I don't see where Adu fits in other than super sub and not sure he'd be happy in that role. Rivero is the Rapids' playmaker. Maybe Adu could play on the flanks, but those 2 outside midfield spots seem crowded (Mullan, Hill, Castrillion, Cummings, Cascio, Smith).
Matt already covered it but Adu is purely a #10 and out of position anywhere else. Wish him the best but that would be a waste of salary for us.
Why would it be a problem to have two players capable of playmaking? (That question goes beyond Adu.) And given the success the team had with Mullan, Hill, Castrillion, Cummings, Cascio, and Smith, I hope they're not necessarily standing pat there.
We have Hill and could bring back Smith for that role. Adu is a $400K/ $519K Guaranteed- Thanks but no thanks.
A lot of #10's (Rivero and Adu included) are not the best at winning balls in the midfield, so by having 2 you are losing a holding midfielder, speedy winger, or striker. You are right. They need to bring in a player or two to help at the outside midfield spots. I'd like to see someone brought in who naturally plays outside.
oduro has more years left on him then casey and omar.... both pushing 30 both have been injury ridden and have not been playing well for a few seasons now. dont bring statistic and numbers in here thats just asinine 142 games and only 38 goals? really? 60 odd games 18 goals double that following your standard 120 games = 36 goals hmmmmmm now do i think oduro is as proven as omar no. do i think oduro is worth the 10 k more then omar no but as we are building for the future. i'd rather have oduro than edu or any other forward we could bring it. oduro could fit down the left or the right on the wings. do we need a bigman yes? i think tony c could easily fit that bill easily his natural spot is striker i'd rather take the chance on oduro and have a decent replacement for when glass ankles omar cummings is injured or retired in 3 -4 years time. also i think hill is more of the number 10 we need. when he plays that roll his done more imo then rivero. having both works wonders tho....
Majeed Waris won the golden boot equivalent in the Swedish top league, Allsvenskan. Although he is young (born 1991 in Ghana), this was his third season and he scored 22 goals in 27 games. If you have time & enjoy watching goals, here's a youtube link Rumors have it he's being scouted by some big clubs, but who knows ...
Tremendous talent. Supposedly he's already agreed to a deal with Spartak Moscow, though. It's funny you should mention Waris. I was at conference in Orlando back in Feb and luck would have it the Disney Pro Soccer tourney was being played. I managed to catch FC Dallas vs. BK Hacken. They drew 1-1 with FCD and Waris played the last 25 minutes or so and immediately turned some heads. He didn't touch the ball too much but when he did, he was arguably the best player on either team. I had no idea who he was but some Disney employees,who were Swedish, ranted and raved about his talent. They were talking Waris up left and right. It's no surprise to me seeng his name pop up in transfer rumors. Virtually impossible to get Waris but it would be awesome if the Rapids could stumble upon a talent like Waris. But is their scouting department / network capable of finding that talent??
Holy jersey sponsors, we need their marketing guy Nope, but when former players bring a guy (Rivero) to our attention we screw up deal and instead of free transfer, we get a 2 year loan with option to buy.
Jason, would you mind updating us on our international slots? Did Smith get his green card? Only way I can see him possibly returning is with that.
Oh ... I missed that, so THANKS for the update. I thought the transfer window had closed and that nothing materialized for him. He sure is fun to watch. My friends in Gothenburg can't stop talking about him, and I'm a bit jealous you got to see him "live". I would have loved that!
Goal article on it, for what it's worth. http://www.goal.com/en-gh/news/4389...dul-majeed-waris-set-for-russian-side-spartak
Since the Swedish season ends before Christmas the wheeling and dealing behind closed doors has already begun. Russia takes a long winter break so their clubs too are probably doing the same. Obviously, transfers can't occur now but Waris agent was reportedly in Moscow last week having talks. Dude can play. I saw a small sample of him but he's great on and off the ball and takes a smart, simplistic approach to his game. I think in better league he makes a permanent move to the wing or playing just behind the strikers. He bounces between MF and FW but I think the future is in MF. I think he'd get used and abused due his slight frame as a FW in the EPL even though Chelsea and Everton have scouted him. Speaking of the Allsvenkan and making it relevant to the Rapids there is some decent talent to be had there. It's not the strongest of leagues but you can get a good player for a fair price. It's not known to throw money at players, salary wise, so the Rapids or anyone in MLS could probably entice a decent prospect to come over. In fact, MLS might be a better "feeder" league than Sweden. Nothing to back that up, though.
You missed the part where I assumed Philly would eat a big chunk of the deal if they were to move him. Yeah, no way at $500,000 or even $400,000. I can't see anyone taking him off their hands for that. Well, maybe Chivas. If all we're doing is bringing Hill and Smith back, I don't think they'll improve much next season. Esp. since those guys don't get off the bench. Matt makes some good points about why even a cheaper Adu wouldn't be right, though.
The reason Adu is even available is because he's a locker room problem. I'm all for bringing creative younger players to our team, but drama and disruption aren't parts of a winning formula. Add in the salary hit, the fact he still hasn't figured out a position on the field that's best for him, the uneven performances when he's actually been able to make the starting lineups of his sides...I'm staying away.
If Smith got his green card we have a spot open. If not we are currently full since the spot we traded Koz for expires at the end of the season. Castrillon, Edu, Rivero, Smith, Thomas, Zapata. I assume Edu won't be back, so that will open one up.
So none that we have traded away are due to come back? My understanding is you can't trade international slots permanently.
You can, or at least could (FSL traded us one permanently for Gregorio). The problem is that length of trades are rarely announced so a number of our trades are unknown as to when they end.
just with Casey's fat salary and smith and Pablo's salary's that's a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amount to play with in the off season. i know it would hate fan's to see them go but the future is now. Casey is a great guy his really motivating inside the gym lifting weight's he has his off field expertise but see casey has a weak personality wasn't he considering retirement due to lack of playing time fitness and injury in Toronto? wasn't he accused of cutting it on top of more players when training under clajvio? Pablo attitude has rubbed of him as much as i love that. i dont want that in future rapids. i don't want to see complainers what ever the ref says just keep playing don't get so emotionally wrapped up. but if we could get Casey to sign a few year 200 225 k salary some how i would encourage that. but if not i would rather take those salary's and focus on the now and just let the whole team build young to mature. sometimes an imbalance mix of mature and young don't work out. bad habits rub off do we want that in the future? i would love to pick up Harris perlaza the big guy in Toronto now there are few options big men within the mls that I'm sure we could lure if out of contract or trade for. we need a pacey guy like Omar to push Omar and to help out on injury and call up duty's would get um young or someone fast already within the mls bad thing with speed tho is it costs a lot. Casey for Casey Omar for Omar we need similar style back ups so its not like were implementing a new formula all year that's what killed us we never had any real time to develop as a team. you guy's see what's on the field i've witnessed what they are in real life the other side of football is mental some these guy's I'm so unsure on just from there behavior on the field and off-field
I like to look at depth, age and salary although salary is just so I have idea of what Rapids could use for replacement. I will start with D: 1 GK Matt Pickens (30 yo, $179K) Solid starter 2 GK Steward Ceus (25, $44K) 3 GK Ian Joyce (25, $44K) Pickens has tight grip on starting spot. Ceus seems like adequate back-up, would like to see him get 3-5 games a year. I would rather see them go get a really young GK then to keep Joyce around, doesn't make any sense to me when Ceus has the #2 spot and they are same age. 1 CB Marvell Wynne (26, $250K) Starter 2 CB Drew Moor (28, $200K) Starter 3 CB Tyrone Marshall (37, $90K) Release 4 CB Scott Palguta (30, $64K) Release 5 CB Tyson Wahl (28, $65K) Release We had issues with our D to say the least, however, I think both Moor and Wynne should be brought back. We need to clean house of the aged back-ups we are carrying around, gives us $219K to get younger guys in here. Best use of 1st superdraft pick is a CB to compete for starting CB role. 1 RB Hunter Freeman (27, $105K) Versatile 2 RB Drew Moor (28, $200K) CB 3 RB Brian Mullan (34, $152K) Starter 4 RB Davy Armstrong (20, $44K) ? Seems the best place to fit Mullan given his contract extension, I think an offseason to concentrate on RB role will at least make him as good as Freeman if not better given his constant hustle and crossing ability. Wonder if Armstrong is wishing he went to college instead, bad team and he still can't find even a min of 1st team game time (could be due to injury or maybe he just doesn't have ability) 1 LB Luis Zapata (32, $66K) Starter 2 LB Hunter Freeman (27, $105K) Versatile 3 LB Tyson Wahl (28, $65K) Release 4 LB Chris Klute (22, $34- LOAN) Back-up 4 LB Anthony Wallace (23, $63) ? Zapata had an up and down season but I hink over the course got better. Freeman can fill in if necessary but this is make or break season for Wallace being the LB again. Klute looks like a solid pick-up but hard to say in 1 game he appeared against a B side. Wahl is listed as playing both but not good enough at either for me to give him bench spot. Final Verdict Release: Marshall, Palguta and Wahl Possibly Trade: Wallace (End of Pre-season if Klute is ahead of him) Use 1st pick on top CB in Draft Find 2 Young defenders to groom
Had to research and found out only 2 teams have permanently traded an international slot, Chivas and Rapids. Funny I don't even remember Gregorio, is it a given that FSL rob us blind on every trade?
Man I got that completely backwards didn't I. Chivas and rapids both got permanent slots from FSL But now we have 7 instead of 9 we could have.
I've heard a few calls to release Hunter Freeman. At 27 and starting our last several games with some good offensive moves and increased showing on D, I don't really get that. We have no solid proof for Armstrong or Klute right now, Zapata is going to be 33 next season, we don't know what the superdraft is going to offer us.... No way we can just release now and simply expect to do better.