Who knows, perhaps under de Boer's tutelage he can regain the form and promise he showed in Dallas? At 28 he is still relatively young and he'll certainly have better players around him.
This is the only thing makes sense. If he comes cheap, there's no reason not to give a guy a flyer. If it works out, great; if not, you're not out much. My chief concern is I just want Bello to get as much playing time as possible. Is Shea a bad locker room guy? He always seemed to be willing to play wherever a coach puts him on the field. He has the physical tools. If he could figure out his touch, he'd be a pretty good player.
I am not sure he is a bad locker room guy (someone correct me if I am wrong), but he is kind of quirky... a character. I am sure that act can get old quickly if he is not performing up to expectations on the pitch. Personally, I like colorful characters.
For my money, Brek Shea is a step up in potential quality from Ambrose or McCann. I haven't seen enough of Bello to make an assessment, but Shea could definitely challenge to be the starting left back.
Shea to Atlanta is official. Some random thoughts: I do not see him as a left back, but rather, cover for Barco on the left I'm curious on what the impact to Carleton will be. I'm struck by some similarities here outside of pony tails and blonde hair. Here's a guy that's coming in that once had all the potential in the world. Highly hyped. Starred for the U17 and U20 national teams. Hasn't yet fully panned out. Does young Andrew see this as a cautionary tale? Does he slow the partying? Redouble his dedication?
I forget where I heard this, but I heard a comment that suggested one of the reasons Barco wasn't as effective as he could have been when he was starting was because he played most of his games with McCann. McCann didn't have the speed that Garza had, so more than a few looks toward the overlapping back on attack went nowhere because McCann couldn't catch up. If that's the case, Shea certainly wouldn't have that problem. Not a bad option to have off the bench. If Atlanta is down he could be brought on to add an attacking element from the back. I doubt we see any more signings at LB, so my guess is Bello will be given every opportunity to win the starting job, which is fine by me. If he struggles you've got McCann/Ambrose/Shea to fill in. Not Garza standards, but one of them should be fine by MLS standards. If the Pity move goes through, isn't he more of a LW? Would we see him out wide, and Barco moved to fill Miggy's spot?
I'm very interested to see FdB's preferred formation and where he aligns the pieces. Looking at the player profiles on transfermarket Pity and Barco appear interchangeable from a positioning standpoint. As to Brek? Take a look at this horror show: https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/201...-nicolas-lodeiro-nutmeg-sounders-vs-whitecaps Cannot wait for February and seeing how this whole thing comes together
Teams that played Brek Shea at left back got what they deserved. He's basically a taller, left footed Tito Villalba. Imagine playing Tito at right back. Hilarity. I'm hoping that FdB uses Brek at his natural position, which right now is depth at left wing.
I could be wrong but we are selling Miggy because he wants to play in Europe. We probably made promises to him when he made the decision to come to Atlanta. We back out on that promise and it hurts us with future prospects. MLS rules are set to prevent the league from falling apart like it almost did years ago. They probably aren't worried about winning the CCL just yet and trying to make the league financially viable as a whole, not just in a few markets.
There is no backing down now. With Pity already bought, yet not confirmed by the club, Almiron has to go. Even if it's not at what ATL had planned on selling him. If any European club knows how the salary cap DP works, they will have an upper hand in negotiating Almiron.
My guess is that a fee was worked out for Miggy before Pity was an option. Otherwise, like you say, the Euros would have us by the short hairs. Our management has proven to be too good to make a big mistake like that. Note: I don’t understand the MLS transfer and DP rules. Is their a way we could buy down Almiron or Martinez with TAM?
My understanding is both make too much money for a buy down to be an option (not to mention the club is reworking Josef's salary so he will be making even more money next year). I think you are right and Miggy is going to England during the winter transfer window.
I'm sure there's a plan in place in case they don't get an offer they like for Miggy. My guess would be seeing if they can find a team to loan Barco to for a year.
What Mabee said about MLS' salary rules is correct and important to the survival of the league. It not only keeps the teams focusing on financial viability but it ensures a degree of parity. Sure, we may hate it because Atlanta is on top and have an owner willing to spend, but if the fates were turned and the Stripes were more like Orlando or Philly odds are we'd feel differently about the matter. And seeing as these rules have helped guide the league to this level of success so far I'd say they're still vital. Besides, while winning the CCL is ideal I'd like to see the team remain focused on sustaining their domestic pedigree. ie: Avoid what happened to Toronto last year. This means keeping the whole of the team in reasonable for and with good depth rather than a lopsided roster with 1-3 great players and dross everywhere else.
As long as we're still in a playoff spot, though, I would forego a Supporters' Shield run for a CONCAChampions trophy. For instance, to start the season we have six games (hopefully) over a three week period. I would run the starting 11 out for the CCL games and then have a mixed squad of the fittest starters and the backups for the MLS games. Sort of a B+ or A- team. That being said, Herediano is not all that great. So I might play the B squad at home against them if we got points on the road, but I'd definitely play the A+ squad in Costa Rica. Points in CONCACAF on the road are even harder than on the road in MLS. 2nd round we get Monterrey, and we'll need all hands on deck to advance, especially so early in the season with a new coach and some new players. From a ticket sales standpoint, we'll sell out the first game at home regardless of what bodies are on the field. We'll also sell out the first CCL home game because it's at a tiny park. If they don't start, you give the DPs a run-out as subs (maybe deBoer uses his subs before the 87th minute, unlike Tata). And hopefully MLS gives us Week 3 and/or 4 off to focus on Monterrey. Or at least gives us home games. But CCL ends in May, so I'd prefer to push all our chips into that pile while it's there. If we get around to April/May and the chances of making the playoffs look shaky, then by all means we need to right the ship domestically.
Toronto is a cautionary tale, but I don't think we should learn their lessons too well. RBNY went just as all in on the CCL, and they did just fine in the regular season. MLS salary cap rules the way it is, it's almost impossible to prepare for the amount of injuries they dealt with, especially on the back line.
So what is up with this 19 year old winger from Watford, Dion Pereira? He plays the same position as Barco,Carleton, and Shea (though he is probably a LB). Who is on the way out to make room? Is Carleton a bad seed? I know his stats from ATL UTD 2 weren’t great, but could we be giving up on an 18 year old?
Not sure anyone is on the way out. Currently we have 30 men on the roster, which is the max allowed. Unless we sign another player no one has to be moved.
The roster might be able to fit them all, but there won't be enough playing time available. No matter which side any of them play on, we had depth on both wings before the new signing. Was he signed with the intent to play most of this year with AU2?
Could DP be a precursor to another move? The Dirty South soccer blog has an article up about Villalba being on Club America's wish list. The story goes on the say that we're valuing Tito at $6M. Could Pereira's arrival be cover for Villalba going to Mexico?