The Union would be the thimble (RIP). Irrelevant in this day and age; mostly solid, but with lots of little holes. Additional reports saying that Fabian is signing for at least 2 years. Could be officially announced today.
I'm excited about the move, it definitely does show ambition. My concern is that he's played like 42 games total in the past five years. Is he going to be able to handle the travel/38 or whatever games? I'd hate to see our biggest signing sidelined
Plus the those 34+ games are now in a more condensed schedule. Also add in Gold Cup and MNT games................
How many matches did Accam miss last season? I mean the one's where he wasn't fit to play. He missed a lot of them while on the pitch...
If he's healthy enough, and playing well enough to be called up to the MNT, this would be an indication that this move was a huge success.
He subbed in for like 10 minutes in one match. Here's his last 5 years in club play. Obviously you can see where the injury/surgery took place. I'm not saying he doesn't have a pedigree, but it's a risky move. Ives article sums up my feelings perfectly- "Is there some risk? Of course there is. It was just two years ago that Fabian was dealing with back issues that required surgery and cost him most of the 2016/2017 season with Eintracht Frankfurt. That being said, if there wasn't some risk, then the 29-year-old wouldn't be available. He recovered from the back surgery, playing well enough to earn a place on Mexico's 2018 World Cup squad." I'm optimistic, but cautious
Marco Fabian walks onto the the pitch in a soccer stadium located in Chester, PA. Happened on September 1, 2010. Could happen again on March 2, 2019.
Marco Fabian's contract is for one year with multiple subsequent one-year options. The Union did not pay a transfer fee, but Frankfurt gets a five percent sell-on fee if the Union sell Fabián in the future.https://t.co/qJe227bKXW— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) February 8, 2019 Makes sense. If he isn't able to physically handle it (injuries rear up) then we can let him go. If Aaronson progresses faster than expected and is pushing him for minutes, then you can let him go at the end of the year. Or, if that happens next year you can do the same. Also means Fabian can't just mail it in if he wants to keep getting paid. A failed stint here would seriously push down his earning power as a 30+ year old player.
The exposure the Union will get to Philly area El Tri fans that never gave a crap about the Union before will help offset his price tag.
In the end it doesn't matter, but based on what Tanner said about the Fabian signing timeline (contact initiated in mid-January), and his previous comments about filling the 10 role (hope to announce something in early January), it seems like they had someone else in mind originally. Wonder if the talks fell through, or if they got wind that Fabian would be interested...
A few more tidbits. Also, if you don't follow the other JT on twitter, you're missing out on a good bit of Union News: https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/ph...ian-officially-signs-with-philadelphia-union/ Chris Albright did most of the work on the ground in Frankfurt to kick start the interest between the two parties.— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) February 8, 2019 A few different people have mentioned this already and Marco Fabian confirmed it. Chris Albright was the main reason the job got done. He did the majority of the work on the ground in Frankfurt.— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) February 8, 2019 I asked Marco Fabian directly about the rumors regarding his health: “I am perfect. My last year I was training a lot and now I feel 100 percent. I’m ready for the start of the season."— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) February 8, 2019 Jay Sugarman on Ernst Tanner and Marco Fabian (Part 1): pic.twitter.com/WRmSe0HJv1— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) February 9, 2019 Sugarman on Tanner and Fabian (Part 2): pic.twitter.com/DZ3JdZRp5b— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) February 9, 2019 These last two I'll take with a huge grain of salt until proven: https://twitter.com/JTansey90/status/1094045178464210944 https://twitter.com/JTansey90/status/1094047972743090176
So, if I heard that second quote from Sugarman correctly Tanner told him that the Union "Don't run enough, aren't fast enough and don't run fast enough" and he is going to fix that. So either Medunjanin and Ilsinho are out the door or somebody else has to run at Usain Bolt speed to offset their metrics. Also, anybody who can report on last night's event?
I went to the event last night. My plan was to get there at 7:30, pick up our season tickets and be on the road by 7:35. The place was way more crowded than I expected. There was a Radio Personality hosting. I did not catch his name. They had a bar, some food, 3v3 soccer, shirt store, and season ticket pick up. We only did the ticket pick up. We stood in line for half an hour to get our tickets. During that time they introduced four players. Santos and Fabian were two of them. I got a picture of Santos but was out of range for Fabian. Albright introduced Fabian. He spent most of the introduction thanking people. At one point he mentioned two people on the scouting team. Making it sound like we have more than two scouts. Fang was there, too. We left around 8:15. With our tickets, t shirts, scarfs, parking passes, and such. I am looking forward to March 2nd.