Congratulations on this pickup. Grimandi looks like a class player and I'm very curious to see him in action.
Hope? You'll be there a lot. Everyone, take note of who the player that was quoted at the bottom of the article is.
Re: Re: Grimandi official also reported on sky sports tonight in england... mentioned that he is the first frenchman to sign in MLS
5'9" The Rapids list Gilles at 5'9" and 160 lbs. The european site had him at 6'0"...guess we'll see when he stands next to Spenny! All the speculation on Pablo seems to be gone with Hankinson's "pair him with mastroeni" statements in the release. Now can we add the third forward (or I might say, the first forward as CC and Spenny play a lot of the game facing the goal, not facing away). With Gilles and the added threat of scoring from above (and on set pieces) it'll open up the field for the very productive midfield and Spencer/Carrieri. Last year, teams just clogged the line knowing that the air game just wasn't there. Like Brian Griese's deep game, eh? I want an MLS championship. RLH
nice signing! you guys got him as a discovery pick... and since there was a decent amount of debate through-out these boards on what the differences in discoveries and allocations are, i suggest checking out the thread in mls n&a on "mls means of player acquisition"... hell, i know i had it wrong on how he was going to be obtained there is some great stuff that's been put together by a few posters and shows most everything altogether
Just a note, the signing was mentioned in quite a bit of detail on KOA's morning mini sports report. Even metioned that Hankinson feelshe may be the missing piece.
Interesting thread over there, but nothing that hasn't been tossed around here or on Rapidspeak in the past... for us Rapids fans, the biggest questions haven't revolved so much around the differences, but rather what we really have in pocket.
Confusion Yeah, I STILL can't figure it out. The Rapids are saying it was not an allocation and one still exists because of the retirement of Carlos V. However, USsoccerUK.com says it was. Which one is right???
No confusion regarding how Grimandi was selected, now that it's officially announced by MLS and the Rapids. The Rapids used a discovery selection to acquire the Frenchman. In short (see below for link to details), a discovery pick is that which requires the league to invest little or no money towards a transfer fee or signing bonus to bring a player (whether foreign or domestic) into the league. What we still do have available an allocation that was given to us in exchange for losing Valderrama. This will allow the Rapids to pursue a high-profile player who has been playing overseas -- such as an American who is looking to leave Europe to play in MLS, or a new foreign international. I am compiling a post that illustrates the discoveries and allocations the Raipds have used over the years. Should be up in a few minutes. For a good discussion on the differences between Allocations, Discoveries and more, follow this link: (this is what jmeissen was referring to) https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27698 Finally don't pay attention to UK websites when it refers to specifics of deals with MLS -- hell, most of them still call it the Major Soccer League.
Grimandi Take this for what it's worth, but... I've seen Grimandi play in Europe. a few times on TV and once in person. In the 2000 Champions League, Arsenal came here to Florence to play Fiorentina and Grimandi ATE UP Rui Costa for dinner and had Batistuta for dessert. It was ridiculous. Chiesa was also playing midfield that match and Grimandi was nullifying all three of them. (The match finished 0-0) In fact, after that match, Fiorentina wanted to buy him, and made an enquiry to Arsenal after the season. Granted, that was nearly 3 years ago, but if he plays anywhere near to that level, with him, Mastro and Chung among others...you guys will have the best midfield in the league.
i agree with previous posters in saying this looks to be a good signing for you folks. congrats on that!!! i've always liked chung a lot, so if he can mesh well with grimandi, it'll be a treat for me to watch. and at the end of the day, watching good soccer trumps team loyalties every time (unless it involves watching an ugly game where the galaxy lose!!!).