That's awesome about Salloi. He's the only thing we have that's close to a "Homegrown" success story. We all know how patently absurd that is, but at least we'd get to take advantage of the transfer rules for homegrowns. He's a guy that I wished would have been getting more playing time for a while now. I'm happy for the kid and hopefully while he's still playing for SKC he has more highlights.
TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Report Is a Portuguese forward bound for MLS? According to a report from Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola, Tomané is being scouted by an MLS club and that the unnamed club is considering immediately acquiring him. https://www.abola.pt/nacional/Noticias/Ver/722950 Hmmmm, I wonder if.......
I had the exact same thought. He's kind of in the PV wheelhouse, right value, right region, at least. Maybe wheelhouse-ish or thereabouts
Looking at this, i suppose it is possible, and if so, great. But the start of this season has me a lot less concerned about our absent top end nine. Now if we'd brought in Zlatan, I'd be excited. The Lion video is amazing (the one where he's giving a mini lecture on lions as its being filmed. Can he still play? Who cares when the circus is in town). I'd still get a bit gigged if we brought back Nemeth, whose value has to be falling every week. By the end of the window, it will be a bag of balls and some cheese. Is anyone else having these thoughts, that it wouldn't be such a bad thing if this were our attack?
If Rubio can look at least as good as he did last season, this is survivable. But really, if we put someone notably more effective in the center, we won't have to rely on Gutierrez as much for goals. The guy already does a lot out there. I wouldn't be sad to see someone pick up his offensive duties a bit to save his legs... he runs around an awful lot and this is a long season.
Is Cristian Lobato circling the drain? He started week one, made the bench for the next three but didn’t see the field, then didn’t make the bench last week. It looks like Medranda and Sinovic are dueling for the left side defensive spot which moves Lobato to the third choice. Jaylin Lindsay was on the bench last week while Lobato was playing for the Rangers. Does this mean the beginning of the end for Lobato or just a bit of shuffling to get other guys playing time?
I think it's mainly just shuffling to get guys time, it's why Amor was with SPR over the weekend and Didic was on the bench. Lindsey has been on the bench with Lobato already at times this season. I also think Lobato at SPR was to get him more real game action at LB, which seems to be where PV sees him playing at this point.
If Lobato is seen as an answer, post seth for lb, then he needs to spend most of this season playing it at SPR. Also, while not saying this is potential good move, I am guessing that if we were in the market for a Nemeth right about now, the price has fallen, and fairly steeply
Lobato started at LB and Lindsay at RB last night for Swope. Amor also started. They won the game 1-0 on a nice assist by Busio to Blackwood. Rubio also started up top.
NER are definitely not getting much bang for the buck out of Nemeth right now. He came off the bench last night against a 10 man Montreal side and played all of 8 minutes.
So, about that 9, think this has been our plan all along? Probably not. Torres has never been my cup of tea. He's like a great version of DD in a way. Heck of a player, and I do think there are still goals in him, and if a CF is talking MLS we'd make as much sense as anyone.
Torres? Yeah no. I've been thinking about what Sparks said earlier about Shelton being exactly the kind of striker Pete wants, and there might be a point there. Vermes does seem to actively want a young, unfinished forward because he wants the absolute most hunger and hustle from the guy. I do believe he'd rather have a player he can mold and control rather than build his team around, as he wants to build his team around the midfield, but the forward line. But I do think he's been realizing that things that used to dominate now only work a bit. So maybe he does truly see the value in a serious striker investment, especially as we currently have some terrific depth if they lose their starting spots.
If Torres is looking at the MLS or China, the MLS cannot compete with China when it comes to money. Zlatan was offered a lot more money to play there, but he chose to take less to play in the US. I’m not sure what it would take to sign Torres, but I would love to see him wearing Sporting blue. I just don’t think it will happen. The bottom line is that SKC needs a goal scoring striker. While Shelton has potential with holding up the ball and passing off to the wings, he has got to produce goals ( which is the primary responsibility of that position)
The MLS site analysis mentions SKC as one of their three likely destinations. Of those, though, Seattle seems to loom really large. They've got the need and the history of splashing cash. Torres is almost a bank on it double digit scorer in MLS. Way back, in his Liverpool days, I thought he was an exciting striker. Since then, to me, fairly bland, he just scores. OTOH, on the one hand is my rather idiotic take, on the other are contracts from Chelsea, Milan and A Mad, so that could go either way.
Of course that is just the opinion of the MLS writers. I have read a lot of their stuff and they never quite get the PV perspective or plan correct until after the fact. Second guessing PV on personnel selections is a dicey proposition. But one thing is clear, he has really never gone the big splashy signing route (unless you throw Omar Bravo into that category) and I would be thunderstruck if he did it this time.
I wasn't trying to imply that this move was on, just that SKC is part of the discussion. As noted, I'd think their list makes sense, but mostly because it includes Seattle. I don't disagree with you on this, either. Torres could very well be a monster with SKC. With as many balls as we get into the box, he might score 20. OTOH, I'm not sure how a legit superstar would fit in this system. We keep seeing references to the notion that Zlatan will demand LAG raise their level of play over the course of the season, and that he will and has always pointed people in the right direction to reach or at least service his level. Torres doesn't seem to be that guy. He's more the type of superstar who gets pissed at the sorry skills of the mortals around him, stick rather than carrot.
Quick question on this: What is the relationship between MLS content production and it's writers? Aren't they, in the end, the PR arm of the single entity? I follow them closely enough, and think they do interesting stuff. There is no complaint from me about them, but it's a serious question. Anyone know?
Yes, it seems that way. Back when there was a player strike looming the flagship podcast did not cover it at all. They led a couple of the podcasts with a reference to it just so people would not expect to hear coverage in that pod. And I recall there was a Colorado beat writer who was fired after the Rapids FO got upset about some pretty reasonable coverage.
As someone who does contract work for MLS, SUM, and MLS Digital, there is a hell of a lot more separation than most people believe. That said, they do know which side the bread is buttered on, but in that way they're no different than most American sports media - who have a vested interest in the ongoing success of the sport(s) they cover in order to keep earning paychecks. It's why any analysis of a local sports stadium deal should never come from sports-writers. If there is no stadium deal and the team relocates, they're going to lose their job. All sports journalism is fraught with ethical dilemmas. As best as I can tell, there is complete editorial freedom. But there is also some self-restraint. But when's the last time you saw Grant Wahl, or even Steven Goff or Michael Lewis really go after a negative story? To be honest, the coverage of Major League Soccer - from MLSsoccer.com and other outlets is far more "fair and balanced" than you get from either the USMNT or USWNT, though oddly USSF itself seems to be fair game.
As I said, i have no complaints about their product. I read them religiously. I spent 35 years as a hack, though only the very occassional sports story, ending as a foreign correspondent(well, ending in DC chasing Russia stories in Congressional committees for one miserable year), so I understand the pressures folks are under. I would add that IMO the Star was an earlish adopter for decent MLS coverage. But. really, the lack of traditional media coverage kind of forced the hand of MLS in establishing a pretty robust online effort.
The clock is ticking, but after hearing PV talk about the goal scoring ability of this year's team today and his praise of Shelton, the window will probably close without the mythical and often promised, big number 9 signing.