While I haven't found anything concrete that'll confirm this, it sounds as though Adi's contract runs only through the 2020 season. So, again, assuming this all goes through, were not on the hook in any long-term sort of way.
Saying we can simply dump him is shortsighted. Look at the opportunity cost. By signing Adi, a has-been with alcohol and authority issues, we are not allowing for the opportunity to sign an Ola-type or Luis Diaz-type striker (value for money / high upside and sell-on potential, respectfully). I refuse to believe we couldn’t get a competent back-up that would be happy to be the back-up for less. Adi is an uber-expensive David Guzman, nothing more. Make of that what you will.
Portland couldn’t wait to get rid of him. He underperformed for Cincy in both MLS and USL. Rumblings about his locker room behavior everywhere he’s been (including Copenhagen before he came to the US). He’s always been a starter, and now he’s just gonna accept playing Adam Jahn level minutes? Call me skeptical. As far as 15 goals goes, that’s laughable Crew-colored glasses fanboyism at it’s finest. Dude has 4 goals for Cincy in 1.5 years, 3 of them from the USL days. I mean, come on. Zardes had 13 goals in 28 starts last year. How exactly is Adi gonna top that? Did any team in MLS have two players score more than 15 goals last year?
The reason I included the second bit from the article was that it shows the mechanism that could remove his charge from the FCC books. Or said another way, could Adi be claimed through the waiver process AND FCC still buy out his contract to remove him from their cap numbers? I have no desire to research the answer to this question because as you mention, MLS rules are incomplete and fungible.
I just don't see how we could necessary sign an Ola or Diaz type player. Diaz came with a $1M fee and took up a DP roster slot. Adi or no Adi, we don't have roster flexibility to do that. Plus, it would be dumb with Zardes as our starter. Ola, first time around, yeah I don't disagree at all. We had Kei at the time, so Ola didn't come here assuming he'd be starting. He took up an international roster slot, but wasn't a DP. I'd rather have another player like that than Adi. I just haven't heard anything that implies the club is looking for anyone like that. But I just don't see how acquiring Adi keeps us from pursuing such a player if Adi flops. Let's say Adi shows up staggering drunk on the trading pitch one day in April. The Crew could cut ties with him immediately. The primary window is open until early May. The summer window opens up again for a month in early July. What's really keeping us from quickly replacing him?
I get the personality issue downside of this. I really do. And I hope and expect that the club has sat down with him and made clear that his career in Columbus will be over the moment he steps out of line. We're not a rehab house. Personal issues aside, this feels to me more like what we tried - and what failed - last season with Accam. I have no idea how much of his his salary we covered, but his guaranteed comp in 2019 was over $1.1M, and he was next to useless for us. Now, I understand that he was always on his way to Nashville. Still, he took up some salary and roster space, and didn't give us nearly as much as his resume would have implied. He also didn't weigh down the club in any sort of long term way. It was worth a shot, and I failed. I see this in a similar light.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sp...sc-claims-fanendo-adi-off-waivers/4570343002/ I had read this article earlier this morning. Incendiary. The one sentence discussing the money is poorly written and the lack of editing is confusing. One thing we get with Porter is his experience over the past twenty years of coaching in the US. Sometimes you may get a catch with the experience and sometimes you may not. I would like to think players want to play for him. Not a bad thing to have as a selling point in a Columbus Ohio. We will just have to wait and see how this bet pans out.
I'm hardly an expert on Adi's personal life. But what's been reported about his previous, or ongoing issues with alcohol? I mean, the OVI in Cincinnati was, of course, huge and covered nationally. But if I look online, I don't see any other references, say from his time in Portland. Then again, I may just be missing something. Rumors? Articles you can share? I'm sincerely curious. Implying he's a Brian Fernandez-like character feels pretty absurd. Fernandez' doping issues go back at least to 2015. I mean, I'm not excusing Adi's OVI, but Fernandez is in a whole different league as regards his substance abuse issues.
This lack of production in Cincinnati COULD be chalked up to the fact that everything from the GM, coach and players were hot garbage last year. That whole roster was laughable. They locked themselves in rebuild in year 2 that will take another year just to shed some bad contracts. His lack of production at the end of his time in Portland is something to analyze but anything on the field in Northern Kentucky is probably not worth the time.
I'd imagine we're only paying the 72K minimum. His contract with MLS guarantees him 2 mil per year but FCC was on the hook for that. He was bought out by FCC but apparently not released from his MLS contract since he went through waivers.
I think Derrick Etienne jr makes this team a good move he has tons of experience and he is still young and cheap . He might end up being better than Mokhtar who is the back up pocket winger for Santos . Worst case he is your #4 winger
Because he would still count against the cap for the rest of the year, no? Don’t you have to cut someone by a certain date to get that cap relief, and if you don’t you’re stuck?
From the way the Athletic article/FCC articles were worded, with Adi NOT counting vs Cincy's books this year, it seems to me that no one bid on him, and we picked him up on first come, first serve. If route 1 happened, then he'd be on their books to some degree. This would be exceedingly good news for us, as his cap # is likely lower. Though I am not concerned about the cap # per se, as we have gobs of Garberbucks to buy him down with. However, if he is on a vet min level salary, then it is a huge boon as he does not take up a SR spot. Rotation players outside the SR is huge. And we have room for another player (or two). Last, it does appear he has a GC. So we have an INT slot left. https://cincinnatisoccertalk.com/2019/12/08/fc-cincinnati-roster-build-takes-shape/
Accam came in as a starter though, and could play in two, arguably three positions, so there was tons of flexibility. Adi has one spot to play in and the top domestic goalscorer in the league and an US international in front of him. I wasn’t a fan of the Accam signing either, similar profile of a formerly good player with a rapidly declining level of production.
From what this article says, Adi asked out of Portland. Cincy, I give you. https://www.stumptownfooty.com/2016...s-transfer-demand-that-you-were-afraid-to-ask
Ebobisee (sp?) was also starting to take time away from Adi and Savarese was bringing more pace into the team to play on the counter. The writing was on the wall for Adi. They brought it Armenteros (sp?) to replace him, and later Fernandez. Both those players are very different from Adi, not a coincidence.
We also might want to take note of the fact that Adi is 6'4". He'll play much more like Zardes, who is 6'2" than a small, scooty guy. You can drop him in there without necessarily changing the offense. Also worth noting, Miguel Berry is 6'3" IIRC. PorterBez apparently likes size up top. These are all "ball in the air" targets.
Our role as fans is to talk and question these types of things (in my opinion). Whether I like this particular signing or not I can appreciate we had a massive hole behind Zardes. The team recognized that and has tried to remedy it. Time will tell if this is true as a good move or not.
In any case, this stuff is what a team with ambition looks like. Us poor ignorant saps haven't ever seen it before and can barely figure out what's going on. In point of fact, some of this stuff will probably work out and some of it will surely blow up in their faces, but in this case there's really no down side except for money
Are we not allowed to question anything the FO does now? WTF is up with all this “OMG how can anyone question bringing in a Cincy reject” shit I’m reading? Also, I must be in bizarro world, because somehow Trapp went from unquestioned starter, to trash, to unquestioned starter again without actually doing anything good during this period of time.