permit and will instead have to appeal for one, but if recent history is any indicator, Cameron shouldn’t have a problem getting one. Several Americans have won their appeals to get work permits of late and none had been as key a member of the U.S. team as Cameron has of late, making the bench or playing in seven of the Americans’ eight matches in 2012.

It has not been an easy transfer process for all parties involved. Cameron let it be known that he would welcome a move to Stoke and Houston agreed to a deal with the English Premier League club pretty quickly, but because MLS owns the contracts of all players, they still had to sign off on the transfer. That part didn’t go so easily, with Stoke and MLS spending more than a week trying to hammer out a deal, but now they have finally reached one for $2.5 million.

Stoke and the Dynamo agreed to a deal that would see Cameron move to England for just under $3 million, pending his getting a UK work permit as expected, but MLS has been hesitant to finalize the deal. Because of the single-entity nature of MLS, the league actually owns the contracts of all players so they have to agree to any sales and as of now, they have not agreed to the sale of Cameron, maybe.

So has Cameron been sold yet? It depends if you believe Sciaretta or Ortiz.

While losing a player as good as Cameron is certain to have some immediate negative affects, it appears that everyone within in the Dynamo organization, from fans to the front office, support the move:

The Dynamo won’t lose Cameron empty-handed by any stretch of the imagination, though. Of the $2.7 million, the Dynamo would get $1.8 million, $667,000 of which can be used for allocation money. The remainder of the money can be spent on any number of “soccer-related expenses.”