Soumare wants to be traded and Philly says they will. With Freidrich's injuries and age, I'd love to see Bakary back in Chicago, but he wants to start. I think Franks sees Austin and Jalil as the future center backs, but getting Soumare would be great. What do you think?
I feel that now he has been around the league he has matured enough, and I am sure the front office has forgotten that "incident" with Hamlett.
I like Adu, but he wouldn't fit here. He's at his best playing as a #10. I also think Jalil and Austin are a good long term plan at CB, so the fit with Baky isn't great either. We certainly need CBs in the short term though.
A Union fan here - coming in peace. With Soumare still living in Chicago, I am sure that he would like to return there and given Friedrich's age and injury status, the Union are likely at least seeing what interest that the Fire might have. A few notes from the Union prespective: * Soumare wants to have a chance to start (he likely saw what is happening with Bocaengra and the US team in terms of the impact of not getting first team minutes and so Soumare wants to be in the mix for Mali in its World Cup run after it had a decent run in the recent Africa Cup of Nations. He is actually there now preparing for a qualifer against Rwanda after getting a call-up while being out of the national team mix for a while. He came to the Union last season while Peter Nowak was still coach and Diego Gutierrez was still Technical Director (he also was Soumare's former agent) and most of their more recent big-name acquisitions have all been moved off the roster. Soumare was coming off a knee injury and never was healthy enough to play much (only one regular season game played was in the loss against the Fire in Philadelphia - he looked rusty in that one). He played in this pre-season and looked fine. He has yet to play in the regular season as the current center-back pair (Okugo and Parke) has played well. * in terms of his salary, it is high (made $240K salary/$280K in guaranteed comp last season) but it would not surprise me to see the Union eat some of it in a trade depending what they get back (they did the same thing last season when they traded Danny Mwanga to Portland for Jorge Perlaza since there was a $100K+ difference in salary). * while there is always the usual MLS trade considerations such as allocation $ and/or draft picks that could get included in a deal, the Union have some open roster spots and they could use defensive depth (mainly centerback, possibly left back) and outside midfielders. * Someone mentioned Anibaba in an earlier post - I am sure that the Union would make that trade straight-up but isn't he your starting right back now ahead of Kinney and part of your starting center back tandem of the future with Berry? Jumper (more than Kinney) could have some minor interest as a centerback/left back depth player but Philly would need more than him. I am not sure that Videira despite his defender/midfielder versatility would be of much interest other than as throw-in in a deal. * In terms of outside midfielders, I am sure that Philly would like Nyarko but I am fairly sure that the Fire do not deal him although he does make a fair amount of $ in you were looking to shed it. Duka has US Youth team ties (which Hackworth always likes) but given that the Fire just acquired him - I am not sure that they would deal him so quick. I am not sure if Alex gets used outside much or if he is mainly an attacking midfielder - he might be of interest. Thompson or Bone would just be a throw-ins if Hackworth wants to get a fellow Wake Forest alumni. I could even see the rights to Rogers being a throw-in in a deal (Hack knows him from the USMNT and US Youth teams days) even if Rogers never plays again in MLS. * A few folks asked about Adu - he is actually in Brazil today to finalize a deal to play for Bahia in a loan deal in which the Union get ex-Brazilian national team midfielder, Kleberson, also on loan.
I'm amazed no one has suggested trading Logan Pause for Soumare. I think that is the logical move. Freidrich will have further injuries and is probably in his last year. You could slot Soumare in CB with Berry and move Jalil back to left back. As injuries, etc. occur, Jalil or Baky could rotate into CB. Logan is a great guy, but his playing days are winding down and he seems to fill Philly's need for defensive mid or defender help.
Philly would not be in the market for DM help - already have Carroll there and Lahoud in reserve. Although he is mainly a DM in Fire games that I have seen, has Pause played anywhere else on the backline besides RB in recent seasons? The Union are likely looking more for defenders who can play CB and/or LB unless they just trade Soumare for non-player items (i.e. allocation $, draft pick) and use some of those assets to acquire a depth defender from another MLS team or just sign a non-MLS defender.
No, Logan Pause has only ever played defensive midfielder and a bit at right back. I don't recall him ever playing anywhere else. Interesting about Phildelphia looking for defenders, but if this is the case, why would they want to trade Soumare and why would he ask to be traded?
Yes - it is similar to the Oduro issue but Soumare came to Philly with much more hype and salary $ (Soumare's ex-Fire teammates, Nowak and Gutierrez, had been working on the his transfer for months. While both of them were fired shortly before the deal could be announced in the summer transfer window, Soumare arrived in Philly still recovering from his knee injury. He was supposed to replace Danny Califf at CB which is why the Union sent him to Chivas once they knew that they would likely land Soumare. Baky never was 100% recovered and they just shut him down in terms of trying to play in 2012 based on the fact that the team was in the tank. While they shut him down, Amobi Okugo emerged as a starting CB (he always played DM) and while there was talk of him returning to the midfield this pre-season, they ended up keeping him at CB to add some pace to go with the other CB (Jeff Parke). I see that the Fire are looking for an international striker so salary cap $ may be tight but Philly is not exactly dealing from strength since most teams that needed CBs addressed those needs in the off-season - so a Soumare-to-Chicago deal could still be a possibility if Philly eats some of his salary.
Logan has played his entire career with Chicago, i really dont see Klopas trading him. We bagged on Chicago for not hiring guys like Armas and Brown after their careers ended, why not start with a guy like Logan?
Soumare sucked the last year he was with us. The fight he had was because he did not want to be here and he played like it. It seemed lime every passe was 50 yards down field to the other team. If I remember Pause was upset because he felt BS was dogging it and then DH stepped in. So I am not excited about him coming back.