http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...referral&utm_content=News&utm_campaign=Unpaid The Daily guys speculated his best fit would be either Chicago or Seattle.
Chicago is really tight up against the salary cap; rumors of a possible Soumare trade to the Fire are being dragged out because of his contract length and amount, even with the Union offering to eat half of his salary. Assuming Forlan is signed as a DP - no reason to believe he wouldn't be - Seattle already has the full compliment of designated players on their roster, so one of Rosales, Martins, or Joseph needs to be dealt with first.
Jaguares of Mexico were the front runner as of a couple of days ago...but things do change. I'd love to see him here at DCU...but we have our baby DP....
The possibility of a DP might be why they are tight up against the cap though. They have been talking about the possibility of adding a DP-level attacking player since the end of last year. If they are serious about that then they may have already budgeted that into their plans and adding Soumare would derail those plans.
Forlan in Chicago? Uh, he's smart enough to know a single player can't turn around a soccer team or undo the incompetence in that organization. If he comes, it should be to a deep team with talented attacking options he can play off. The idea of surrounding a great player with crap is a poorly thought out strategy and that's what it would be in Chicago and a number of other teams. A talented attacking player like himself needs a Sea, Por or SKC system with quality tactics and sound movement, as well as options to play off, or a NY or LA where even though the system isn't that good he'd have very good attacking talent to play off. Chicago's system and roster does not support getting a player like Forlan, nor does NE, DCU, Columbus, Hou, Chivas, Colo or SJ for that matter. Most MLS teams' system don't lend themselves to fitting in a player like Forlan. There's only a few teams in MLS which play at a high tempo with good movement/tactics, and one of those teams is where hopefully he'll end up. I'd love him in Por and those fans deserve a big name DP on the Keane/Henry level, such as Forlan.
Total base salary for the Fire based upon the latest MLSPU salary release - yes, I did the math - is just a shade over $3.7M, with six players at/above $225k a year. This includes Alvaro Fernandez and his base $300k/yr for some reason, who is currently on loan with Al Rayyan in the Qatar Stars League. So even if Soumare is not in their future plans, they need to move some guys in order to fit a DP-level attacker within their budget. I could see Forlan signing with Beckham's Miami expansion team, though.
Salary cap numbers are bullshit, Fernandez is being loaned out so what we are getting form the loan makes up his salary. There's allotment that we have from other loans, so there's no telling how much we are below or above the salary cap. This is MLS after all. By the time Miami gets a team he'll be 40...
“I like the MLS a lot,” Forlan said. “I would treat my time there as a holiday, I would love to go there and retire.” Fixed for clarity.
Yeah. The most useful way to spend a DP these days seems to be at the striker position. We've seen how guys like Henry, Di Vaio, Keane, Martins, and others have all taken to MLS. Forlan is probably behind only Henry in terms of ability. Forlan's great, but Henry is still second to Beckham in terms of career accomplishments and name value. The only thing that would have trumped that was if we had gotten Ronaldinho. Perhaps getting Kaka would be close. Forlan's throwing cold water on this one like if it was a hot mess. http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1...orlan-denies-toronto-fc-move-imminent?cc=5901
Hoping you are right. The more ways I can prove to people I know that MLS is a real league the better.
I disagree, I think any good player, playing at one of the top 5 european clubs would of been just as big, as friendlies have show there is a large number of epl fans in America.
Cool. I must ask though, why don't you attend the Fire games? I know you are not a Eurosnob who is anti-MLS because we have no pro/rel etc etc because you follow Afghan football with a passion (and the APL is also non-pro/rel as well ).
During fall, spring, and winter I watch it mostly on TV because of School, Studying and all of that awesome stuff...... But I go to some of their games during summer and since Diego Forlan is my favorite player OF ALL TIME it will make me try harder to make it to some of their games during all those other seasons.
Well that depends if he does go to Chi-town. I think it will be Toronto. And that is my worry. Me, being a high-school student, I am able to watch MLS, I-League, Premier League and all the other leagues I like with ease with minimal difficulty. Once I get into college it will be hard to keep up with most of them.