Fire obtain c j sapong from phil

It's a good move. I really like it. Gives us more options late in games, especially makes us more threatening in the air. All around, great move that officially completes our offense in my opinion. Now we can finally get to the defense.

 

I am happy they made a relatively significant move, but will reserve judgment until I see how we use him.

He apparently cost us "up to $450,000."
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/02/23/official-cj-sapong-traded-chicago-fire-450k-gam-tam

He made $525,000 last season for Philadelphia.

He has only scored in double digits once, but had two seasons with 9 goals each.
He has 56 goals and 23 assists in 233 games (177 starts), which is good, but not awesome.
(Nikolic has 39 goals in 65 games (63 starts)).

I would have rather have Philadelphia just send us David Accam back, if they would for the same price. Accam would cost more in salary, but they might be willing to get rid of him to get him off the books, since he sucked so badly last year (I read that the fans in Philadelphia called Accam their worst signing ever...and they signed Veljko Paunovic!).

 

Paunovic scored against the Fire.

 

Who hasn't?

 

Me. #DrySpell

 

C J Sapong is a reasonable quality MLS striker who gives the club lots of options. We've all been complaining about the Fire hoarding funny money instead of getting players. Well, now they've spent some for a quality domestic player. Good move.

Now, we still need some defensive help and more bodies overall for the roster. The challenge is for Nrod to seal some more deals to give the club a chance to compete this year..

 

Well, we do know they have no GAM left for the year since they owe Philly $100k if the Fire somehow obtains more GAM.

 

So basically we will start the season with only 23 players, since we are out of funny money.

 

CJ is also a class ********ing act.
He's known for more than just dropping social activism on Twitter. He pretty much puts the sneakers to the pavement on it ..

Would love to see S8C team up with CJ on doing at least one ethical eating tailgate this season.

 

This is good news.

 

So the 'less than full roster at the beginning of the season' thing has been going on for a few seasons now. Such a slap in the face to supporters.

 

The Hauptman Fire have been slapping all of their paying customers/supporters in the face since 2007.

 

There's the promo catch phrase (if we had a promotional campaign)

 

Now all we need is a promotional alternate team badge depicting the slapping.

 

I’ve always liked CJ and glad to see him here, but again scratching my head at front office decisions. I’ve never seen a team that ignores obvious needs to instead bolster areas that are not as much of a problem. Nicolic Katai, Mihailovic ... goals will come for this team. Yes, CJ gives them another option and another dimension, (although he doesn’t score that many goals in the air. Most at his feet), but this team is pretty solid up front and desperately needs help in the back. For $450,000 in funny money, you could significantly bolster the defense. I mean, if you can find a team like the Fire as a trading partner, you can get a Joevin Jones quality player for the 12th pick in the draft. Anyway, I do love CJ and will be happy to see him in Chicago. The team will need goals from him.

 

Who's to say Pauno won't play CJ in defense!?

 

CJ is a good name for a center back.

 

Paunovic does NOT know that.

 

and He's still employed.

 

This reminds me of the Dax signing. A well known player past his peak. The team trading the player away knows the next few years most likely won’t be as good as the last few and are getting the best value they can for him. Meanwhile the receiving team (and fans) look back fondly at the player’s best years and dream about what it will be like to have THAT player.

I’m not saying it was a bad signing. Dax was great for a season and a dropoff began last year. Overall for play on the field that will still probably end up being a fair trade for us. With Sapong, I don’t know his salary but I don’t see him scoring the golden boot.

I would add that both Dax and CJ were also signings in positions that were not our greatest need.

 

I think I like Dax' leadership and no nonsense style as well. I always picture BS as the "hey nice try keep at it" guy and Dax as the 'wtf is wrong with your lazy ass run!" kind of guy and the team can use both with the coach they have that probably is..neither.

 

CJ is a huge upgrade from Collier and Gordon.

 

Quite the description of Fire on the field leadership.