Yeah, but the question is should we? His performance has been declining steadily since we signed him. $500k a year or so? No way, unless he QUICKLY demonstrates in the playoffs that he can repeat the form of his first couple games.
The problem is that Yallop plays him as a forward, which is not his best position. And to make it worse he plays him next to Johnson. Our big issue all year long has been lack of possession and a lack of creative play out of our center midfield. Cronin and Stephenson have not done much possession-wise and Johnson has almost zero ability to trap, hold, and distribute the ball. Geo is left to feed on scraps up top, he is totally being wasted in that position. We have a target forward, Eduardo, that has shown some ability to hold the ball, we have the league's best goal poacher, Wondo, but, he has to spend half of his energy chasing back to his own penalty area to defend, and we have an attacking creative midfielder, Geo, but, somehow Frank took a knock on his head and has determined that Scott Sealy is better suited for that position. Frank is too afraid to play Geo at a-mid with two forwards up top since he thinks we will be giving up too much defensively. So Ed sits, Geo is paired up top with Mr. No Touch and the league's leading scorer has to play on both sides of the ball.
He does ok but coming in late in the season probably hasn't helped. I sill think its too much money for a player who came from the EPL's worst club that was relegated and not re-signed.
My experience is that when MLS announcers "suggest" that the FO is not happy with Geovanni and at other times, other announcers report that the contract is only through the end of the season, well good bye! Same as JPA exit in NYC this year. JD took a shot, he added a player to the starting XI, got us into the playoffs, Geovanni was a good hire. Next year my bet is that Geovanni is somewhere else or he accepts a pay cut to stay short of a Cup........
As someone who has suffered through watching him play like complete bollocks this year for Spurs, can we say "hell no" in unison?
Out of the blue, one of my co-workers mentioned he heard on an Hispanic Sports radio show that the Earthquakes were pursuing Giovani Dos Santos. Now, I've heard the rumors that Houston was feeling out his agent about a deal, but I can't see why we would spend that kind of money on a player. I asked him 3 times "are you sure they didn't say Houston was trying to get him?". He was adamant that they said it was the Earthquakes going after Dos Santos. Now, if the other Geo is leaving and we think we can work out some kind of "loan" arrangement with our partner Hotspurs, maybe this has legs. They've invested a lot of money bringing him in. Loaning him to SJ to get game time and experience while getting back some money could be an incentive. Seems like a crazy rumor to me....
If we could work out a loan agreement with Spurs to bring Geo in for even part of next season that would likely bring a lot of new faces to Quakes games. Unfortunately, I have to say that prior experience tends to indicate (to me) that these faces will only remain fans as long as an El Tri player is on the pitch.
More than likely "San Jose Earthquakes" was mentioned in reference to the team that was moved to Houston. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/7281819.html
Realistically, we need more money for a stadium than we do for a 2nd DP, especially now that Lew is going forward with one before sponsorship ("If you build it, they will come"). I say we find someone cheap, who will bring in more fans, provide help on the wing, and take some of the scoring load off Wondo. El Tri players will be very expensive to loan out for a full season. The only partial loans I think Euro clubs will give MLS are ones that are off-season, which means only the beginning third of our season. I'm totally thinking outside the box here, but I think Lee Nguyen should be our next DP. He was on our USMNT radar, and actually was capped when we played China at Spartan Stadium. He played in Europe, then tried to come back to MLS. FC Dallas holds his contract, but they're not willing to pay him what he gets in Vietnam, where he's killing it. I don't think he wants that much in terms of salary, but not the wages our rookies get. He wants to get back on the USMNT radar, but playing in the Vietnam League doesn't help, even if he's a superstar there. 1. He's a scoring menace, technically gifted. 2. Faster than marvell Wynne. Well, maybe not, but Lee will destroy him. 3. Bring in an Asian fan base. No brainer, this is the bay area. 4. Cheap. Offer him under $100k for 1 year, I'm sure he'll be happy. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joshua_robinson/07/15/nguyen.vietnam/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Nguyen
A DP is someone who earns over the league maximum of 400k, allowing only the 400k to go toward the salaray cap. If he is earning 100k, he's no DP. But you're correct, I'd like to see Nguyen in the MLS, but it'll probably be with Dallas where he grew up.
you're right, my bad... i don't know why I was thinking it was for any signing above the salary cap. On FB, he said he wouldn't mind playing for the quakes. Maybe we should get him on trial... Just saw the DP rules for this past season: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_Player_Rule Apparently it's $335k now.
Won't happen. Dallas tried getting him this past off-season and he couldn't come to terms with the league. MLS will only offer him somewhere in the 50 to 60k range and he wants around 100k minimum (according to reports). Unless he lowers his asking price I don't see him coming back anytime soon.
Ah yes, 335k. Since he hasn't played in the MLS and only has 3 caps for the US, it could end up being a lottery anyway...although those MLS rules are really funky. Thanks Philly, money talks.
The trend is to sign a few Academy players & balance them with a few DPs. I happen to agree with this ... so I would like to see 1 or 2 Academy players replace some of our ineffective bench players, then look for another impact DP player that will help with ball possession & build up from the back lines.
i dont think they would ever come, but Scholes or Giggs would be legendary. those dudes are freaking robots. Dont even bother paying attention to age with them, theyre fitter than players 10 years younger than them.
Anyone remember this man? He goes by the name of "Fred" and used to play for Lyon. He now plies his trade in Brazil, where he just won a title with Fluminense. The man is a true goal scorer, and would fully warrant the title of DP. Nothing but a pipe dream, I know, but I'd love to see him here alongside Wondo...
I remember him. I began to notice him in some of the Brazilian national team friendlies many years and he looked good. He was pretty good at Lyon too. Don't know what happened to him. Haven't seen much of him in the last 2 years.
http://tribalfootball.com/articles/ex-west-ham-striker-franco-keen-mls-move-1342291 Franco's into it. lets go get him! Him + Wondo up top would be monstrous.
I don't know anything about him but I looked him up on wiki and supposedly, he has scored 138 goals in just 245 games in the last 8 years. This is exactly the type of player the MLS needs. Maybe not a big name but a steady 1st division quality player who isn't national team star but an effctive player at the forward position who can score goals with ease.
Have you even seen him play recently? Absolute shit. I guess he's good if we want another striker who can't score at all.
those are the sorts of players we need to look at though. if theres someone out there banging in goals, of course theyre not gonna come here. we need someone on a cold streak we think we can get hot again in this league. Franco, Schevchenko, Keane, those are the sorts that we have to try for. We're never gonna attract an in form striker to san jose, or any MLS team for that matter, that is in form and scoring goals. It simply wont happen. These are the guys we gotta take chances on.
I think there's some truth to that. You want someone who has some time in their recent history "banged in goals". Then assuming they are not banging in goals at the moment, you need to look at the reason. Have they lost a step, and their game needs that extra step that they no longer have? Or are they just on a finishing slump and they're not getting a lot of time on the field, and they're pressing ? Are they playing on a weak team with poor service? Etc. And what do they bring to the table with their game that might help the team. Do they play the target well? That would really help the Quakes. Do they have a speed game? That would really help the Quakes as well. One of those two or both would be helpful. Are they good assist guys? Someone who would work well with Wondo? Another big plus.