By free him do you mean for Berhalter cut to the chase and trade him for a player and then let said player leave the club without any compensation?
Slick Rick says, "La Di Da Di, we want the Tchani, Midfield Boss causes trouble and takes crap from nobody."
https://www.columbuscrewsc.com/post...-dynamic-foward-kekuta-manneh-trade-vancouver Tchani has been liberated.
I like Tony. Really good guy. But a bench player for an extremely fast exciting attacker. Well played.
Good move. Tony wasn't making the 18. Wish him well. Still, when your attacking options off the bench are Hansen (1 MLS game) & Adam Jahn, we could use a legit forward option. 442 is now in 3Gs quiver. As is 352 with two legit forwards. Ola has some cover & Manneh could even play wide.
I see a lot of people thinking he's a striker, he's not. I know GB said that, and thats what he's being reported as, but he's essentially an inside out left winger. Dude is 5'9'' 140 lbs. He could play as a wide forward in a 4-3-3, but he's not a #9. He has zero back to goal skills. He's a Nagbe clone, not as good on the ball, but a better finisher and scoring instincts for sure.
And four years younger. People think Nagbe is young. Dude is 26. Manneh is 22. He's 22 years old with over 3 years experience in the league. At his best, he's one of the most dynamic players in the league. His floor is infinitely higher than Cedrick or any of the other clowns that Berhalter brought in. This dude has been and is a proven difference maker in MLS. Vancouver was a top of the league team in 2014 and 2015. Challenging for Supporters Shield. A big reason was Nagbe. You don't look at his stats and drop your jaw, but watching the kid when he's on his game is special. Opposing teams game planned around him. I know Kyle thinks I'm overselling this, but I'm beyond stunned Gregg pulled this off. I think most the league is as well. Goddamnit, this is tough enough seeing Tchani go. Let me have some joy.
Its a good deal, I'll take it. But there is a reason he was benched for alphonso davies. There is a reason he wss bench for marcel freaking de jong. There is a reason he was bench for brek shea. He was literally 4th on the depth chart at left wing, his best and preferred position. Hopefully GB can get him motivated. I hope he can. I hope he can improve his vision, become more of a heads up player. He's got 22 goals in 4 years. 12 assists as an attacking midfielder in 4 years. Again, i like the deal, I'm just not ready to go crazy and say he's an mls first 11 player.
Hats off to Tony..great guy with character..good move for him..proved a lot of people wrong. His replacement...unless he can move to winger..not a great fit in a one striker system that crosses lots of balls in the air
not true- he is going to another team mess in vancouver- the coach hasnt got a clue to develop and inspire a professional soccer team- his record is 1 of the worse in MLS for almost 2 years- we have 1/9 points for 2017 and a 39% winning point total for 2016
A reminder that the Columbus Crew when Tony Tchani joined the team in 2011--and it took a while to get better. He managed to up his stock in the meantime and eventually play a key role in a MLS late season run.
I'll be pedantic, too, because what you've stated isn't exactly true. Your anything might have meant a move where we still have to pick up part of, if not most of, Tchani's salary and get nothing in return. We did that to Montreal with McInerney, ATL just did it to Orlando with Rochez, and on MLSsoccer.com one of their columnists floated this very idea this week, that we may have to eat some of Tchani's deal in order to get him off of our books and get nothing for him. So to package him with mostly TAM, which is use-it-or-lose-it and not as versatile as GAM, and a bit of GAM is a stunningly good move. We could even stand to part with the pick next year if Manneh works out because we effectively added three first rounders this year when you throw in Crognale.
There are a few reasons why he wasn't first choice this year. Two of those reasons are that he was coming back from injury and not 100% fit, and frankly Carl Robinson isn't a very good coach and doesn't know what he's doing (especially with attacking talent). *He also did start and score a goal against Red Bulls in CCL play this year. Going back to 2014 there hasn't been a Whitecaps player who has scored more than 10 goals in a season. That's a bit of an issue. That's a team wide and system issue. Still, within that system Manneh has 22 goals (while missing half of last season). He turned 22 on December 30th. How many Columbus Crew players have scored 22 goals in a Crew uniform before their 22nd birthday? How many MLS players total have scored 22 before their 22nd birthday (shoutout to Eddie Gaven!)? Is he a finished product? Absolutely not. But, he is absolutely the type of player that I've been pining for this team to get. Is Fabian Castillo a better player? Sure, I'll concede that. Fabian had 20 goals and 4 assists in the league at age 22. Manneh should and can get better. This guy has a world of talent. If Gregg is the coach that many believe him to be, this trade is even WAY better than I've been selling it as.