Kenny Cooper needed to go ... for his own good

Kenny Cooper is a great young man. His dad is a really good fellow, too, someone apparently pretty good at raising little gentlemen.

Everything you’ve heard about the young Cooper is 100 percent accurate. He punches the clock every day at practice. Voluntary sessions? Count the man in. On game day, he’s as honest as they come, tirelessly putting in the effort. Off the field, he’s just a good egg who calls you "sir," introduces his girlfriend like a gentleman should and is good about stepping up when front office types need someone for the next appearance.

All that said, I’m glad he’s gone. He needed to be gone like last week’s fish. Needed to put Big D in his rearview mirror, the way the country songs tell you to do it.

But I mean all that in a good way.

Cooper’s continued growth as a soccer player, and probably as a person, depended on it. He’s a family man and a home body, and good on him for it – but he needed some distance between himself and the comfortable world he built in North Texas.

Cooper was not having a great season in MLS. He hasn’t been terrible. He led the club in scoring until Jeff Cunningham leapfrogged him with that four-goal stunner in FC Dallas’ six-goal stunner Saturday against Kansas City.

But Cooper just hasn’t been the player he was in 2008, when his pursuit of Landon Donovan for the MLS Golden Boot went right down to the season’s final day.

Cooper had hit a sticking point. For whatever reason, he just wasn’t getting it done as he had in the past.

Maybe two years of transfer talk and fits and starts at the negotiating table had finally gotten to the guy. He always seemed to stay focused on matters on the field. But there’s so much any of us can absorb. It takes a lot of emotional energy to worry about where you might be in a month? Playing in the Bundesliga for Eintracht Frankfurt? Or in Norway for Rosenborg? England, anyone? Wales, perhaps? FC Groningen in Holland got in on the act before 1860 Munich finally signed Cooper on the dotted line.

Groningen? I’ve been to Holland twice and I do love me some KNVB and some Eredivisie. But I wouldn’t know Groningen from Wallace and Gromit. Unless Cooper is a lowlands geography wiz, I wouldn’t imagine he knew much about it before a couple of weeks ago either. It all must have been quite dizzying.

So off he went to the land of bier gartens and bratwurst. He signed with TSV 1860 Munich on Friday and now owns a lucrative three-year deal, all guaranteed.

The transfer fee will be between $3-5 million, depending on incentives and sell-on clauses and such. And for those wondering, no, MLS did not acquiesce and allow Cooper to keep the 10 percent of the transfer fee. Cooper and his representation arm, Lyle Yorks with Proactive Sports Management, had to leave that on the table or risk losing the deal.

(By the way, it’s a little bit of a shame the way the thing worked out. Cooper wanted to return to the United States three years ago when he still had a year left on a contract with Manchester United. As a favor to the Cooper family, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson waived a potential transfer fee in order to facilitate the deal allowing the reservist join FC Dallas. It’s business, of course … but maybe MLS could have returned the favor here and conceded the 10 percent.)

At any rate, Cooper has landed at a good place. The Bundesliga 2 is not the EPL, of course. But as second divisions go it’s not bad. And a lot of people don’t know that 1860 Munich was once the big boy of München. Bayern Munich gained its foothold on fame in the 1960s and 1970s. Both of the Munich clubs share the fabulous Allianz Arena, so Cooper will surely be playing in a spectacular ground at least half the time.

The team finished 12^th last year and is desperate to reclaim a Bundesliga spot. And besides … well, let Cooper Sr. tell you:

"For soccer players, it’s all about playing somewhere that really wants you," he said.

"The time is now for Kenny, and Europe is the place to be," he said. "People shouldn’t look at 1860 as a Bundesliga 2 side. During their pursuit of Kenny they made it clear that they are rebuilding team committed to getting back (into the top tier). The coach really sees Kenny as someone who can make at impact."

Cooper Sr. wasn’t shanking FC Dallas manager Schellas Hyndman with that bit about being "somewhere that really wants you."  He has a warm and longstanding relationship with Hyndman. And he has a lot of respect, too, for MLS commissioner Don Garber.

It’s just the system that he finds distasteful, one that reserves the fattest paychecks for fellows with foreign accents.

Kenny Cooper Jr. is just 24. He’ll be 27 when the contract expires. If he keeps developing, a higher spot on the national team pecking order and one or two more big contracts will fall his way. That’s "if" he keeps adding to his game.

It wasn’t going to happen here in Dallas.

Sometimes you’ve got to shake up the Etch A Sketch to draw a new (and hopefully better) picture.