I saw a bit of a full Phoenix Rising game and noticed that Darius Johnson was playing forward in a 2-forward system. He's a little bigger than I thought - 6', and kind of broad shouldered He drew a PK in the box within the first 5 minutes but Phoenix wasn't see the ball much so he wasn't seeing it much. I think he's much better on the wing, but if we sign him I suppose we could try him at 2nd forward. Not sure he'd be better than Bouda at that spot though.
A #10 that is an asset in this league costs a lot of $ (that we probably don't have / willing to spend). Remember that the word from Doyle (take with a grain of salt) is that "the purse is closed" for this year. We could get an effective backup #9 for probably a fraction of that. And we should not be thinking only of this year. Do we really want to have a DP #10 and Niko competing for minutes going forward, incluidng next year?
I agree that we won't see Hernán play for the Quakes while Bruce is coach. But I think he'd cook with this team. Our defense is so much better it makes every attacker look much better. Every #10 makes high value low percentage passes in the box. Niko is no different. Yes Hernán holds onto it too long at times, but that can be coached up. I saw Hernán rehabbing with The Town last year, and the ball was coming off of his foot immediately on every possession in midfield. He was working on adapting more to Bruce's style. He just never really had the chance after coming back from injury. And sometimes you need someone with the ability to beat someone 1v1 and unbalance a defense, which we really don't have. Niko has tried a few times. He can't do it. Not yet, anyway. But given that we shouldn't expect Hernán to come back (and besides Argentinos will probably want to keep him), then yes, give Fernandez a shot. He's played, what 45 minutes at the #10 and got an assist during that time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I never heard or got the impression that Hernán hated it here. But if your coach doesn’t care for how you play and starts to hesitate to play you, you’re not gonna be having a great time at that point. I think it was Bruce’s initiative to loan him out. We do have on option on his contract the next 2 years but I doubt that Bruce will take it if Argentinos doesn’t take the permanent option. Actually it’d be smart if he did because then you could transfer him somewhere and make a little extra $. Otherwise we let another play go for free. We paid $6M for his transfer. You’d want to reclaim some part of that. I’m not sure how Hernán’s transfer fee was amortized, but if it’s paid off at the end of the year, the length of the guaranteed contract, then Hernán becomes a TAM player who makes about what Romney makes and even if Bruce still doesn’t want him at that value he’d be a valuable trade option within the league.
Interacted with him three times that I can recall. Always had a big smile. Hernan was not unhappy here, at least until Bruce arrived. Kinda like Espinoza.
I'm sure Hernán López’s loved the money he made while he was here for not doing much. Per Spotrac.com., his guaranteed salary was $2,040,000 — this figure includes his base salaries from 2024 and 2025, plus the cap hit amounts, annualized over the contract term.....
"Not doing much"? Hernán led the team in goals in all competitions with 9 in 2024, despite not joining the team until May. And in 2025 he was injured almost the whole time before being transferred. As for the $2M, Hernán only sees $1M of that. The rest goes to his former team(s). As I said, a $1M salary in MLS is not so much. It's about what Dave Romney is making to sit on the bench.
Injured or not, he was not available in 2025 so he didn't help us. That isn't great in my book. Also, that is a lot of money in Argentina where many players take weeks to get paid and its rare, they make that much. Also, so far in 2026 anyway, we don’t need him so he would be a surplus and waste.
Anyway, Hernan Lopez is gone and won't be coming back and we are top of the league without him. Moving on.....
Someone who posts on reddit about Argentine Primera Division wrote that: 1) Hernán's been playing really well, and is considered one of the top players in the Argentinian league. 2) The buy option is high and likely won't happen. So assuming the buy option doesn't happen, then either: 1) We don't pick up his option and once again let a player go and get nothing in return. 2) We pick up his option and transfer him somewhere, maybe back to Argentinos Juniors for less $. I hope are not dumb again, and instead do #2. If Argentinos is smart at all, they'd know that Bruce doesn't favor Hernán and if they don't take the buy option they can probably get him back for less $, but the risk is that they'll have competition.
1. I’m hoping that Bruce can persuade RottenFish that we need some help. 2. In the off-season, we sell either Niko or the New Guy. (Probably the New Guy.) 3. If we don’t get help, we are F-ed!! Go Quakesfans!!