Henry isn't Red Bull Yet -- but will be

By Brian Lewis, New York Post

The Sun reported yesterday that France star Thierry Henry had signed a pre-contract to join the Red Bulls after this summer's World Cup. Red Bull GM Erik Soler insisted nothing's been signed -- yet -- but a source told the Post it’s essentially a fait accompli that Henry will move from Barcelona to New York.

"It's no secret he's going to end up (with Red Bull). It's the worst-kept secret. We all know that,'' said a source in position to know about the team's plans, but not authorized to speak about them. "All you have to say is allegedly and that covers it, but unless something catastrophic happens, he's going to be (a Red Bull).''

Although Soler _ whose Eastern Conference-leading Red Bulls (5-2, 15 points) will host Seattle tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. on MSG _ was conscious about not tapping up a player, he did caution that the Is aren’t dotted, the Ts aren’t crossed and there is no ink on the contract. Yet.

"We haven’t signed anything with Thierry Henry, and that’s the truth. It's no secret that we are looking for a second and third (Designated Player), but we haven’t signed anything with anybody,'' said Soler, dropping a pregnant pause and adding "at the moment. We hope to at some stage, but we haven’t now.''

Soler, regarded as straight-shooter, is almost surely accurate here. The caveat is that pre-contracts are signed six months before the expiration of a player's deal, and Henry's deal with Barcelona is through June, 2011.

"That’s a very important point. We are not able to sign anything with him – or any other player – until the last year of his contract,'' said Soler. "(Until) he or any other player or released from there club, there s nothing we can do to sign him.''

Ahh, therein lies the rub. Barcelona president Joan Laporta has already gone on record earlier this month as saying if Henry wants to go, he'll allowed to leave after the end of the season in Spain. That means Red Bull just has to work out any financial and compensatory details with Barcelona, and after Henry is done with his France uniform this summer, he'll almost surely don a Red Bull one.

"That would be nice,'' said coach Hans Backe, with a Cheshire Cat grin. "That would be nice. (But) to be honest I haven’t heard anything. But perhaps its most about the big guns doing the contract with the player. But I haven’t got anything confirmed, and that’s absolutely honest.''

And those big guns are across the Atlantic Ocean in Austria. When discussing doling out a multi-year contract liable to exceed $5 million per season, Soler had admitted before those negotiations are done by Red Bull's billionaire owner Dieter Mateschitz and Dietmar Beiersdorfer, the head of Red Bull global soccer.

"As a head coach, I'm not involved in whether contracts are signed or not. Of course we've been talking about names, but I haven’t got anything confirmed; I'm not sure,'' said Backe. "They’ve been talking to me before, a couple of months ago about bringing players in. I've been involved in that. But when it's about signing contracts and getting that confirmed, I'm not involved.''