Yeah Einstein they scotched their own best player's draft that a team traded up the next pick to get him, but apparently forget to tell Sigi not to take him. Geez, quit ingesting the dummy pills.
Ok, so everyone seems to be pretty positive about this signing. I'm extremely skeptical. The guy's best seasons were his 3 years in the Bundesliga where he had 51 appearances in 3 years, or 17 games/year. He was a squad player. Now, the Bundesliga is obviously MUCH higher quality than MLS, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. However, after leaving Germany he moved to Manchester City where he managed to make only 1 appearance as a substitute at the end of a match. He then went to Brazil where he only played 6 matches and then to Romania where he played in the 2nd and then 1st division and played 46 games. 1. He has only played in 53 games over the past 5 years (1 in the EPL, 1 in Brazil, 1 in the Romanian 2nd division, and 2 in the Romanian 1st division). That's 10 games/year over the last 5 years. And we're expecting him to start with Marshall. This wouldn't be that huge of a concern except that he.... 2. He has never played more than 18 games in a season. He hasn't ever been relied on as a long-term consistent starter. 3. At 29, do we really think he'll be able to play more games than he ever has? 4. He'll be adjusting to a new country and a new language. He played in England for a year, but he only made 1 appearance, a sign that he didn't exactly fit in over there. 5. After watch videos of him, he looks to be very slow. I worry that he'll keep up with the pace of MLS (especially paired with Chad). 6. At 6'3", he doesn't provide a dominant aerial threat and has only scored 3 goals in his career. 7. Is anybody else still worried that our best defender last year, Josh Williams, is being forced out of his best position of center back? If we were picking him up for about 100k and expecting 15ish games out of him, I'd like this. But we're expecting 30+ games out of him and probably paying him around 200k.
Color me not impressed. I guess it's OK that they signed someone. But I question whether this guy will be that much better than Williams. Glaber appears to be a bit slow, and not an aerial threat. He's got some experience, but it is mostly from the bench. It looks like all 4 of our backs will be a bit slow for their positions and struggle vs. pacier opponents, though Wiliams and Wahl are great in the air for fullbacks, I don't think either will remind anyone of Frankie or Elcock bombing up the wings. Why didn't we just draft Zavaletta? It would have been a lot cheaper? We still don't have a TF, a reliable CM, or a proven LM, or a classic FB on either side. Plus, does anyone else watch Spartacus?
I am not sure why people are getting hung up on the "aerial threat" would it be nice? Yes, but it's not a deal breaker. Not sure where you are getting that his experience is mostly from the bench. He had 1 injury at Nurenberg and 1 at Rapid. Those basically killed two season. He didn't play at City and obviously had issue in Brazil. I am not sold on the guy but I am willing to try and understand his history and background. No one though Higuain would be as good as he as turned out to be. Lets give him a chance.
Also, while not a great correlation he doesn't pick up yellow or red very often which could mean he is not as slow as we think or it means they blow past him so fast he doesn't even have time to foul people.
Regarding, all the questions about his speed, the quality of his experience, his lack of scoring with his head - all good questions, but really moot for the Crew. We simply are not good enough or rich enough to attact a young, experienced, tall, fast, header threat central defender. This guys looks like he has some flaws - ok. But, he has played for better teams than we are and he has some quality experience. He is tall. Everything I read says he makes up for a lack of foot spped (overated stat for a CB if you ask me) with excellent positioning and spacing (underated stat for a CB because it is hard to measure - lack of fouls and cards may be relatable). The only real thing on his resume that concerns me is injury history - I want to do more research on the types of injuries he has sufferred (recurring concussions or hamstring injuries worry me where single incident injuries more likely indicate bad luck). I prefer to see how the guy pans out before immediately saying the Crew got it wrong. This doesn't look all that wrong to me if I am being reasonable and honest with myself about who we are at this point.
You people are slipping. Speed, cost, skill, experience, responsibility. . . who cares. These are all secondary to the most important question. Does he have a hot wife/ girlfriend / sister?
Lack of playing time doesn't always indicate injuries, either. The coach may have just preferred other players for whatever reason. Arrieta wasn't a preferred option at Saprissa before he came here and he turned out okay.
How did they "scotch their best player's draft"? They probably expected someone to take him earlier, and they knew someone would take him quickly even if we passed on him. Why would they have any loyalty to Sigi? They never played for him. They are loyal to the Crew. They would tell the Crew things they would not say to anyone else.
Either way, Bliss has coached him before, obviously he knows what Zavaleta can do and didn't think that it was worth picking him over Finley
But we're gonna blow cash and an international slot on a Brazilian with cement feet to shore up the back line?
Exactly. While there's nothing to indicate there was a disagreement over that pick, it seems pretty clear that at least Bob definitely wanted him. 21>18