ali gerba is unattached, any chance there would be mutual interest? for someone who can't seem to stick anywhere, he does have an impressive scoring record.
He is still under contract to the Impact for this year. But he was not offered a MLS contract after being evaluated by new coach Jesse Marsch for the MLS level. So he is in limbo. Contracted to the club, but not to play in MLS. The Impact offered him to any MLS team, but no one wanted him. He can walk away from the Impact contract, but he is getting paid around 100k to do nothing. That is a ton more than he would make with FC Edmonton or any NASL club. His agent has been trying to line up a European club, but so far no luck. So basically he is getting paid to sit home and hope Montreal needs him or something opens up in Europe.
He could go on loan, but how many NASL or USL teams could pay his 100K salary? Maybe Montreal can cut a deal where they pay half and the other team pays half, minimize their loses, but who knows. I do wonder, he was signed when Montréal was part of NASL, did MLS sign a bunch of players from the Montreal NASL team with Gerba being one of them? Then he was rejected by the coach? Why can’t they cut him?
They could let him go but for reasons that even Ali admitted to no understanding, they would rather pay him to sit than have him sign with someone else.
Gerba's contract is (probably) guaranteed so they can't just cut him; he'd have to agree to leave and they're (probably) paying him way, way too much for him to do that. The Impact have told Gerba that he's free to negotiate with other teams. (Probably) what the Impact want: Gerba finds another team -> signs -> Impact don't have to pay him. (Probably) what Gerba wants: Impact buy out the end of his contract (or large amount of it) -> finds another team.
MTLStl posted this in the NASL News thread: Another French Footballer Barthelemy Sérisay Signs With FC Edmonton - Oye! Times FC Edmonton started training camp on Monday at the Grande Sports Complex outside of Phoenix and the team has already made its first signing... French revolution continues at FC Edmonton – the11.ca The French contingent on FC Edmonton has been increased to three. The club revealed Tuesday night that French midfielder Serisay Barthelemy isn’t a trialist, after all. He actually finished a medical and signed a contract before he got on the plane that took the club to Casa Grande, Ariz. on Monday. ..
Greetings! Just realized that Chilean Yashir Pinto signed for FC Edmonton for this year. Thought I'd stop by and share some info on him. For starters, he's a typical "9": in other words, he's the type of striker who will try to find room between the CBs, very good in the air though he's not particularly skillful or technically gifted with the ball at his feet. Started his career with Colo Colo (country's biggest and most successful club) and in 2009 or so when he made his debut, he was actually quite highly-rated by the then coaching staff. His chances started to diminish since to the point where last year he was loaned to Nublense, a club who were eventually relegated to the Chilean 2nd division. He's repped Chile at various youth levels and most recently he was part of the U20 squad that played at the U20 WC qualifying tourney at the beginning of last year. Hope all this helps and I will be checking back to see how he's doing!
Real bad luck for FCE on that late goal to make it 4-3 for Minnesota, but an entertaining game and Pinto sure looked great, hope he gets his US Visa soon, he can be one of the best in NASL.
Finally, first half was scrambly by both teams but after Saiko's first goal FCE really got their confidence. Hope they can put a few wins together now on the road with Pinto finally being able to play in the US.
He's looked very good, great footwork, passing, and instinct, he was a bit unlucky the last game though as he had a few chances to score but couldn't finish.
After watching him through out the season. He's been frustrating. He showed signs of skill at the start of the season. Great foot work, but no finish. He has no hustle, and has a very weak shot. So weak that the goal keepers don't even have to move more than a foot to stop it, which more looks like a pass than a shot. And also throws a lot of temper tantrums on the pitch. He hasn't impressed us at all and hope he's not back next season.
FC Edmonton just fired their coaching staff "for budgetary reasons" http://www.fcedmonton.com/news/2012-09-28/Club Cuts Ties with Coaching Staff
This may simply be a case where it has dawned on the ownership that they overpaid on a foreign staff. That had to be more expensive than a coach that was already based in North America. It is an odd way to fire a coach though, citing budgetary reasons instead of 'hey, we finished last, we blow and the coach has to go'. Expect a local coach to be hired.
Good move by GM Tom Liep! Players wouldn't play for him for whatever reason. Apparently FCE had one of the bigger budgets in 2012 so it seems they are cutting their payroll with Sinkgraven, Van Leerdam, and Barthelemy gone and will go back to signing more Canadian talent and maybe a Canadian coach for next season.
I totally agree. Yes go ahead and fire the over-paid coach. Obviously it isn't working out for anyone there. But why state the money reason? Fans, investors, advertisers, they don't want to hear that. I expect a player-coach.