Bunbury and Mwanga have loads of potential and are far from finished products. Neither have gotten a great shake recently (Bunbury suffering from injuries and competing with Sapong, Bravo, Kamara, Bieler, etc.; Mwanga not getting along with Nowak even when he was playing well). Mwanga is only 21 years old, he's the type of player we could be building a team around for the future (assuming he doesn't go to Europe). I'm not crazy about giving up a first rounder for him, but I definitely would have given up a second rounder and a bench player (Barnes for example). Also, a lot of young players have experienced growing pains in the league. Brek Shea for one had some serious ups and downs. With a guy whose only 21 years old you can't really expect him to be a consistent professional.
I know Tel Aviv is a good team, but if he can't crack the starting lineup in a league that is worse than MLS, that's a problem. He scored once in his second appearance, and then it took three months for him to score again. And RE: Mwanga, he's good, if no one plays defense against him. I'd rather pass than take on his huge salary just because we have the space.
That's a pretty sweet deal for Portland, that pick could easily be top 5 next year. Like I said in another post, I wouldn't want to give up a first rounder for him. A 2nd rounder and a reserve player or some allocation money and I would have pulled the trigger immediately.
Fair enough. I think the top Israeli team is generally better than most MLS teams. But struggling to start at LA, SJ, or NY doesn't mean you're not MLS quality, especially for an awful Toronto side.
Right, so he'll probably start. He's just not going to score, because he's not going to get much support from midfield (he's a poacher at best, not a guy who creates for himself) and he's not going up against his own team's defense.
Steven Goff @SoccerInsider D.C. United signs Canadian MF Kyle Porter after long trial. To acquire rights, #dcu sends 2014 supplemental pick to Vancouver#mls
DeRo suspended two games for pre-season head-butting incident. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...de-rosario-two-matches-will-miss-season-opene
Brian Ching re-signs with Houston as player-coach. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ston-through-2013-season-will-be-player-coach