Frei's Liverpool stint a good thing

Late last week the Twitter world was abuzz with the news that Stefan Frei was heading over to England for a training stint with Liverpool.

Frei will be with the Premier League club for only a week but it still caused quite the reaction among Toronto FC fans.

When the news first broke there seemed to be a fair amount on confusion over what the training stint would entail. Many fans seemed to have it in their minds that his visit would be similar to a now infamous trial that took place last winter when Dwayne De Rosario headed over to Celtic. In the case of Frei though the club made it quite clear that he will only be with Liverpool until Dec. 18th, and is expected to be back in Toronto in time for the start of training camp in late January.

The chance for Frei to work out with Liverpool speaks to the quality that the young 'keeper possesses, as a top club like Liverpool does not invite just anyone to join their training sessions.

The 25-year-old Frei has spent three seasons at Toronto FC and has established himself as a leader at the club as well as a fan favourite. He holds the club's all-time appearance record but this season he seemed to lose the starting job to Milos Kocic. Thanks to strong performances by Kocic while Frei was injured, many fans now seem to feel the Serbian is a viable option as a first choice keeper. TFC has so little space under the salary cap and Frei is due to make over $150,000 next season, leading to speculation that he could be moved to allow the club to spend that money and improve elsewhere.

It is unlikely that Frei's stint at Liverpool will play any role in him being traded or transferred before the new season kicks off in March. It is a great chance for Frei to show his abilities on a bigger stage and learn from some very talented coaches, as well as work alongside Pepe Reina, but it should not be seen as much more than that. The gulf in quality between MLS and the English Premier League is still quite large and only the very best players from MLS have been able to make the jump. Even the biggest fans of Frei would probably have a hard time making a case that he has the quality to play for a club like Liverpool at this point in his career, even if he is among the most talented keepers in the league.

One could make the case that Frei's time at Liverpool would help to put him on the radar of other European clubs, even ones that are not in the top leagues. This training stint should not be viewed as Toronto trying to put him in the shop window but if it leads to any sort of transfer that is good for both the club and the player then one could not complain about that.

Comparing Frei's trip to Anfield to De Rosarios time at Celtic is really like comparing apples to oranges. De Rosario went on trial in hopes of transferring to the Scottish club but he was still under contract with Toronto FC at the time and that led to all the issues about whether he was permitted to even be there in the first place. In the case of Frei it is clear that the club supports him spending time in England. Aron Winter released a statement on the club's website saying that he was happy to give Frei permission to train with Liverpool and that he felt this was a deserved opportunity for the Swiss.

The events that transpired around De Rosario's trip to Celtic would not have done anything to give other clubs a good impression of Toronto FC, so hopefully Frei heading to Liverpool will help to improve the team's reputation in the international community. Keeping that reputation strong will be important if the Reds hope to sell talented players to top clubs in the future like it did back in 2008 when they shipped Maurice Edu to Rangers.

Frei is not the only MLS player to take advantage of his free time during the league's long off-season by finding a club to train with in hopes of staying sharp. He is joined at Liverpool by Juan Agudelo of the New York Red Bulls and there are several other MLS players spending time in Europe this winter. The list includes Brek Shea at Arsenal, Teal Bundbury and Jeff Larentowicz at Bolton Wanderers, Omar Salgado at Fulham, Tim Ream and Bill Hamid at West Bromwich Albion, Andy Najar at Tottenham Hotspur, and Sean Johnson and Zac MacMath at Everton.

Spending time at top European clubs during the off-season appears is a growing trend and one that I think will be good for the league in the long run as it allows MLS players to learn from some of the top players in the world and improve. It also lets the league show off its talent level, which might entice European-based players to make a move to North America.

For Frei, his time at Liverpool will surely be a once in a lifetime experience. Really, this is a win-win scenario as the Swiss stopper could come back a better keeper who is ready to start the season strong, or he could end up attracting a decent transfer fee from Liverpool, or even increase his trade value within the league. With the club handling this much better than the De Rosario debacle, it appears that this can only be a positive experience.