Interesting. Maybe it means Gio is gone, and JDS just found out and didn't attend preseason game because of some solidarity with his brother or low morale that needed some "birthday time" to resolve itself.
He subbed in for about the last 20 minutes in the game two weeks ago against TFC. He looked like he needed to get up to game fitness. Was not a positive force at all.
Should Gio stay, which looks like it'll be the case, I think GBS can get a good season out of him. And frankly, if we have Zlatan, Gio, Jona and Romain firing on all cylinders (not to mention Antuna, Lletget, etc.) the league will be back to hating us and rightfully so. However -- the fans HATE this dude. I guess if he comes out and plays well he can win the crowd back, but man what a spectacle that's going to be.
A whole bunch of managers have apparently thought this over the years. Gio is not only where attacks go to die, apparently he also tricks coaches into thinking that THIS YEAR things will be different.
Seriously. The worst case scenario is Gio playing well this year because even if he does you just know he'll go back to being terrible for the rest of the contract and we'll be stuck in this position again in two years.
Well, this is the final year of his contract, so he has to play well this year to trick the next manager into signing him.
Why would you think this? In his professional career - spanning 13 years and 9 different clubs and at least that many managers - he's scored more than six goals twice.
Coming into this season my dreams were: a) Extend Gio's contract b) Get rid of Kamara c) Make Klein LAG President for life. Come on, we can finish this trifecta!
Just for kicks, how does extending his contract 2 years solve the problem, using salary figures? I just don't follow how the numbers would add up.
2 year contract. 1st year $1.5 mil. No DP. 2nd year & $4.5. DP. Baxter mentioned something about bringing him back and then cutting him in December. This is cutting him at a slightly less amount. In CoG podcast they mentioned this scenario. They also mentioned AEG can buyout the $6 mil contract but would rather not.
You're not wrong, but we can't hand-wave the quality of coaching the past couple seasons, either. Part of it's motivation, part I think he needs very specific tactical instructions to be effective.