Pace certainly doesn’t hurt those two, but yeah it’s a concern that it’s the first thing brought up. Was that by Pablo or just on the reporting side?
3rd in the most recent Apertura, 5th in the current Clausura. They've been one of the top teams in MX all year.
OK I'm just not gonna bother trying to figure out why the FO is doing what they're doing. Just gonna sit back and enjoy the show. $1.8 million transfer fee reported for Brayan Vera to #RSL https://t.co/cQM8eP7d8k— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) February 5, 2023
To be fair, those are Euros (add ~10% for dollars). The valuation is about $2.5m because they're paying $1.8m (not sure if that's USD or not, just assuming it is for now) for 70% of his rights (30% sell on). My question, and I really hope this gets asked to the FO, is did they just pay 8X the price of a player that CD America just paid $300k for last month?! I get players are worth what you're willing to pay, but man this doesn't look good. I really do appreciate the team trying to add to a position of need. The ability to play CB could be really good, too. One other important note. He'd be international player number 9, the team only has 8 slots this year.
I thought the whole point of trading Herrera was so we could get most of his value from Oviedo and Brody and reinvest his salary elsewhere on the team. But apparently the point was just so we could replace him with another TAM outside back and push Oviedo back to the bench? This offseason is so weird.
Well, there were only 3 outside backs on the roster, one was a near iron man last year and is 28 this year. One hasn't played over 1k minutes in a year since 19/20, is 33 this year and I believe on an expiring contract. The other is a (nearly) 21 year old converted winger. This was absolutely a need. The number of games played this year is going to be a fair bit higher than last year. Teams need quality depth We don't know what his salary will be. I'm guessing his budget hit will be well below the max TAM, but he needs to be an impact player. His ability to play CB could be very helpful, too.
I agree with your points here. We can always use a solid LB. If he can move to CB in a pinch, then that’s even better. One of the big surprises in the 2022 season was Silva staying relatively healthy. I have trouble believing he can do it for two consecutive seasons.
Covid and the past administration didn’t help This administration isn’t showing to be helping either in that regard it would be peak Elliot fall to lock up all the international slots before the first game
We needed outside back depth Something that should be readily available within the league. I don’t get this move at all
IMO the most MLS-ready player on the Monarchs last season was LB Aziz Kayondo, but I reasoned that we couldn't sign him because your backup left back is basically never where you want an international slot, so I was fine with not offering him a contract. But then we did this so I have no idea what the thinking is anymore. I guess we're expecting Vera to be an upgrade over Oviedo...? I thought we liked Oviedo like a week ago but what do I know.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/real...han-menendez-to-argentina-s-newell-s-old-boys This says it's through the end of 2023, but can be terminated at any time. He signed a 3 year contract with RSL in May 2021. No idea if that means through June of 2024 or December of 2024. So he'll probably be in a couple more articles before RSL is finally done with him.
I'm pretty sure (it's an MLS rule that isn't mentioned much) that International status is determined at the roster deadline date of the day before the first game. If RSL is using all their slots by then, they will have to trade for one to add another player at any point after that.
I think with the league getting better and with more games (anyone see the proposed playoff format yet?) you need 1.5 starting level players at each position, at minimum. Now with Vera, the expectation, at least for me (and maybe the FO), is this guy should be in discussion for Best XI within a year or two. It's a huge investment for an outside back. Oviedo isn't the long term answer at that spot, but I'm not in a hurry to get rid of him either.
Huh. Weird. I had found a link that said he was there through the end of Velez' season, so summer this year, but we signed him through summer of 2024. I guess I'll go digging again. EDIT: Found this @rslsoapbox (now wasatch soccer sentinel)
Again, minus raises to new contracts and whether or not guys like Holt and Caldwell hit the senior roster, RSL should be around $2.5m (after Vera) below what they were spending on the senior roster compared to last year. It makes sense to keep Damir as a DP (save the TAM) unless you're bringing in another guy at/above the level of Sava. There should be room to add another difference maker or two in the budget.