I expected Espy and Olave, but not Johnson. He was a workhorse for the team, but I can understand the trade due to his high salary. Is Seba now expected to contribute more, or is Garson bringing in a mid?
Many of us have heard that Braun is out but nothing confirmed yet. Tomorrow and this month will be exciting for RSL. Good or bad, but very exciting.
Considering the salary to contribution, Johnson was overpaid I think. I'm guessing we'll see 1-2 quality forwards brought in plus a midfielder with the cash we have on hand. I'm hoping we see more of Viana and Seba with Ned having a more diminished role. Still no clue what is going on with Javi. I'm guessing we keep him if he's willing to be paid less, if not I don't think he's worth the salary we currently pay him. If he is out then I expect to see 2 forwards and 2 midfielders brought in with the overall savings and allocation we have. Overall on the defensive side I think we're mostly there, just bring in a cheap player like Kwame that can be the 4th CB. With Wingert being able to fill in as CB, and Schuler being able to fill in at outside back, I think we're in a good spot overall even without a 4th CB option.
We are in need of an outside back who can at least semi-consistently whip in a ball. Hopfully some of this new allocation money goes to that. A big chunk of it, though, has to go to the offense. I expect this isn't the last of RSL players on departure we're going to hear about. Our midfield needs someone in it who can cover that "works like a maniac" role of Will Johnson
I guess it depends on how set in the diamond ways we are. If we did go to a more traditional 4-4-2, or even a 4-3-3, there'd be less of a need of an outside back that can whip in a cross. I'm excited to see who we bring in over the next few months.
15 - your blogs were pretty accurate so far...not just on specific players, but also on the window of cap to free up. Really astute blogging there to be honest.
As expected, heads have begun to roll this Monday. --------------------- REAL SALT LAKE DECLINES CONTRACT OPTIONS ON FOUR PLAYERS RSL Passes on Options for GK Kyle Reynish, FW Paulo Jr., MF Jonny Steele and FW Emiliano Bonfigli SANDY, Utah (Monday, Dec. 3, 2012) – Real Salt Lake has declined the contract options of GK Kyle Reynish, FW Paulo Jr., MF Jonny Steele and FW Emiliano Bonfigli. “At the end of the season we took a long look at our entire roster, eventually deciding to decline the contract options for these four players,” RSL General Manager Garth Lagerwey said. Both Reynish and Paulo Jr. are eligible for the MLS Re-Entry Process, which will begin with Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft on Dec. 7. A full list of players eligible for the Re-Entry Process will be announced by MLS later this week. Real Salt Lake can negotiate new deals with Reynish and Paulo Jr. until Dec. 6, the day before Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft. If Reynish and/or Paulo Jr. aren’t picked in Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft, RSL will be able to negotiate with them again from the conclusion of Stage 1 on Dec. 7 until Dec. 13, the day before Stage 2 of the Re-Entry Draft. RSL will not hold rights to either player following Stage 2 of the Re-Entry Draft on Dec. 14. Neither Steele nor Bonfigli are eligible for the MLS Re-Entry Process. RSL will hold the rights to both players until their contracts expire at the end of the calendar year. Picked by Real Salt Lake in the fourth round of the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft, Reynish was the longest tenured RSL player. The 29-year-old GK backed up Nick Rimando during his entire RSL career, appearing in eight MLS games and posting a 2-0-5 league record in seven career starts in six years in Salt Lake. Paulo Jr., 23, spent parts of three seasons with RSL, arriving at the Utah club on loan from Miami FC of the USL First Division on Sept. 9, 2010. The Brazilian striker scored four goals and notched six assists in 36 MLS games – 17 of which were starts – with the Claret-and-Cobalt. Steele joined RSL this preseason, signing a contract with the team on Feb. 24, 2012. The 26-year-old MF was RSL’s most used substitute, coming off the bench in a team-high 17 of his 28 MLS appearances. The Northern Irishman scored two goals and had two assists for the Claret-and-Cobalt. Selected with the 17th overall pick of the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft, Bonfigli made a limited impact with RSL, scoring one goal in 10 league appearances with the club.
More breaking news: RSL have re-signed Chris Wingert and Tony Beltran. This is one of the "pleasant surprises" I mentioned last week. Prior to hearing they would both be re-signed, I was convinced that one of the two would be gone. So your starting back line is now Wingert, Schuler, Borchers, and Beltran. First off the bench are Mansally and KWS. Not too shabby (though a bit lacking in terms of speed). With Rimando in goal, expect a fair number of clean sheets next year.
My big take away here: Steele is only 26?! I never looked at the roster for ages, but I assumed he was older than that. I'm not really surprised about Reynish. He hasn't challenged Rimando for time, which to me indicates the Coaching staff didn't see him as a guy to take over. But I also didn't think he was making very much money, so it wasn't a big roster spot to occupy. I am a little surprised that they are giving up on Bonfigli so soon. I figured they would give him another year. Does this mean that Braun took the pay cut and is staying, or is Garson planning on bringing in an entire new forward corps to partner with Sabo?
26 in Irish years is like 34 in normal human being years and 12 in terms of education (have you ever tried to read one of his tweets?!) This part is interesting to me, too. There is now way they could justify paying Braun over 70K. The kid sucks technically and looks lost when on the pitch. If they kept him, even below 70K, I won't be happy. He needs to be gone.
Well, where to begin. Trading Olave and Espy to NY was smart IMO, that's a team that is willing to pay (and sometimes overpay) for players and I'm sure we'll get a nice chunk of change for those two. Those two players going to NY alone could generate over a $1 million in roster space and allocation money brought in, that's huge and well worth it. Not to mention they're going to a team we'll only have to play once next year. Smart trade. Johnson to PTFC is interesting. I can see the trade given his overall lack of production last year, but I would have traded him to someone other than the Timbers who we'll play 3 times next year. Johnson still has a lot of good years ahead of him and he'll make Porter's Timbers better. Should also free up a several hundred thousand in roster + allocation money brought in. bye bye to Reynish, who never really showed signs of taking the reigns from Rimando and quite frankly looked very skittish in goal when he did get the chance. bye bye to Paulo who never really got back to his pre-injury form that we had expected of him. bye bye to Steele who somehow became a fan favorite despite being one of our worst field players who saw consistent minutes. bye bye to bonfigli, thanks for the goal against dallas. nNce to see both wingert and beltran back for another year, this league is short on quality outside backs and both of those guys are quality. This will at a minimum help maintain some consistency along the backline which I think is the most important aspect to having a successful team. With the trades, allocations and cuts you have to figure RSL just saved/gained around $1.5-2 million in salary flexibility. It'll be really interesting to see what happens over the next month.
Maybe I missed this at some point over the past couple of weeks and among all the trades, but on the N&A board it was mentioned that we qualified for CCL? Is this true?
Not that I'm aware of. The spots for the CCL are: KC for USOC SJ for SS LA for MLS Title Hou for MLS Title runner up.
http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2012/...land-timbers-kosuke-kimura-new-york-red-bulls seems Johnson chose Portland over other MLS teams incl Vancouver. interesting
Interesting. I wonder if RSL had the option to trade him to these (supposed) multiple teams and then asked Johnson what he most wanted. The Vancouver snub (if by him and true) is really interesting. Apparently he doesn't want to play in Canada? Or is the Timber's Army that appealing Other random thought: Will is currently getting a finance degree at the U. Wonder how that will go and/or if part of his decision to pick Portland had anything to do with school's there
He probably shouldn't be letting his college degree factor into his decision of where to play -- unless it's waaay down the list.
Will Johnson grew up in England and Chicago... he always plays for the badge regardless of what shirt he wears, but I think he's probably more American than Canadian... certainly doesn't seem to factor Canada when deciding where to play
He shouldn't? Will isn't going to make enough money playing soccer that he'll never have to do anything else after he retires. I don't think there are many, if any, normal MLS players that will have that leisure. I would hope school would be near the top of his list (after family, of course)
No argument there. I was just saying that there are fine universities in every MLS city -- he can get his degree anywhere.