Matthew Doyle isn't too impressed with CITY's use of its new players. In Western Conference: Grading every team's Primary Transfer Window he rated CITY's transfer window as C-. His big quotes: "It’s hard to knock their window on a personnel front" "Lutz Pfannenstiel seems to have hired a coach, in Olof Mellberg, whose philosophy does not jibe with the strengths of the roster." "A successful window is as much about asset deployment as it is about asset acquisition."
Mykhi Joyner has been called up to the U19 MYNT Camp and Tyson Pearce has been called up to the U18 YNT for the UEFA Friendship Tournament in Switzerland.. Good on Mykhi and Tyson! I sure hope we see these guys in the CITY lineup on their return.
Njabulo Blom is on his way back to CITY from Kaiser Chiefs. His loan expired. CITY has now regained Blom, Perez, and Pidro. Thorisson's loan also expires soon. CITY needs to acquire an international slot for Blom. I imagine he will play with CITY2 for a while, at least. We suddenly have roster congestion. OTOH, Horn's loan to us ends June 30th, and if we let him go, that would free up an international slot.
That would be par for the course. Let Horn, who has been one of our better players since he came leave, and bring back Blom, who we couldn't get rid of quick enough. We need people who can play left back, and don't really need another center mid...so makes perfect sense. If that scenario plays out, Lutz has gotta go!!
I think CITY could solve the Blom international slot problem by moving Nilsson to the Season Ending Injury list before the Secondary Transfer Window opens on July 24. I think CITY could then add Blom because the Season Ending Injury rule requires replacing an international slot player with another International slot player. Teams can only replace one player a season under that rule. The six-match injured list could also be used with the same juggling act, so maybe CITY could use that rule now and do the season ending move after 6 more matches. That might give them time to trade Blom (or Nilsson).
One roster spot cleared. Nokkvi Thorisson has been transferred on a full contract to Sparta Rotterdam. They exercised their option to purchase his contract.
Looks like it’s for the exact amount we paid. The point of buying youngish players is to sell them on for a profit. At least we didn’t lose money.
Sargent rumored to be leaving Norwich… if Carolyn was EVER going to open the pocketbook, you could do a lot worse. Would also go a long way in terms of repairing damage done by the last season and a half with the fans. With that said, I imagine Josh is looking to move up in Europe, not come back to MLS. But money talks…
I’ll go one step further, if CKB doesn’t open the checkbook and he does come to MLS, she will do more damage than the last year and a half. She can’t afford for him not to be here in St. Louis.
Matt Baker posted something a couple days ago on Horn that probably explains what happened. CITY allowed his purchase option to expire. There is speculation either that CITY wants to keep him, but not at the option price, or that CITY wants the international roster spot to use on another acquisition. Horn's loan runs through the end of this month, and he trained with the team this week. It sounds like he will play in Portland. Sooooo . . . is CITY intending to use him until we lose him? Or to try to renegotiate either another loan or a lower purchase price? *shrug*
So apparently Horn’s wife is expecting and they decided they want to raise the kid in Germany/Austria. CITY have respected his wishes and didn’t exercise their option, otherwise they would have.
CITY announced officially that Horn is returning to FC Nurnberg. No surprise, since we already knew this info.
Burki and Lundt have each played 9 matches this season. It gives a rare level look at comparative stats. Each has started 9 matches and played all 810 minutes in those matches, Each has faced 43 shots. Burki has saved 31, Lundt has saved 29. Burki has allowed 12 goals, Lundt 14. Burki's GAA is 1.33, Lundt's is 1.56. Burki's passing percentage is 71%, Lundt's is 69%. Burki's long ball percentage is 40%, Lundt's is 35%. Lundt has saved 1 of 2 Pens. The team record with Burki is 2-3-4, with 3 clean sheets. The team record with Lundt is 1-6-2, with 2 clean sheets.
Pretty much confirms what seems to be the general consensus...Lundt is a more than capable understudy.
I hate Xande Silva even more! What a horrible transfer!! Please don't pick up his option. Why would you sign Hartel and Teuchert to contracts that expire in June? I think you have to ditch Nilsson, Ostrak, Alm, Morales, Silva, and Wallem (not by choice, we can't afford him). Keep Klauss as a TAM player. I would also consider moving Teuchert and JGR. Complete roster overhaul needed.
Burki is still the highest paid keeper in the MLS. He certainly will have the opportunity to stay or to return to Europe, with more money either way. Lundt is seriously underpaid, and absolutely could start for several MLS teams. It will be hard to keep him in a backup role. The one thing CITY cannot allow to happen is to lose both Burki and Lundt.
I am sorry. I cannot believe Hartel is our highest paid player. $2.1M investment on a man who cannot even hit a decent dead ball.
It’s being reported that Watts has been sold to the Charleston Battery. I don’t know if that has anything to do with his halftime substitution or if that was just down to suckiness, but that might be the last we see of him. He’s not the one I would have moved on, but we do need roster spots.