welsh is gone frees up $205k samuel does have an attack and does have a good first touch... maybe he's playing out of position? i wouldn't really consider him a striker or a winger... more a midfielder sort of half holding and half attacking if taht makes sense. but he certainly has some skill on the ball but lacks finish. looks like braz and reda would probably be gone as of next year (when mo talks about getting rid of some canadian talent that hasn't been up to par - pure speculation) so that will save us $180k another adidas generation player in the draft will be fantastic - keeps our salaries down. expect to lose at least maybe one or two players in the expansion draft (save some more space) if sutton is done, we wil save $132.5k and then we can sign another keeper (hopefully we can draft monsalve as he will count as an intenational for us teams) can we get edgar/begovic/simeon jackson on a loan??? ronnie and cunny back for a fresh start next year! so lets look at the possible line up for next year: ------------------------cunny $232.5k---dichio $158K--------------------------- samuel $115k------ robinson $315k------edu $132.5k------obrien $259k dunnivant $100k--- brennan$158k---marshall $149.5k----wynne $150k --------------------------------stamatopoulos $100k?---------------------------------- not sure if this line works in terms of natural positions but in terms of talent and making sense of what we can build on, maybe it's not taht far off... marshall and brennan move over one and drop dunivant back to his natural position. i think marshall cab be just as strong in the centre on the right side as the left and brennan would probably be pretty solid in the centre too! i think samuel was playing on the right side but this way we could have dunivant and samuel attacking and almost using brennan as a lb/ cb this puts our line up around 2M (including all players which some don't count)and that is about what i understand teh salary cap to be... hmm... so maybe letting robison and pozniak walk could help in terms of landing some other talent that could be better negotiated and hope to sign our dp as well... both of those players would free up over $410k and we would gain our starting player and dropping two roster spots. bench: pozniak $95k canizalez $40k djekanovic $18k hemming $18k lombardo $31k gala $13k guzman $13k lumley $13k melo $13k attakora-gyan $13k? nunez $13k? players with question marks have unconfirmed salaries... any thoughts guys???
The ~$200k from Welsh only counts for next season since we are past the point of the year where the salaries become guaranteed. That comment was more for the people who have been saying now that we got rid of Welsh we could immediately fill his salary space. As for getting Edgar, et al. I think you really need to ask if there is benefit for them as players in coming to TFC even if only on loan. I don't think for a guy like Edgar there is even a chance he would consider going on loan to TFC. He is getting the occasional chance to start at Newcastle (remember his goal against Manchester United last season?). Now, I don't know if David fits into Sam Alardyce's plans, so we will see if he gets any first team starts this season. I really don't know enough about the other two to comment, but I am guessing the answers are similar. If you want Mo to look at Canadian players that are overseas, I think you need to set your sights slightly lower. A player like Andre Hainault would be someone to look at. I don't even know to be honest if he is good enough for TFC. Who would have thought there would be a day people could start to say that about the MLS? I would guess he is though (good enough). He is playing for FK Siad Most (in the Czech Republic I think?) Cheers!
hainualt was a starter in the gold cup for the men's team... if he isn't ready or good enough at this point, what does that say about our national team??? he did make some mistakes but i thought he was pretty solid for such a young guy... edgar isn't getting much time with the big club these days either. that was a nice treat for him to score against brazil and man u but this year, it doesn't look like he'll figure in their plans which is why i was suggesting he could come here so that he could fill a regular role and maybe return to newcastle in a year or two when he was more mature. i noticed that kevin harmse is only making $40k per season and i think he is worth every penny and very young to boot! with the play time that he gets and the quality he brings to la galaxy, he would be a solid edition and could replace edu if we lost him to a bigger club or even robinson (to relase some salary space) if obrien was healthy... AND because he's a canuck, he wouldn't use an import spot! i thought he played well in the gold cup too!
I think we can definately make the playoffs next year with a healthy line up. We play well home but seem to struggle on the road. If Mo can make a couple of nice pickups for the midfield and defence, there is no doubt that we can make a run into the playoffs.
One thing that I want to see at some point - perhaps not 2008, but sometime in the near future - is Jeff Cunningham pass Moreno for the all-time MLS goals lead. And doing it by scoring REAL goals, not penalty kicks.
Other teams came in for Edgar for loan signings - Sam said no way he was going anywhere. NO CHANCE he lets him come over to a league that plays in the heat of the NA summer on a team that plays on a plastic pitch.
Rumours are that next season all Canadians and Americans will count as domestic players for all teams. If this turns out to be true, the dynamics of the team will be different, but let's assume that Mo and MLSE want to keep the team mostly Canadian anyway. I think Mo has learned his lesson on the issues of depth. Hopefully, he has also learned that UK talent is overrated and overpriced, every other MLS coach already had, but Mo seemed to have missed the memo. Obviously, Dichio is staying, but hopefully Robinson can find his way home (Wolves were interested) as he is a mediocre player with a large salary. Samuel may not be up to standard either, but I still want to see a bit more. On the Canadian front, Mo did a really poor job. Sutton wasn't terrible, but injuries have been a problem and Djekanovic is a USL back-up quality keeper. Stamatopoulos hasn't been bad, but he isn't an agile goalie and may be a borderline MLSer. Pat Onstad, would have been a better option. For next season Mo should bring in Sutton, Monsalve, and Stamatopoulos if they can afford him. If not they should try to loan Asmir Begović or sign Roberto Giacomi. Dump Djekanovic. That way there are three solid keepers competing for the starting spot. Brennan was a top signing, but Reda and Braz are not MLS quality or even regular national teamers. Pozniak is a good fill-in and super sub. Andrew Hainault should be persued as his contract ends at the close of the Czech season, so he can be had on a free. Michael Klukowski or Richard Hastings could both be realistic targets. Jazic is one of the top left-backs in MLS. Canada is strong in the midfield, and Mo has loads of options. Daniel Imhof would be a fantastic signing, but may be a bit out of reach. Issey Nakajima-Farran would add depth and challenge for a starting spot. Two huge targets are Dwanye DeRosario and Atiba Hutchinson, both wold be dificult (maybe impossible) to sign. Harmse would be a quality additon too. At forward, TFC is already strong and Lombardo is one to watch, but Stephen Ademolu would be a good back-up to Cunningham. A better attempt to sign Tomasz Radzinski should have been made. Overall, I think Toronto need to imporve on depth, sort out their goalies, get a solid defender in, and add an creative influence to the midfield (I know ROB, but you need more than one).
You're all forgetting that Kenny our GK is only here on loan. So saying we're looking forward to 2008 is misleading as he might not even be here. we need a new (good) GK, I'm pretty sure Sutton's injury was career-ending, or that's what I've heard.
I think Stamatopolous is more than "borderline" MLSer. he's very agile and solid. remember all those times he stole balls off the shoes of altidore in NY? in a recent interview he said he wants to come back next season. Issey Nakajima Farran has signed in denmark for the next four years and will not be coming to MLS until at least that deal is over. I think it's easy to say "go get these guys Mo" but the guys have to want to leave Europe and come to TFC. Farran, for example, doesn't right now (I asked him). So it's fun speculation to suggest all these possible names, but has anyone asked them if they want to come to MLS? They may see MLS as a step down. So Mo doesn't have "loads of options" as said above. "A better attempt at signing Tomasz Radzinski should have been made"????? For one thing, this kind of comment assumes the author knows if an attempt was made, and that it wasn't a good attempt. How do you know that? And what's a "better attempt"? Would you give him 2 million? Atiba Hutchinson will never ever ever come to MLS unless he's on the downside of his career. YOu say he'd be difficult to sign, so why do you mention him in the paragraph on Mo having loads of options? Similarly, if Jazic is playing so well for LA (that we'd want him) why would LA give him up? I completely disagree that Mo has many canadians out there that he could have as easily as you say. Dealing and signing is a two-way street. Mo can desire players all he wants, but that doesn't mean those players will want to be here, as is the case with Farran.
I realize fans tend to get into the "fantasy football" mode when talking about player aquisitions and that there are many factors to making a signing, but I honestly think that Mo could have done a better job bringing in quality Canadians. Only one goal has been scored by a Canadian... speaks volumes to me. Obviously I don't expect him to sign every name I threw out there, but on some days it seems LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo have more Canadian talent than TFC. Of the top five Canadians in MLS Toronto has maybe one or two of them. My rankings: 1. DeRo 2. Brennan 3. Jazic 4. Onstad 5. Harmse
For Greg's sake, I hope you're wrong. Regarding Kenny, yes he is on loan but TFC holds the option on purchasing him from Tromso. That ball is in Mo's court. B
Here is an article posted on TSN regarding the use or our DP spot Enjoy http://tsn.ca/soccer/news_story/?ID=217606&hubname=soccer
It was obviously a typo, no need to get out the fieldturf repair kit... Why do people take the article so serious? It is just wishful thinking, something to stir in Mo's head when he opens up TSN.ca, to get him into DP mode. We def need a DP in June after all the leagues are done, people like Rui Costa and Figo are on free transfers in June, i'm sure others are too, make a list of the ones you want, start from the one that would make the biggest impact and has the most talent and then work your way down the list asking each if they'd play for TFC.... I don't care, as long as we use a DP on an attacking midfielder and we also toss in a Winger on the left side since our star Ronnie will have the rightside booked for the rest of his TFC career.
I would punt all the imports from the UK but Dichio and reload for next season. Do you think Robinson is worth 315K? Not in my books. Samuel has been a complete disappointment, only missing deserved scrutiny due to the execrable season put in by the now-departed Welsh. That would free up over $600K to spend on some talent from anywhere but the UK.