Taking on Barnes was a bad piece of business as he got to the point of not wanting to play on BC place turf. So, what do you do with him? Caps were on a weak spot to get rid of s suspect DP so they traded for another suspect DP although they at a savings of over $100k on cap hit. Hopefully, Shea no stays healthy and puts together a decent year. I agree with other posters that when it gets to Shea's option year, it won't be picked up because of salary.
And still paying that out this year with other resources on a restructured deal. On the surface the impression given with the Barnes situation is that of management's hands being tied but I remain unconvinced. Barnes was coming off a sh*tty 2016 with two different teams and didn't want to play on the field turf in Vancouver yet with that diminishing stock he was able to leverage that into a move more to his (and another club's) liking? I guess we'll just agree to disagree on this one and leave it at that..
i am very suspect about the ability of the Whitecap head honchos and coaching staff to ever nail a DP or significant signing- their record over the years has been very poor- jarju, morales, rivero, barnes, shea, laba, nosa, reyna, ghazal and even miller and montero who were adequate but not brilliant even if they do part with some of their cash- which i dont think will happen-, it will take some convincing that they have chosen the new player wisely
i think the 2018 season- if it goes badly- will be a watershed campaign for the club- supporters are starting to get royally pissed off with the cheapness of the owners and robo's spin doctoring that is usually so repetitive and basically BS once a team looses its core base of support, its tough to win them back
^The only way a big shake up at the club will occur is if the club goes on a big time losing streak to start the season (think Aron Winter in 2012) and the fans stay away in droves. But I don't see it happening.
but it could be the beginning- a drop from 22 000 to under 19 000 should be an alarm bell- i dont have a concern about the season until august comes, then things begin to shake out in MLS for the playoff hunt- the Caps have a history of fading
WORTH THE READ: https://www.eightysixforever.com/20...on-the-head-with-vancouver-whitecaps-critique it seems many supporters are finally beginning to get the message- we lack a ball possession MF who can be the link from back to front on the counter; and the coaching style/usual rhetoric of the head coach; also still concerned about the long-term of reyna which would leave a BIG hole in the #10 MF i am still picking them anywhere from 6-9 position as the MLS is notoriously famous for its pariety and only 2-4 points can separate #4 to -#8- but i think that with the extra $2.8 mill USD that owners/teams can spend for improving their teams (and the Caps are not), we could be left further behind this year- all the Caps have done is pare down the salary when all the other teams are spending more (just think what has been saved from expended players- montero, ousted, laba, bolanos, harvey and the buying down of shea IMO, we have-on paper- one of the weakest MF in MLS- even the head coach of the japanese team said the same thing about the MF
CAN WE EVER DREAM THIS?? https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...onto-fc-eye-another-round-bmo-field-expansion
That's what winning does in a market striving to be the top dog in a prominent North American pro league.
I wouldn't say that. More accurately it is an ownership group that can, and does, throw money at problems. This is the 4th or 5th time they've spent big and finally got it right. They got lucky with Giovinco as he was the most impressive of the 3 and they have grossly overpaid for the other 2. Vancouver is not and never will be GTA (thank god). Owners like MLSE who can throw money around like drunken sailors are getting more common in MLS but still not the norm. We will probably be at the half way point in team spending league wide.
Not easy to get a player like Giovinco. Takes money but a player like Giovinco can go anywhere so there needs to be other qualities as well. Toronto has a large, soccer-mad Italian community which I am sure was a big help, along with bags of money, to get Gio to TFC.
From the province writer, patrick johnson: TIM PARKER MIGHT BE ON THE TRADE BLOCK TO NYRB http://theprovince.com/sports/socce...ports-whitecaps-in-trade-talks-with-red-bulls patrick- It may drive fans batty, but this is a salary cap league and that reality sometimes forces uncomfortable or outright unpopular decisions in one area to allow for additions in another. this is just not true- its all to do with salary savings and another cost-cutting the ownership group are doing; the Caps will probably get allocation $$$$$$$$ and for what purpose other than to not resign parker for a substantial raise which is paid by mls?? are they over the salary cap? i find that hard to believe as they are cutting significant dollars from last year's cap we all know that MLS is allowing owners to spend an extra $2.8 USD mill for keeping or adding new players; and the Caps have cut salary costs, such as down-sizing from fredy montero ($1.8 USD mill) to kei kamar ($800 000 USD), not resigning mattias laba (885 000 USD) and traded david ousted (about $378 000) to be replaced by mariovic for under $200 000 a few weeks ago, head coach robo even stated that the salary budget was being cut unless the Caps are adding a significant player- ie ball possession/distributor MF- in the $1-2 USD mill, this trade is all to do with cost-cutting and negotiation ploy to send a message to other players- loosing tim parker- who is worth much more money, probably in the $250 000 USD range, would be a significant lose, especially when kendall waston goes to the WC- edgar, maund and henry would be a tough pill at CB- slow-footed and mistake-injury prone if its going to happen, it will happen before the season starts in 2-3 weeks- and if the Caps dont add a significant player, than i- and i would guess other supporters- will be royally pissed off
RUMOR REPORTED- SCOTT ARFIELD https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...uver-interested-canada-intl-mid-scott-arfield this is the type of MF general the Caps could use- in the mexico-canada WC qualifying game in the Fall of 2016, he was the best player on the field- i think he has been undervalued and underused at Burnley of the EPL- he can certainly elevate his play when he is the leader and given that mantle he is gritty, terrifically game smart, links well with players and can add some offensive punch- he is the type of player that can 'grab his teammates by the scruff of their necks' and lead them forward transfer market cost- $4.8 mill CD- but he will be a free agent 2017-2018 salary- $ 2.663 mill CD would the Caps be willing to sign him? NOPE! would the Impact be willing to sign him- MAYBE- different ownership group would MLS help the Caps sign him like they would have done with atiba hutchinson? MAYBE, but the Caps ownership werent willing to pay the extra transfer cost plus his salary as one of the best holding/passing MFs in europe would scott arfield seriously help the Caps? ABSOLUTELY
I'm sure he is exploring his options as his contract expires in June. Maybe Burnley will re-sign him for a couple of years. If not, newly promoted teams in Prem will look for players like him. 'Caps and Impact will need to compete with those kind of offers and probably would require a premium to get him to MLS unless he is aching to get to Canada. But, would certainly be a great addition if it can be pulled off.
He is good quality like you said best on the pitch last year for the MNT. At 29 still at his prime. Currently on approximately 1.8 brit pounds (2.7 mil US$) so definitely doable but highly unlikely for any MLS team. You left out some options from your list. Assuming pay would be the same. "Would he rather play in Vancouver on fake turf or stay in Europe on grass? "Would he want more or less travel at this point in his career?
question 1- grass question 2- less travel the better-- and u r right- he still might want to say in the english epl or championship- but he would be given the mantle of a leader, not just a filler as he is with burnley- that might be enticing to him- and he saw the passion of the vancouver fans but why would there be a rumor unless there is some inquiring/interest from he and his agent? or it is just someone's whimsical speculation ? i sure would love to see him in a whitecap jersey asap, but we already went through this with atiba- hollow speculation
Turf and travel are certainly considerations. MLS is unlike just about any other league. Until he signs a contract with someone, Arfield and his agent will explore options. The more interest they can generate, the better the contract they should be able to obtain.
i think i read a report on https://www.eightysixforever.com that the Whitecaps offered a 3 year contract at $1.4 mill (about $450 000/season) - if true- and i am skeptical that the Caps would offer that amount of coin to a defender- then tim really does want out of vancouver for his future plans as a professional-get closer to his roots, get to play in a bigger stage of NY and play with a coach that has a better pedigree of success Kristian Dyer @KristianRDyer Feb 22, 2018 Per source, I'm hearing that Tim Parker turn down a deal from Vancouver that would be three years in the ballpark of $1.4 million dollars during that span. is a quality CB worth that kind of coin?? well, brek shea somehow has a contract in excess of $700 000- go figure
Seems like a fair offer for Parker. That offer would make him the 18th highest paid defender in MLS (2017 salaries). I suspect that Waston's salary is now higher. As you say, he probably wants to get back East, closer to home. Parents are from that area and he went to college in NYC. Northern New Jersey and NYC area are known as expensive areas to live, but they have nothing over Vancouver. I wonder how guys like Nerwinski, who are making $65k/yr can even afford to live in Vancouver. Do players get housing assistance?
Well, Tchani is gone for $150K in TAM. In last pre-season match, he looked kind of disinterested so maybe he knew this was in the works. I think the Caps are trying to land a quality midfielder. We'll see.
typical carl robinson signings- nothing long term works out having said that, there are some silver linings in this selling of tchani: 1. the club has now realized $450 000 from the manneh trade to columbus (tchani plus $300 000 in GAM and TAM) and now $150 000 in TAM for tchani to chicago the club will probably use the GAM and TAM noneys to buy down brek shea's DP salary which will take about $250 000 2. after loosing jacobson, another DMF, to retirement and now tchani, it finally could open the door to tiebert getting more game time and maybe some for young david norman and brett levis PS thinking the Caps will sign another sign DP is like blowing smoke up your arse